Pulse: Finance


Blockchain, Baby!

With the recent shift in FinTech news and hype moving toward artificial intelligence and machine learning, blockchain almost started to seem like last year's model. At the same time, predictions that 2017 would see real pilots are starting to come to fruition.

Banks and FinTechs

Banks and FinTechs should "put down their swords," as Mary Wisniewski put it in a widely shared American Banker opinion piece, "There are no heroes or villains in the data-access debate."

Many banks and FinTechs are doing just that. Yet culture stands in the way as much as anything else—on both sides, as this week's links show.

FinTech is not just FinTech anymore

Fake Partnerships

The article that most caught my attention this week came from Ron Shevlin, director of research at bank advisory Cornerstone Advisors. "FinTech—as a set of startups or a class of technology—is hardly failing," the bank snarketer (look it up) writes in debunking a startup founder's reasons that FinTech is failing.

FinTech Populism

It's a bit of a cheap headline, I'll admit, but I've been reading about the so-called populism that the current U.S. president has tapped into and wondered what it has to do with financial technology. FinTech has been styled as a way to empower people, and that's basically where populism started.

"Populism" in the most generic sense refers to a concern for the common people. It also carries the charge of dissing establishment types, whether they are politicians, intellectuals, media types—maybe even banks.

Changing Money

Thought leaders continue to point to trends that banks and FinTech insiders need to pay attention to, ranging from the use of big data to FinTech firms like Stash and Betterment, which are reshaping wealth management. Faster payments, mobile payments, and blockchain systems will accelerate their development this year.

Fed issues report on faster payments initiative

FinTech at Davos

In January 2016, the global banks proclaimed that they are all FinTech innovators now, reported Bloomberg in its coverage of the annual World Economic Forum conference in Davos.

Killing Cash Once and for All

Along with economic and political uncertainty in the United States and abroad come predictions for 2017 on the possible rebirth of banks and the final death of cash. Maybe.

Living Up to the Hype

2017 is almost here! With the end of 2016 comes a wave of grand predictions for next year. As President-elect Donald Trump enters the White House and selects his cabinet members, the future of banking regulations remains uncertain, which could lead banks and FinTech firms to polish current service offerings rather than create new ones.

Assessing Impact

As the year quickly comes to a close, news this week takes a step back to assess the impact of APIs on the financial sector, more emerging insurance trends, and FinTech’s impact on the underbanked and unbanked populations in the U.S. and abroad. We also learned that consumers are waking up to digital banking options, but contrary to the push towards digital everything, people still like cash and plastic cards over mobile wallets. Take a look at these insights and more in this week’s FinTech Rising round-up.

Regulatory Guidance - the Differences in Approach to FinTech Regulation in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union

Financial technology evolves into its next stage of maturity in 2017. Where venture investments going to FinTech firms marked progress to date, in the coming year regulatory interest will come to the fore.

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