Fintech

Reading about FinTech unicorns and pizzas worth $80 million, you would think that the world was bubbling over with wealth. FinTech investments last year peaked at over $110 billion, more than double the year before, and IPOs for firms like Uber and WeWorks are seeing valuations in the stratosphere. Everything is just yummy, yea? Nah….

After my recent blogs about Earth Day, Banking for Humanity, the FinTech Parent-Child relationship and Gen Y and Z: Doing good for society and the planet (an Earth Day FinTech update) Doing bad for society and the planet (an Earth Day banking update) Banking for Humanity? FinTech and the Parent-Child relationship Are you focused on…

I’m writing more and more about Facebook launching its own cryptocurrency lately: Will Facebook become the world’s central bank? (March 2019) Will a global platform connect all of our money? (April 2019) This is because they are getting serious about payments and blockchain, after a variety of reports that they will launch their own stablecoin,…

Three years ago, I blogged about three phases of FinTech. Three years later, I can expand on that theme and talk about five phases of FinTech. The five phases of FinTech are (dates are rough guide): Disruption (2005-2014) Discussion (2014-2017) Partnership (2017-2022) Integration (2022-2027) Renewal (2027+) Phase One: Disruption (2005-2014) For me, phase one began…

I was asked to speak to the theme of Banking for Humanity at a conference the other day, and it made me realise that the five areas I’ve recently been blogging about came together nicely. First, there’s financial inclusion which is the theme of Digital Human. The fact that anyone who can get access to…

Watching the BBC, I often see reports on the elderly being ripped off, scammed and targeted by fraudsters. Here’s just a few recent ones: Hidden ‘shame’ of elderly scam victims – BBC News Reports of frauds on the elderly are ‘tip of iceberg’ – BBC News Bank staff ‘saving elderly from scams’ – BBC News…

I used to blog about blockchain and cryptocurrency almost every day. I stopped as it got too hyped, scammed and boring. In fact, my last blog was about the blockchain hype being dead, but the blockchain dream is still very much alive. Now, most people think that blockchain is something to do with bitcoin, but…

I recently gave a speech where the title was FinTech or TechFin?  Everyone had been given a copy of my book Digital Human, and the speech was transcribed. Here it is:   FinTech or TechFin?  Thank you for inviting me to join you here. It is a great honour. I’m a technologist and spent all my…

I blogged in March (Transforming the bank – three phases of change) about the method to make systems change happen to transform the bank. In another conversation, I then realised that there are three phases of organisational change to transform the bank. The first phase is a recognition that the world is transforming in a…

As those who read my blog will know by now I chair a very active group called Nordic Finance Innovation (NFI), based out of Oslo. Our last meetings were a great success and NFI rapporteur Danielle Pamela Neben did a great write-up afterwards. I’m guessing most of you will have missed it, so here it…