Latest Innovation News: Finextra Research

Citi opens PFM beta-testing site

Citi has opened a beta-testing community site to gather feedback from customers on new products in the personal financial management space.

19 December 2017

News/Innovation

Schroders launches asset management chatbot in Singapore

Schroders in Singapore has launched an online chatbot operating through Facebook Messenger to answer client queries and fetch and display requested fund management data.

14 December 2017

News/Innovation

JPMorgan Chase and Barclays join IBM quantum computing push

JPMorgan Chase and Barclays are among the first firms to tap into the IBM Q early-access commercial quantum computing systems.

14 December 2017

News/Innovation

RBA governor cool on electronic dollar; calls bitcoin 'speculative mania'

The Reserve Bank of Australia has no plans to issue electronic dollar banknotes, says governor Philip Lowe in a speech in which he also dismisses the current fascination with bitcoin as a "speculative mania".

14 December 2017

News/Innovation

Nordea takes Open APIs into live production

Nordea is to give selected third parties access to live customer datasets as it moves into the final stages of its Open API pilot trials.

13 December 2017

News/Innovation

Open Up Challenge prize winners share the spoils

UK innovation agency Nesta has doled out £1 million to ten firms who participated in a contest to inspire the creation of new products and services using Open Banking APIs.

13 December 2017

News/Innovation

Banks and fintech startups join forces on blockchain-based supply chain pilot

A group of banks and fintech startups are backing a pilot with Malawian tea farmers that will use blockchain technology to try to create more sustainable supply chains.

13 December 2017

News/Innovation

UK alternative finance market is now worth £4.6 billion

The UK online alternative finance market grew 43% in 2016 to reach £4.6 billion, buoyed by increased institutional investment and a sustained pick up in innovative business lending models.

11 December 2017

News/Innovation

Alior Bank to use Open API platform and accelerator to create fintech marketplace

Poland's Alior bank is stepping up its digital transformation strategy with the establishment of a fintech department, startup accelerator and Open API platform.

08 December 2017

News/Innovation

Santander UK poaches Barclays innovation chief Michael Harte

Santander has appointed Barclays' group head of innovation, Michael Harte, as chief operating officer of its UK business, where he will help oversee the digital transformation of the bank.

07 December 2017

News/Innovation

See, hear, feel: Visa rolls out 'sensory branding'

In an ever-expanding universe of connected, payments-enabled devices, Visa is looking to reassure consumers (and promote itself) with a "sensory branding" programme that will use sound, animation and haptic cues to signify completed transactions.

07 December 2017

News/Innovation

CIMB reports 90% improvement in turnaround time from new RPA programme

Malaysia's CIMB Bank is the latest financial institution to sing the praises of robotic process automation (RPA) as a means to significantly reduce turnaround times for manual back office tasks and deliver an improved customer experience.

07 December 2017

News/Innovation

Former HSBC and Microsoft chairs join fintech investor's advisory council

Former HSBC chairman Douglas Flint, US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and Microsoft chairman John Thompson are among the great and the good to join the global advisory council of Motive Partners, a recently established fintech investment vehicle set up by veterans of the global financial technology industry.

06 December 2017

News/Innovation

Israel's Viola Ventures raises $100 million for fintech investment fund

Israeli tech investment group Viola Ventures has raised $100 million with the backing of a pool of asset managers, banks and insurance companies towards the creation of a $150 million dedicated fintech investment fund.

06 December 2017

News/Innovation

Revolut lets customers buy Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum

European digital banking outfit Revolut is now letting its customers buy, hold and exchange cryptocurrency from within its app.

05 December 2017

News/Innovation

Barclays, First Direct and Nationwide join FCA sandbox cohort

Alongside the usual mix of AI and DLT-based startups, the third edition of the Financial Conduct Authority's regulatory sandbox includes propositions from three of the biggest banks on the high street - Barclays, HSBC's First Direct and Nationwide.

05 December 2017

News/Innovation

Boerse Stuttgart digital ventures unit makes first acquisition

Boerse Stuttgart has snapped up 100% of local data analytics startup Sowa Labs, marking its first fintech acquisition since the establishment a new digital ventures unit in September.

01 December 2017

News/Innovation

Big data and software robots crunch compliance costs for Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse says that a new big data platform and the intelligent deployment of software robots is reversing years of rising compliance costs.

01 December 2017

News/Innovation

How startups should approach working with large banks

How can a technology startup of 30 people, service its small group of clients with a combined workforce of over one million employees, $1 trillion in market cap and decades of legacy systems? By adopting a 'Thin Wedge' approach to innovation, says Guy Halford-Thompson, co-founder and director of enterprise blockchain company BTL Group

01 December 2017

News/Innovation

RBS and Allianz join C$45m funding round for quantum computing startup 1QBit

A host of financial services firms, including the Royal Bank of Scotland, have joined a C$45 million Series B funding round for Vancouver-based quantum computing startup 1QBit Information Technologies.

30 November 2017