How Fintech is forcing banking to a tipping point [Citi report]

With advances in technology, the relationship that customers have with their bank and with their finances has changed. Customers rely less and less on walking into a branch for their banking needs, and instead have digital options to help them —ATMs, on-line chat, mobile phones, and Internet banking. So far these have been seen more as additive to a customer’s banking experience but when do we go over the digital disruption tipping point and see a change in the fundamental banking business?

Why the payments market is – still – huge

“In the VC world, there seems to be a fairly strong bias against pitching your company by saying, “We’re like X, but for Y. Most commonly, the “X” in the aforementioned sentence refers to Uber or Warby Parker…”

Fintech in 2016: why you need a different strategy

With the current volatility in the markets, some people are starting to question the viability of investments in Fintech – or technology in general. Although it’s not the majority, I suspect that we will hear more skepticism about the Fintech investment thesis over the next few months. However, I think it would be a mistake(…)

Why Amazon and Google are bound to enter finance

“Do you think that Google and Facebook will enter financial services ?” This is a question that is in many people’s minds, whether they work in Fintech or in traditional finance. And indeed, the arrival of the GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple) in finance has been predicted and expected for years – with great excitement by some,(…)

Fintech startups: compete or collaborate with traditional finance?

Consider these two statements : “The party’s over, for the banks at least” (Transferwise) “Today we are announcing an exciting new partnership with Santander UK, …” (Funding Circle) These statements were made by Transferwise and Funding Circle, two very well known Fintech startups. Both were created a few years ago, both are Unicorns (i.e.valued more than(…)

If you can’t beat them, join them: Goldman Sachs enters Fintech.

If you liked “Invest in the Disruptors”, you will love “Disrupt the Disruptors”… Goldman Sachs has been a very active investor in Fintech (and Tech in general), with the latest investment in Circle (Bitcoin), but also CompareAsiaGroup (Comparison website for financial services), Oscar (Challenger Insurance) or Kensho (Data analytics for finance) for example. But what(…)

Banks to compete with Google and Amazon! The empire strikes back?

Google and Amazon the next competitors to banks? This is a recurring theme, which has been debated at length (here and here for example) But banks competing with Google or Amazon, that is, shall we say, more daring… But this is exactly what happened last week, when Santander announced that it will offer cloud storage, therefore(…)