Latest Innovation News: Finextra Research

Cryptocurrency’s complex quest toward building institutional infrastructure

If the normalisation of Bitcoin and crypto-at-large is to be achieved, there are fundamental challenges that this ‘non-analogue’ asset will be faced with. During Citi’s Digital Money Symposium, panellists of the ‘Institutional Infrastructure for Crypto’ session explored the obstacles crypto firms have faced while trying to carve out a footing within the institutional ecosystem.

25 March 2021

News/payments

EBAday 2021: The road to payments transformation

After the success of EBAday 2020, the event will again run in digital format on 28-30 June 2021 for its sixteenth year, welcoming a host of board directors, chief executive officers and payments and technology heads from Europe’s leading banks.

12 March 2021

News/inclusion

Why a cookie-cutter approach to VC and funding hinders diversity

During the ‘Women in FinTech: Reshaping the Industry’ session at Citi’s Digital Money Symposium 2021, the panel tackled thorny issues surrounding securing funding to startups founded by females and those from minority backgrounds.

09 March 2021

News/inclusion

IWD 2021: No more talking, it's time for action on female representation in fintech

2020 may have been a year of challenge, but it proved that above all else, digital resilience will remain foundational, not only to female financial inclusion, but to female representation across the fintech sector.

08 March 2021

News/sustainable

Fintech’s role in Paris Agreement success and restoration of nature at scale

According to the UNFCCC High-Level Climate Champions and the Marrakech Partnership Climate Action Pathways report published at the end of 2020, certain notable breakthroughs are moving key sectors closer to the 2050 zero emissions goal, in an attempt to avert the impact of climate change.

02 March 2021

News/sustainable

F10 and New Energy Nexus unite to nurture green fintech

F10, fintech incubator and accelerator, will collaborate with New Energy Nexus to form the first global green and climate fintech program, bringing decarbonisation of financial services to the cutting edge of innovation.

01 March 2021

News/regulation

The Kalifa Review’s five-point plan to bolster UK Fintech

The long awaited Kalifa Review of UK Fintech has been released, outlining a comprehensive plan to support and bolster the sector’s significant presence across the globe. Led by Ron Kalifa OBE, the in-depth review was launched almost a year ago as a component of Rishi Sunak’s first budget.

26 February 2021

News/wealth

InvestCloud accelerates past $1bn valuation

InvestCloud has completed a recapitalisation that values the wealth platform at $1 billion. As part of the deal, two additional businesses are being rolled into InvestCloud, immediately pushing the valuation of the combined business up over $2 billion.

02 February 2021

News/crypto

Nordea: No deployment of CBDCs in 2021 but greater clarity is coming

2021 will see further clarity offered on the development of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) but deployment is still some way off, according to Ville Sointu, head of emerging technology at Nordea.

21 January 2021

News/devops

Open Banking year three: Insights from the CMA9

The UK banking industry had its hands full in 2020 as institutions had to respond to lockdowns and other restrictions on business activity designed to curb the spread of Covid-19. What effect did this have on the ongoing adoption of Open Banking? In Finextra’s annual review, we look at how Open Banking has grown, what still needs to improve and what will happen next.

13 January 2021

News/payments

CES 2021: Stripe and Plaid reveal Covid-19 ‘pressed fast forward’ on digital payments acceptance

As Andrew B. Morris from The Fintech Agenda, LLC highlights at CES 2021, the dark clouds of Covid-19 had a silver lining for the fintech industry. Unicorns Stripe and Plaid supported the global shift to a contactless economy, helping businesses deliver products and services to consumers who had collectively formed new daily habits for everything. Ginger Baker and Erika Wool explain what's next for the payments giants.

13 January 2021

News/regulation

Regulatory innovation advances in the face of Covid-19

While Covid-19 may have wreaked havoc across financial services, according to a recent report the pandemic has driven the urgency to prioritise and actively deploy fintech initiatives by regulators.

08 January 2021

News/startups

ABN Amro tops up fintech venture fund

ABN Amro is turbo-charging its fintech investment strategy, injecting a further €50 million into its €100 million corporate venture fund.

17 December 2020

News/sustainable

Establishing and defining climate fintech as an industry in its own right

A lot has changed since the fintech boom of the 2010s and the subsequent genesis of innovation, new business models, new user experiences and the formation of new companies. Richard Peers, founder of Responsible Risk and contributing editor at Finextra Research speaks to Aaron McCreary, climate fintech lead at New Energy Nexus about how a similar wave will sweep through the sustainable finance space in 2021.

11 December 2020

News/cloud

Shifting to mission-critical: What are the key drivers of cloud adoption?

Cloud adoption for financial services firms has been on the rise over the past few years - a trend that has been further bolstered by the wave of digitisation brought on by the global pandemic.

11 December 2020

News/people

ING innovation chief Legrand quits

ING chief innovation officer and CEO of ING Ventures, Benoît Legrand is to quit the Dutch lender in March next year after being sidelined in a recent shakeup of the bank's innovation unit.

11 December 2020

News/startups

Using fintech to bypass incremental innovation

Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures shared the virtual stage with Jillian Manus, managing partner of Structure Capital at Singapore Fintech Week 2020 for an optimistic outlook on all that is possible with technology.

09 December 2020

News/sustainable

Sustainable Finance Live: Building actionable ESGtech strategies with a partnership ecosystem

Finextra Research and Responsible Risk hosted Sustainable Finance Live this week, the third workshop in a series of events encouraging collaboration in the ESGtech space.

09 December 2020

News/inclusion

Kenya central bank governor: ‘Regulators should be the most innovative people of all’

In a virtual fireside discussion during Singapore Fintech Festival 2020, Patrick Njoroge, Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya argued that regulators must use their convening power to bring people and innovators together, this would change the dynamic between innovators and the regulators themselves to improve the journey toward digital transformation.

09 December 2020

News/crypto

Northern Trust and StanChart partner for crypto custody service

Asset servicer Northern Trust and Standard Chartered have sought to capitalise on the growing demand for cryptocurrency services by jointly developing a digital custody service aimed at institutional investors.

09 December 2020