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What’s really going on in financial technology?   

Financial technology, or “fintech” for short, is threatening to turn traditional financial fields like banking, lending, asset management and insurance upside down.   

New firms are using new mobile, social and digital technology to find new customers and offer them new financial products that meet their needs in a fast-changing world.   

All this “new” is exciting…but disruptive and disorienting, too.   Surprising new opportunities are coming fast and furious.   So are crushing disappointments.    

For instance, these positive fintech developments were announced in the last few weeks:

• Fintech funding is accelerating—it surpassed expectations by growing 96% YOY
• Ping An, China’s second largest insurer, has become the first Chinese firm to join the blockchain consortium R3 and partners like Goldman Sachs and Barclays
• In just 3 months, mobile app newcomer Revolut has processed over $300 million in foreign exchange transfers
• Sallie Krawcheck, former CFO of Citigroup, launched Ellevest, an automated investment platform aimed at women

But in the same time span, we’ve seen surprising negative fintech news:   

• Alternative funding giant Lending Club is being investigated by the US Department of Justice, the stock cratered and the CEO resigned
• The UK financial regulator (FCA) has been asked by a group of MPs to provide more detail on the risks and opportunities presented by peer-to-peer (P2P) lending and "related markets."  This inquiry could lead to further and more significant regulation that could potentially stymie the growth of the industry in the short-term.
• Number26, a German digital-only bank, closed hundreds of accounts last week because customers were reportedly making too many ATM withdrawals, resulting in rising costs for the bank.
• UK marketplace lenders may only originate $0.7 billion in 2025, down from $4 billion in 2015.   This forecast from Deloitte is a worst-case scenario, but highlights two key factors of marketplace lending:  marketplace lenders need to give investors a better return than other investments to incentivize them to buy loans and banks can easily replicate marketplace lenders' models.

The truth is, we’ve entered the most profound era of change for financial services companies since the 1970s brought us index mutual funds, discount brokers and ATMs.

No firm is immune from the coming disruption and every company must have a strategy to harness the powerful advantages of the new fintech revolution.  

This very fluid environment is creating winners and losers before your eyes…and it’s also creating the potential for new cost savings or growth opportunities for both you and your company.

After months of researching and reporting this important trend, Business Insider Intelligence has put together the definitive briefing on fintech.   

It explains the new landscape, identifies the ripest areas for disruption, and highlights the some of the most exciting new companies. These new players have the potential to become the next Visa, Paypal or Charles Schwab because they have the potential to transform important areas of the financial services industry like:

• Retail banking

• Lending and Financing

• Payments and Transfers
• Wealth and Asset Management

• Markets and Exchanges

• Insurance

• Blockchain Transactions


If you work these sectors, it’s important for you to understand how the fintech revolution will affect your business and your career. And if you’re employed in any part of the digital economy, you’ll want to know how you can exploit these new technologies to make your employer more efficient, flexible and profitable.       

Evan Bakker of BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has written a new report entitled The Fintech Ecosystem Report: Measuring the effects of technology on the entire financial services industry. The big picture insights you’ll get from this new report include:

• Why financial technology is so disruptive to financial services—it will soon change the nature of almost every financial activity, from banking to payments to wealth management.
• The basic conflict will be between old firms and new—startups are re-imagining financial services processes from top to bottom, while incumbent financial services firms are trying to keep up with new products of their own.
• Traditional banks and financial services firms are investing heavily in innovation, but leveraging their investments is difficult with so much invested in legacy systems and profit centers.
• Startups have challenges of their own—they are struggling to navigate a rapidly-changing regulatory landscape and must scale up quickly with limited resources.
• The blockchain is a wild card that could completely remake financial services. Both major banks and startups around the world are exploring the technology behind the blockchain, which stores and records Bitcoin transactions. This technology could lower the cost of many financial activities to near-zero and could wipe away many traditional banking activities completely.

This exclusive report also:

• Explains the main growth drivers of the exploding fintech ecosystem.
• Frames the challenges and opportunities faced by incumbents and startups.
• Breaks down global and regional fintech investments, including which regions are the most significant and which are poised for the highest growth.
• Reveals which two financial services are garnering the most investment, and are therefore likely to be transformed first and fastest by fintech
• Explains why blockchain technology is critically important to banks and startups, and assesses which players stand to gain the most from it.
• Explores the financial sectors facing disruption and breaks them down in terms of investments, vulnerabilities and growth opportunities.
• And much more.

The Fintech Ecosystem Report: Measuring the effects of technology on the entire financial services industry is how you get the full story on the fintech revolution.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide to the fintech revolution, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But to stay on top of the breaking developments in fintech—positive and negative—the ALL-ACCESS Membership is your best choice.  It gives you a wealth of digital information, including the daily Fintech Briefing, which gives you all the latest news and analysis on the world of fintech.   

However you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the fast-moving world of financial technology.

Join the conversation about this story »

 Japanese banking giant Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ has confirmed experiments on the rumored “MUFJ Coin”, a digital currency that could soon become the world’s first ever digital currency issued by a major bank. A spokesman for Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ has, in a statement to Reuters, confirmed that the bank is experimenting on a “coin” issued by […]

The post Japan’s Biggest Bank Confirms Digital Currency Tests appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

The price of bitcoin is back in the spotlight, but following weeks of gains, market observers are beginning to assess what's next.

What’s really going on in financial technology?   

Financial technology, or “fintech” for short, is threatening to turn traditional financial fields like banking, lending, asset management and insurance upside down.   

New firms are using new mobile, social and digital technology to find new customers and offer them new financial products that meet their needs in a fast-changing world.   

All this “new” is exciting…but disruptive and disorienting, too.   Surprising new opportunities are coming fast and furious.   So are crushing disappointments.    

For instance, these positive fintech developments were announced in the last few weeks:

• Fintech funding is accelerating—it surpassed expectations by growing 96% YOY
• Ping An, China’s second largest insurer, has become the first Chinese firm to join the blockchain consortium R3 and partners like Goldman Sachs and Barclays
• In just 3 months, mobile app newcomer Revolut has processed over $300 million in foreign exchange transfers
• Sallie Krawcheck, former CFO of Citigroup, launched Ellevest, an automated investment platform aimed at women

But in the same time span, we’ve seen surprising negative fintech news:   

• Alternative funding giant Lending Club is being investigated by the US Department of Justice, the stock cratered and the CEO resigned
• The UK financial regulator (FCA) has been asked by a group of MPs to provide more detail on the risks and opportunities presented by peer-to-peer (P2P) lending and "related markets."  This inquiry could lead to further and more significant regulation that could potentially stymie the growth of the industry in the short-term.
• Number26, a German digital-only bank, closed hundreds of accounts last week because customers were reportedly making too many ATM withdrawals, resulting in rising costs for the bank.
• UK marketplace lenders may only originate $0.7 billion in 2025, down from $4 billion in 2015.   This forecast from Deloitte is a worst-case scenario, but highlights two key factors of marketplace lending:  marketplace lenders need to give investors a better return than other investments to incentivize them to buy loans and banks can easily replicate marketplace lenders' models.

The truth is, we’ve entered the most profound era of change for financial services companies since the 1970s brought us index mutual funds, discount brokers and ATMs.

No firm is immune from the coming disruption and every company must have a strategy to harness the powerful advantages of the new fintech revolution.  

This very fluid environment is creating winners and losers before your eyes…and it’s also creating the potential for new cost savings or growth opportunities for both you and your company.

After months of researching and reporting this important trend, Business Insider Intelligence has put together the definitive briefing on fintech.   

It explains the new landscape, identifies the ripest areas for disruption, and highlights the some of the most exciting new companies. These new players have the potential to become the next Visa, Paypal or Charles Schwab because they have the potential to transform important areas of the financial services industry like:

• Retail banking

• Lending and Financing

• Payments and Transfers
• Wealth and Asset Management

• Markets and Exchanges

• Insurance

• Blockchain Transactions


If you work these sectors, it’s important for you to understand how the fintech revolution will affect your business and your career. And if you’re employed in any part of the digital economy, you’ll want to know how you can exploit these new technologies to make your employer more efficient, flexible and profitable.       

Evan Bakker of BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has written a new report entitled The Fintech Ecosystem Report: Measuring the effects of technology on the entire financial services industry. The big picture insights you’ll get from this new report include:

• Why financial technology is so disruptive to financial services—it will soon change the nature of almost every financial activity, from banking to payments to wealth management.
• The basic conflict will be between old firms and new—startups are re-imagining financial services processes from top to bottom, while incumbent financial services firms are trying to keep up with new products of their own.
• Traditional banks and financial services firms are investing heavily in innovation, but leveraging their investments is difficult with so much invested in legacy systems and profit centers.
• Startups have challenges of their own—they are struggling to navigate a rapidly-changing regulatory landscape and must scale up quickly with limited resources.
• The blockchain is a wild card that could completely remake financial services. Both major banks and startups around the world are exploring the technology behind the blockchain, which stores and records Bitcoin transactions. This technology could lower the cost of many financial activities to near-zero and could wipe away many traditional banking activities completely.

This exclusive report also:

• Explains the main growth drivers of the exploding fintech ecosystem.
• Frames the challenges and opportunities faced by incumbents and startups.
• Breaks down global and regional fintech investments, including which regions are the most significant and which are poised for the highest growth.
• Reveals which two financial services are garnering the most investment, and are therefore likely to be transformed first and fastest by fintech
• Explains why blockchain technology is critically important to banks and startups, and assesses which players stand to gain the most from it.
• Explores the financial sectors facing disruption and breaks them down in terms of investments, vulnerabilities and growth opportunities.
• And much more.

The Fintech Ecosystem Report: Measuring the effects of technology on the entire financial services industry is how you get the full story on the fintech revolution.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide to the fintech revolution, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But to stay on top of the breaking developments in fintech—positive and negative—the ALL-ACCESS Membership is your best choice.  It gives you a wealth of digital information, including the daily Fintech Briefing, which gives you all the latest news and analysis on the world of fintech.   

However you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the fast-moving world of financial technology.

Join the conversation about this story »

MGT Capital Investments, a New York-based firm, is renaming itself to “John McAfee Global Technologies, Inc.,” in honor of its incoming CEO and Chairman, the recent Libertarian presidential contender and consumer computer security pioneer, John McAfee. At the same time, the investment company is bringing on at least two of the most recognized names in […]

The post MGT Capital Rebrands, Adds Bitcoin Heavyweights to Advisory Board appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Intel has announced the creation of a new fintech innovation lab in Tel Aviv, The Jerusalem Post reports. The lab will be operated in...

The post Intel to Launch Fintech Innovation Lab in Tel Aviv, Emerging Blockchain Tech Hotspot appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

For the second time this year, physicists at the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Waves Observatory (LIGO) are giddy with excitement. They’ve just confirmed the second detection of gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of spacetime proposed by Albert Einstein a century ago. It seems we’ve officially entered the age of gravitational wave astronomy.

Read more...

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Fintech Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

Fintech is increasingly disrupting financial businesses that have existed for decades. Some companies are embracing this trend, while others are resisting it.

Insurance companies, however, are afraid of it.

PwC released a report this week that revealed 90% of insurers fear losing at least part of their business to standalone fintech companies, and approximately half of that 90% believe they could lose up to 20% of their business. The report surveyed 79 executives at worldwide insurance companies.

Part of this stems from increased investment in "insurtech," new technologies that are disrupting the legacy insurance industry. Investment in insurtech startups has increased fivefold since 2013, and cumulative funding since 2010 has hit $3.4 billion, according to PwC.

And legacy insurance companies have good reason to be afraid because these insurtech companies are creating solutions that would affect every portion of the insurance value chain:

• Underwriting: Insurtechs could more accurately assess risk than incumbents because they collect data from a wider pool of sources and have more sophisticated analytics capabilities. 
• Pricing: Insurtechs having granular data from IoT devices, such as sensors in cars and wearable fitness bands, that let them provide customized pricing plans that appeal to consumers who demand flexible pricing options. 
• Customer acquisition: Similar the wealth management field, automated advisory can work for insurance policies, which would reduce or eliminate the need for agents.

We’ve entered the most profound era of change for financial services companies since the 1970s brought us index mutual funds, discount brokers, and ATMs.

No firm is immune from the coming disruption and every company must have a strategy to harness the powerful advantages of the new fintech revolution.

The battle already underway will create surprising winners and stunned losers among some of the most powerful names in the financial world: The most contentious conflicts (and partnerships) will be between startups that are completely reengineering decades-old practices, traditional power players who are furiously trying to adapt with their own innovations, and total disruption of established technology & processes:

• Traditional Retail Banks vs. Online-Only Banks: Traditional retail banks provide a valuable service, but online-only banks can offer many of the same services with higher rates and lower fees

• Traditional Lenders vs. Peer-to-Peer Marketplaces: P2P lending marketplaces are growing much faster than traditional lenders—only time will tell if the banks strategy of creating their own small loan networks will be successful

• Traditional Asset Managers vs. Robo-Advisors: Robo-advisors like Betterment offer lower fees, lower minimums and solid returns to investors, but the much larger traditional asset managers are creating their own robo-products while providing the kind of handholding that high net worth clients are willing to pay handsomely for.

As you can see, this very fluid environment is creating winners and losers before your eyes…and it’s also creating the potential for new cost savings or growth opportunities for both you and your company.

After months of researching and reporting this important trend, Evan Bakker, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has put together an essential report on the fintech ecosystem that explains the new landscape, identifies the ripest areas for disruption, and highlights the some of the most exciting new companies. These new players have the potential to become the next Visa, Paypal or Charles Schwab because they have the potential to transform important areas of the financial services industry like:

• Retail banking

• Lending and Financing

• Payments and Transfers
• 
Wealth and Asset Management

• Markets and Exchanges

• Insurance

• Blockchain Transactions


If you work in any of these sectors, it’s important for you to understand how the fintech revolution will change your business and possibly even your career. And if you’re employed in any part of the digital economy, you’ll want to know how you can exploit these new technologies to make your employer more efficient, flexible and profitable.

Among the big picture insights you'll get from The Fintech Ecosystem Report: Measuring the effects of technology on the entire financial services industry:

• Why financial technology is so disruptive to financial services—it will soon change the nature of almost every financial activity, from banking to payments to wealth management.
• The basic conflict will be between old firms and new—startups are re-imagining financial services processes from top to bottom, while incumbent financial services firms are trying to keep up with new products of their own.
• Both sides face serious obstacles—traditional banks and financial services firms are investing heavily in innovation, but leveraging their investments is difficult with so much invested in legacy systems and profit centers.
• Meanwhile, startups are struggling to navigate a rapidly-changing regulatory landscape and must scale up quickly with limited resources.
• The blockchain is a wild card that could completely overhaul financial services. Both major banks and startups around the world are exploring the technology behind the blockchain, which stores and records Bitcoin transactions. This technology could lower the cost of many financial activities to near-zero and could wipe away many traditional banking activities completely.

This exclusive report also:

• Explains the main growth drivers of the exploding fintech ecosystem.
• Frames the challenges and opportunities faced by incumbents and startups.
• Breaks down global and regional fintech investments, including which regions are the most significant and which are poised for the highest growth.
• Reveals which two financial services are garnering the most investment, and are therefore likely to be transformed first and fastest by fintech
• Explains why blockchain technology is critically important to banks and startups, and assesses which players stand to gain the most from it.
• Explores the financial sectors facing disruption and breaks them down in terms of investments, vulnerabilities and growth opportunities.
• And much more.

The Fintech Ecosystem Report: Measuring the effects of technology on the entire financial services industry is how you get the full story on the fintech revolution.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide to the fintech revolution, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the fast-moving world of financial technology.

Join the conversation about this story »

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published an article in Finance and Development magazine that examines the case for bitcoin's blockchain technology and suggests that while the technology might have been built to "avoid banks" it could have benefits for the banking and trading sectors. Authored by Andreas Adriano, a senior communications officer in the IMF’s communications […]

The bitcoin price chart has reclaimed position above the $680 (Bitstamp) price level. For now it looks like further correction is ruled out. A Fed rates announcement, later today, hangs over global markets. This analysis is provided by xbt.social with a 3-hour delay. Read the full analysis here. Not a member? Join now and receive […]

The post Bitcoin Price Holding Ahead Of Fed appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

The AICPA has submitted comments to the IRS that seek to encourage the US tax agency to provide clarity on bitcoin and digital currency treatment.

Scammers took advantage of the recent Orlando, Fla. terrorist attack that took 49 peoples’ lives by tricking people into sending donations on behalf of the victims by setting up a fake Twitter account and urging people to donate bitcoin. The scammers used the handle @PulseOrlandoUSA and attached the account to hashtags associated with the tragedy. They […]

The post Scammers Nab Bitcoin Donations Following Orlando Terror Attack appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

The North American Derivatives Exchange (Nadex) on Monday resumed the listing of bitcoin contracts after suspending the contracts in February on account of technical difficulties, according to SMN Weekly, which covers forex, binary options, and regulation news. Nadex, the largest U.S. binary options exchange, has resumed the listing now that it has the Tera Bitcoin […]

The post U.S. Binary Options Exchange Resumes Bitcoin Trading appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

WB21 will be the first digital bank to accept deposits in bitcoin from customers looking to transfer and deposit funds into their checking accounts. Customers of digital bank WB21 will now be able to use bitcoin to transfer and deposit funds to their checking accounts. The bank has over half a million customers around the […]

The post Digital Bank WB21 Enables Bitcoin Deposits appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a provider of audit and assurance, tax and consulting services, has teamed with Z/Yen, a London-based commercial think-tank that promotes societal advancement through better finance and technology, to study the potential of blockchain technology in wholesale insurance. The two companies will tap a range of insurers, re-insurers, and wholesale brokers to develop a […]

The post PwC and Z/Yen To Explore Blockchain Use In Wholesale Insurance appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Payments Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

Over the weekend, Walmart announced plans to stop accepting Visa credit cards at all of its Canadian retail locations as a result of “unacceptably high” fees, indicating rising tensions between the two firms.

The firm will roll out the change in phases across its Canadian locations beginning in mid-July. Walmart Canada will continue accepting Interac, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. The move won’t affect Walmart’s US retail stores, according to Reuters.

• Credit card fees are expensive. Charges for accepting Visa cards in Canada amount to 1.42%-2.08% of the value of the each transaction, according to CBC. Walmart Canada pays CAD$100 million ($78.1 million) in card fees per year. Walmart competes with other retailers on price — it has more margin to play with if it reduces card fees. 
• The impact on Visa won't be significant. In the US, 70% of Walmart’s card purchases come from debit cards and a similar percentage of the retailer's transactions could come from debit in Canada as well. If that's the case, Visa cards may not account for much of Walmart's sales in Canada since Interac is the primary debit brand used by Canadian consumers for purchases at the point-of-sale. It's unlikely that Walmart would make it significantly harder for customers to pay, in order take ground in its ongoing feud with Visa. Visa had $214 billion in purchase volume in Canada in 2015. That's just over 4% of Visa's total purchase volume.

Swipe fee-related tensions between Walmart and Visa have been steadily escalating. Last month, Walmart sued Visa because of a policy that requires the retailer to allow consumers to choose between PIN and signature authentication for debit transactions. And in March, Walmart sued Visa in Arkansas over “excessively high swipe fees,” according to CBC.

This could be a bargaining move on Walmart’s part to put pressure on Visa to negotiate better fees across the board, according to the Financial Post. In response to the ban, Visa released a statement expressing disappointment that Walmart isn’t prioritizing consumers, and noted that it offers one of its lowest Canadian rates to Walmart, according to Reuters.

This split is just one more shift in the ever-changing payments ecosystem, which is continually evolving thanks to new partnerships and the rise of mobile wallets.

Evan Bakker and John Heggestuen, analysts at BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, have compiled a detailed report on the payments ecosystem that drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices.
• Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play.
• Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified.

In full, the report:

• Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond.
• Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers.
• Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step.
• Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more.
• Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem.

Join the conversation about this story »

The price of ether, the native digital asset on the Ethereum blockchain, neared $20 for the first time ever on 14th June, approaching the milestone as it appeared to break out of its old trading patterns. In recent weeks, market observers asserted that ether had been displaying a negative correlation, with the older, more established […]

Ethereum holds a top position among the promising blockchain platforms being investigated by R3, the financial innovation consortium that...

The post R3 Issues Buterin's "Ethereum Platform Review" Papers--Opportunities and Challenges for Private and Consortium Blockchains appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.