Fintech

This week’s blogs are inspired by our global connector Marisol Menendez As mentioned, this week is a little different and, in the first of three interviews with entries in our Nordic Connection Festival during the summer, I interviewed Davyde Wachell, founder and CEO of Responsive AI … Tell me about …

This week’s blogs are inspired by our global connector Marisol Menendez This week is a bit different on the blog as I’m going to introduce you to one of my other businesses: Nordic Future Innovation. Nordic Future Innovation (originally Nordic Finance Innovation) is a venture I  started almost ten years ago with …

After writing quite a lot challenging the challenger banks, one reached out to me asking for a slight correction of view. OakNorth. Now, this is a bank I like, as they’ve been doing so much under the radar, so I said that if they wanted to raise their head above …

I just presented to the Merchant Payments Ecosystem conference. I’ve presented there before, and this year was virtual … as are all 2020 conferences. 2020 is the virtual year. I sat and thought about what to present. I have 1,000 slides or more, but I don’t do slides on lockdown. …

I’ve spent a long time writing about how bad banks are with technology and digital transformation … but I’ve never said banks will be eaten by technology. So many other companies and industries are destroyed by technology, but banking is not one of them. I laugh when I read about …

Regular commentator and contributor Ajit Tripathi wrote a brilliant piece the other day, discussing the path to profitability for neobanks. He’s kindly allowed to share his insights here, so enjoy! Neobanks have Jobs to Be Done Abstract: Covid19 has changed the capital and market environment for neobanks and challenged the strategic assumptions …

During my karaoke lockdown challenge, I’ve been surprised how engaged my audience is, from those who encouraged me to do JaJa Ding Dong to a trans-Atlantic duet with Barb MacLean of Islands in the Stream. However, I’ve never been as challenged as I was this week. I got an email …

The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) came out with another white paper last week (read the previous one on the rise of central bank digital currencies here). This one focused upon: Regulating fintech financing: digital banks and fintech platforms Interesting stuff. Here’s the executive summary: This paper explores how fintech …

As someone who’s followed Alibaba, Alipay and Ant Financial – now Ant Group, btw – for a long time, I cannot let their IPO appear without comment. If you haven’t spotted it, here’s coverage in The Wall Street Journal: Ant Group Co., the Chinese financial-technology giant controlled by billionaire Jack …

I’m going to shut up about challenger banks soon, but noted that even the regulator is getting worried about them. After Monzo’s admittance that it may not continue as a going concern if the pandemic continues through 2021, N26 admitting that profit is not their focus, Revolut’s tripling of losses, …

I realise I come across sometimes as a bit whiny, crotchety and grumpy, so decided to upgrade the dialogue with what is positive and what can be done. After critiquing all last week, I do like the challenger banks’ ways of providing more analytics and real-time updates to my way …

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 …

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 …

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 …

During the summer we performed some extensive research, released today. Details below: Download the Survey Report and View the Video News Release The survey is available at no charge and can be downloaded by providing a few basic details about yourself. View the video news release as well.   Bank …