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One of the things I say fairly often is that the FinTech start-up community is fairly naïve. Not all, but many, do not understand the nuances of finance and why it is regulated the way it is. Equally, some but not all behave in a way which is not aligned with good employment practices. One…

Marko Wenthin is contributing this week. He began with funding and then moved on to the issues you face once you secure that funding. In this final part, he focuses upon why it may be better to focus upon B2B2C, rather than just B2C. The beauty (and the beast) of a B2B2C platform business model…

As mentioned yesterday, Marko Wenthin is contributing this week on how to become a FinTech unicorn. In Part One, he talked about fund raising. In part two, he focuses upon the challenges that then follow. How to be a Unicorn (Part Two) If you manage to get some investors interested the next challenges appear. The…

Marko Wenthin, co-founder of solarisBank, recently contributed to my blog and, as a mate, has sent some great insights about starting up a FinTech firm which I thought I would share of FinTech banks last week. How to be a Unicorn (Part One) After announcing a whopping 300M$ D-round at a 2.7 Bln USD valuation N26 has…

I often reflect on how quickly China is moving towards being cashless, as are parts of Africa and much of India. I then realised that it is a strong mix of simple infrastructure and strong incentive. In the case of M-PESA in Kenya, there was no method of making payments from city to village, except…

The main blog headlines are … Technology is business Another interesting nuance of the FinTech Bank is the integration of business and technology. I’ve referenced this a few times, but wanted to be explicit that these banks think technology is business and business is technology. This is clearly demonstrated in their microservices team structures ……

Another interesting nuance of the FinTech Bank is the integration of business and technology. I’ve referenced this a few times, but wanted to be explicit that these banks think technology is business and business is technology. This is clearly demonstrated in their microservices team structures and agile thinking. Auditors, compliance, financial and marketing people sit…

Name the company that strikes fear into everyone’s hearts in business? In the 1980s, it was IBM. You never get fired if you buy IBM, even though It’s a Bloody Mess. In the 1990s, it was Microsoft. Sure, Most Intelligent Creatures Realise Our Software Only Fools Teenagers, but yes, they were taking over the planet….

I’m just reading a new book recommended by a banking friend AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order by Kai-Fu Lee, and the opening got me thinking. Kai-Fu refers to the Google AI machine AlphaGo that beat Ke Jie, the world’s best Go player, as a sputnik moment. For those old enough,…

I’ve had a lot of conversations with bankers and technologists, and realised something recently. That realisation is a simple but important one, and it is this: dealing with technology is very different to dealing with money; furthermore, dealing with money through technology is very different to dealing with technology through money. It may sound like…