FinTech Places

posted by Collin Canright on November 21, 2016 - 9:28am

I spent a couple days in New York this week and noticed an energy for business I don't experience in other cities. In every restaurant, coffee house, and shared business space I spent time in, individuals and groups were meeting to discuss their next new idea, offer, and deal.

I overheard several conversations on FinTech, real estate, software, and AdTech projects. I also ran across a professorial guide explaining to a group of students about the first bailout of American banks, by President Theodore Roosevelt, and creation of the Federal Reserve System at the site of the world's largest repository of gold.

It got me to thinking of the power of place and the potential shifts in the dynamics of FinTech places, a subject explained in some of this week's links:

Bracing for seven critical changes as FinTech matures
The FinTech sector overall is becoming more diversified in terms of geographies, segments and technologies. Collaborations will be more important as FinTech firms attempt to scale and traditional financial institutions look for digital expertise. These trends and more are outlined in the November 2016 McKinsey & Company report.

Where finance and technology come together
London, Silicon Valley, New York, Hong Kong and others are vying to become the only international FinTech capital. For Hong Kong, Singapore is a fierce competitor. In Europe, the competition is heating up because of the Brexit vote. As The New York Times reports, it’s unclear who will win this battle.

London still has a lot to offer FinTech companies despite Brexit uncertainty: UK Minister
The UK’s vote to leave the European Union has left FinTech firms wondering about their futures, but economic secretary of the UK Treasury Simon Kirby reassured them that London still has a great deal to offer, CNBC reported. "We are listening very carefully to fintech businesses' concerns about access to capital, access to high-skilled labor and also their concerns about Brexit," Kirby said.

Brexit and Trump are letting Germany steal Britain's FinTech crown
Following Brexit and U.S. elections, global investment into FinTech companies dipped in the third quarter, signaling international economic uncertainty, but Germany is set to have greater investment into FinTech than the U.K., Business Insider reported.

2016 North America Consumer Digital Payments Survey
Millennials and mass affluents are driving consumer movement toward mobile payments, but mobile payments at the point of sale remains limited, according to a recent Accenture report. Even so, the report's conclusion is bright: the "march to the mainstream" continues. Using survey results from 4,000 consumers, the report details additional findings on consumers digital payments trends.

Why big data should make insurance cheaper
The tone and quantity of articles on insurance over the last several months, as well as recent conversations I've had, suggest that insurance is the next hot area of FinTech investment and use. The increasing abundance of data is enabling tigher coverage and better consumer choices. For some consumers, big data could lower insurance premiums, but it could also make some consumers are insurable, according to Financial Review. Such unprecedented data could also allow consumers to shop around for better deals.

THE BLOCKCHAIN WATCH

How blockchain will change your life
Much like the internet in the 1990s, the underlying technology beneath digital currencies like bitcoin and Ethereum, might be the “next big trinket for computer geeks,” writes IBM CEO Ginni Rometty for The Wall Street Journal.

Singapore to test digital currency in latest FinTech initiative
The Monetary Authority of Singapore is the latest central bank to test blockchain for interbank payments to see if it could simplify payments process and reducing transaction costs. Bloomberg has more details about the upcoming blockchain experiment.

Is a blockchain patent still possible?
Much of the blockchain technology has been publicly available, some want to know if they can patent blockchain. Anyone interested in doing so have a few legal and practical challenges aheadof them, according to CoinDesk.