Curated Articles

Free passes for Fintech Connect Live in London!

Europe’s most exciting exhibition of fintech startup innovation is here! 2000 Fintech professionals all together in one place for two …

Blackstone: Shadow Banking enters Online Lending

“The start-ups that have come to dominate the online-lending industry will now have to compete with the world’s largest private-equity firm.
B2R Holdings, a portfolio company of a Blackstone Group fund, said on Thursday that it was getting into the business of providing loans for consumer purchases of big-ticket items as well as small-businesses loans.”

World Economic Forum: Fintech will revolutionise SME financing

Source: www3.weforum.org This is an excellent report from the World Economic Forum, and it is very telling that they chose SME financing as one of the key topics in the future of finance. The WEF is interested in topics that are important for society but also tries to identify the levers that have the most(…)

SXSW Competition looking for Fintech Startups

“Of the 305 companies who participated in SXSW Accelerator between 2009 and 2015, over 63% received funding, with combined funding in excess of almost $2.613 billion (does not include undisclosed grants, angel and seed funding). Of these 305 companies, 13% have been acquired by the likes of Google, British Telecom, Huffington Post, Apple, Live Nation, OpenTable, Constant Contact, and Harmon.”

Blackrock continues to innovate, creates JV with Google

BlackRock is in discussions with Google, the technology group, to create a joint venture that the world’s largest fund house hopes will enable it to improve returns. The tie-up, which would be a first for the fund market, will seek to explore how

First P2P Lender to Fold in Europe: What Next?

“In an unsettling about face TrustBuddy, a peer to peer lending platform based in Stockholm, has shut down. The home page has transitioned from lending platform into a public statement (republished below) in both Swedish and English explaining a series of alleged misconduct”

Free Instant Payments for Challenger Banks: Why the UK is 1st for Fintech

Small banks have to pay their bigger rivals for access to the payments system, but a new scheme will see technology firms offer the service to challenger banks instead

Credit scoring can even predict your love life!

When people are looking for a significant other, they often try to find someone whose values, education, earnings, hobbies and even height match their own. But new research suggests there’s one promising measure for finding a committed partner that most daters overlook — credit scores.

Bank for Boston carpenters wants to become Fintech Bank

Radius Bank, started by and for local union carpenters, is about to be bought by the ultimate capitalists.

What are Innovation Labs for?

Start-ups are increasingly turning to large banks – the very institutions that fintech is supposed to be disrupting – for mentorship and money.

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We both caught the Coronavirus

My wife and I were both ill with the symptoms of COVID-19. While we were ill, we were looking for information about other people’s experience of COVID to understand how our symptoms could evolve. This is our experience, and this blog is written both by Tram Anh and me. The context We live in London, and are co-founders of(…)
How can bankers think like entrepreneurs?

2 weeks ago, I was chairing the stream about “How can banks innovate” at Money 20/20 Singapore. The audience was mainly professionals in banks and Fintech entrepreneurs, and I asked them the following question : “What is the biggest challenge for bank innovation?” What would be your answer ? Have a think then see below how(…)
What will be the most successful bank in a Fintech world?

A few years ago, many banks were not convinced that Fintech* would impact them. Or rather, many banks were convinced that Fintech would NOT impact the industry, because of regulations, customer behaviour, etc. Fast forward to today, and this sentiment has totally shifted. From new challenger banks acquiring 8,000 new customers per day to Alibaba having(…)
How has Fintech transformed finance?

The “Fintech” trend started 5 years ago.* Since then, we’ve heard about new startups, the emergence of tech competitors in finance, and also banks investing in technology. But what has been exactly the impact of technology in finance? Is there a real impact, is it too early to say, or is it just hype? My(…)
Alibaba becomes Top 10 Global Bank

A few years ago, I wrote about the inexorable rise of Google and Amazon in finance. The conclusion from the piece was “if you prefer fast action and major Fintech disruption from tech powerhouses, then forget Amazon, Google or Apple, and watch Alibaba or Tencent…. Ant Financial, the finance arm of Alibaba, is valued $50bn.” This was 2.5 years ago, and(…)
Why SME Banking is a huge untapped market

When I started The Disruptive Group last year, one of my first tasks – like any entrepreneur – was to open a bank account. Being a fervent proponent of Fintech, I looked at the different options available in the UK, including the different Fintech startups. My requirements for the ideal bank? – Easy onboarding. We(…)
What are the skills for Finance 2.0? At the Singapore Fintech Festival

Skills for finance are changing. And this is happening today already: “NAB will make 6,000 job cuts over then next 3 years with its digital banking revamp… NAB is hiring 2,000 people with different capabilities” says Banking Technology. After a very fast paced trip in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Vietnam (more on this later, but(…)