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Shaping the future of finance

Fintech

The FinTech Poetry Challenge: I wandered lonely on the cloud

There are some iconic lines in films. Stop the world, I want to get off. I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore. Do you want to take the red or the blue pill? I’ll have what she’s having. And, right now, during these lockdown no travel times, it often…

Challenging: Why BaaS, Open Banking, APIs is all a confusion

I saw an article the other day: Top 10 startups offering ‘banking as a service’ in Europe by Silicon Canals. It’s an interesting article that completely misunderstands what Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) is, as most of the firms listed are companies offering just an API or a few APIs. 11FS did a better job here, with their…

[Monzo + Starling + Revolut] – Pandemic = The End?

Over the past week or two, the neobank and challenger bank sector has been issuing financial reports. If you haven’t noticed: WHERE WERE YOU? Monzo got a particular hammering for warning that the coronavirus pandemic could impact the company as a going concern. Some argue this is just accounting and auditing speak to warn of…

What’s the problem with COBOL?

I’m always ready to see both sides of the fence. In fact, I would rather see both sides of the fence than just my side. My side is biased and tainted by my senses and inputs. I realised that recently when I blogged about Hong Kong. There are always two sides to the story. I…

What’s the impact of coronavirus on FinTech?

Someone asked me what the coronavirus pandemic means for the future of FinTech. I guess they thought that not much is happening and many firms will shutter and close. However, some may think that times are dull and boring, locked in at home and nothing going on, but there’s loads happening in the FinTech community….

When the banks closed, no-one cared

A great headline posted in The Financial Times the other day:  When the banks closed in Wuhan, nobody cared The Financial Times article makes clear how advanced the Chinese economy is today. For several months this year, banks across Hubei province, an area home to 60 million people, shut their doors to retail customers. Most…

The new normal for conferences (#Money2020)

I’ve grown up in a period of strong political stability. I’ve been lucky. Many other people grew up in a period of strong political instability, with war and famine and economic starvation. I realise I’ve been lucky because I’m now looking at lockdown, China-US trade relations, British-EU trade relations, African trade relations and specifically those…

FinTech challenger and neobanks in Brazil

I stumbled across a great article about Brazilian neobanks the other day. Bearing in mind that Nubank is the most successful neobank in the world, with 25 million users at the start of June. As a result, when I saw a great article about banks in Brazil by Contexto, who cover FinTech LatAm, could I…

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