Pulse: Finance


Legacy Challenges

As a follow up to last week's newsletter, Breached, the Equifax breach likely will have regulatory effects on FinTech that go beyond the credit-scoring business itself. In an ironic but not unsurprising development, legacy institutions questioned new technologies in relationship to legacy problems.

Breached

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), often described as the central bank for central banks, recently published its take on FinTech. The BIS's Basel Committee on Banking Supervision's report, "Implications of fintech developments for banks and bank supervisors," handily summarizes the changing face of banking:

FinTech Waves

This week's headline comes from a Bernard Lunn Daily FinTech column, in which he charts three "waves" of FinTech development. Those waves fit my own experience, though some of the milestones I would have picked are different. Click on the chart below to read the article.

I spent a lot of time this week looking at bank websites. That, too, was a look back in time.

No doubt that colored the links I picked. I see in them the tension between the entrenched technology of the past and emerging tech of the future.

FinTech Investment Soars

Global surveys covering second-quarter 2017 FinTech investments are coming in, and the results bode well for the development of the FinTech ecosystem.

IMF: The Global Economic Recovery is on Solid Ground

The IMF’s message in its latest global economic forecasts (World Economic Outlook, 7/24/2017) is broadly unchanged from its April version.  The global economic recovery is gaining momentum and broadening in 2017, after a two-year slowdown. Global output is expected to grow by respectively 3.5% and 3.6% this year and next.  However, the IMF states that the projected composition of growth will be slightly different, with slower-than-anticipated growth in the United States compensated by faster growth in the eurozone, Canada, Japan and emerging markets.

Payments Power

The payments sector of the FinTech ecosystem heats up this month. Recent developments in the largest and most mature FinTech sector include release of the final report of the U.S. Faster Payments Task Force, major consolidation among worldwide payments processors, and reports of high growth in person-to-person (P2P) payments.

What FinTech Means?

"When you think of FinTech, do you think of it more as a product or a service?" It was a question asked by a member of the audience at the Incubate Illinois FinTech panel sponsored Wednesday by the Chicago law firm Freeborn & Peters. It occurred to me that I take it for granted professionals in finance and technology understand what FinTech means.

EconVue Spotlight: Blockchain, ICO Special Edition

We have been following FinTech for a while now, but recently stories about blockchain and cryptocurrencies have been appearing everywhere. ICO's, or Initial Coin Offerings are beginning to look like a gold rush. Beyond the hype, driven by exponential returns for the likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum, what are the constraints on further growth?

The ICO Explosion: A Primer

If you’ve been following recent news headlines, you may have noticed an uptick in the number of articles discussing blockchain technology, and more specifically, the emergence of a new venture funding model based on that technology: the token sale. But first, a brief explanation of blockchains.

Population, Participation and Productivity: How to Think about Long-Run Economic Growth

Here is my recent presentation to the International Conference of Commercial Bank Economists (ICCBE) in Paris this week. 

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