Latest Innovation News: Finextra Research

Insurtech funding surpassed $3bn in 2018

Investment in the global insurtech market grew by 84% in 2018, topping the $3bn mark.

03 September 2019

What are the benefits of being born in the cloud?

An increasing number of challenger banks, neobanks and digital offshoots are being born in the cloud and the technology is now being used by traditional banks and new players alike for all IT needs. Banks that are born in the cloud are at an advantage because legacy players that are in the process of migrating to the cloud are struggling with application modernisation, data centralisation and security.

03 September 2019

News/Innovation

Starling opens new UK office

Online bank Starling is today cutting the ribbon on its new office in UK town Southampton as it looks to bolster its operational resources.

02 September 2019

News/Innovation

Revolut to open ops centre in Portugal

Challenger Revolut is planning to open a customer service centre in Portugal that will employ 400 people.

02 September 2019

News/Innovation

Hedge fund manager plans $1bn crypto fund

A business owned by Alan Howard, the billionaire founder of hedge fund Brevan Howard, is reportedly planning to launch a new $1bn venture focused on cryptocurrency hedge funds.

30 August 2019

News/Innovation

Singapore to accept first digital bank applications

Two months after announcing plans to issue digital banking licences, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is set to accept the first applications.

29 August 2019

News/Innovation

Aussie regulator turns to tech in new strategy

Australia's capital markets regulator has vowed to expand its use of new technology and behavioural data as part of a strategic plan to strengthen its enforcement.

28 August 2019

News/cloud

Migrating market data to the cloud

Market data is the lifeblood of financial institutions (FIs) with banks, brokers, wealth managers, asset managers and hedge funds relying on quality pricing and trade-related data to power their business applications. But today customers expect to access to data on their personal devices and FIs are stepping up their digital transformation game.

27 August 2019

News/Innovation

Carney: Digital currencies could counter the destabilising influence of the US dollar

Bank of England governor Mark Carney has posited the creation of a network of central bank digital currencies as a means of overcoming the destabilising dominance of the US Dollar on international trade.

27 August 2019

News/ai

Avoiding artificial stupidity

While most financial applications of artificial intelligence have been in the customer service space, there are other areas that banks are working with to improve through implementation of innovation technology.

27 August 2019

News/Innovation

Fintech founders pessimistic about UK's post-Brexit prospects

As Brexit looms, UK fintech founders are pessimistic about the country's ability to remain a world leader in the field, according to a survey from the Digital Finance Forum.

27 August 2019

News/Innovation

South African Reserve Bank to run fintech demo day

The South African Reserve Bank is calling on fintech firms to pitch their products to an audience of central bankers, regulators and local institutions at a demo day in October.

23 August 2019

News/Innovation

CommBank tests blockchain-based marketplace for biodiversity tokens

Commonwealth Bank of Australia has unveiled a blockchain-based digital marketplace prototype where users can trade government biodiversity credits.

21 August 2019

News/Innovation

Westpac sets aside $50,000 for 2019 Innovation Challenge winner

Westpac has set up a $50,000 prize pot to tempt startups to enter its 2019 Innovation Challenge, which this year is focusing on a new wave of data-driven initiatives based on the recent passage of Consumer Data Right legislation.

21 August 2019

News/Innovation

Irish banking federation sets up cross-sector Fintech Foresight Group

Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) has established a Fintech Foresight Group to harness new technical developments from the startup ecosystem and help to inform policy under the Government’s financial services strategy, Ireland for Finance.

20 August 2019

News/startups

Singapore fintech employment remains strong with minimal talent shortage

According to a survey put together by the Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) and PwC Singapore, 42% of fintech firms in Singapore have over 30 employees and a further 31%, between 11 and 30 employees.

19 August 2019

News/ai

Dissecting AI hype and FOMO

While artificial intelligence is transforming several industries, the financial sector has a lot to learn from specific case studies in non-banking areas such as health, travel and retail. To start at the beginning, despite the term AI having been bandied about with a number of different definitions, the actual definition is simple: technology that appears intelligent.

19 August 2019

News/startups

Funding Circle hits $10bn lending milestone

Funding Circle, the listed peer-to-peer lender, has reached a cumulative global lending milestone of over $10 billion.

16 August 2019

News/Innovation

Global fintech investment falls sharply

Global investment in fintech ventures fell sharply in the first half of 2019, as fundraising and deal activity in China ground to a halt, partially offsetting strong gains in the US, UK and several other European countries, according to Accenture analysis of data from CB Insights.

15 August 2019

News/devops

Portuguese banks back Open API platform

Portugal has taken a major step towards Open Banking after local payments processor Sibs launched an API platform that brings together 24 financial institutions.

15 August 2019