Latest Innovation News: Finextra Research

Mondo to turn to crowdfunders as part of £15-£20 million funding drive

Fresh from receiving a restricted banking licence from UK regulators, challenger bank Mondo is raising a further £15-£20 million in funding and embarking on a recruitment drive as it prepares for life as a full bank.

16 August 2016

News/Innovation

Nationwide polishes project management with Innovation Lab graduate Cutover

Nationwide Building Society is leveraging its involvement in Accenture's Fintech Innovation Lab to test critical systems and project management technology from Lab graduate Cutover.

15 August 2016

News/Innovation

Standard Chartered commits to a biometric future; Qatari bank reads finger veins at ATMs

Standard Chartered Bank is rolling out fingerprint and voice ID technology across Asia, Africa and the Middle east, reaching a potential pool of five million customers.

15 August 2016

News/Innovation

When banking meets the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things may just hold the key to the future of banking, says Jacqueline Guichelaar, head of infrastructure and service delivery for Lloyds Banking Group.

15 August 2016

News/Innovation

Citi fintech chief Heather Cox quits for USAA

Citi's head of fintech, Heather Cox, is leaving the bank to join USAA as chief technology and digital officer.

12 August 2016

News/Innovation

Banks unsure on response to PSD2 upheaval

More than two thirds of bankers fear that PSD2 will cause them to lose control of the client interface and many of them remain unsure how to respond to the new directive, causing them to adopt a defensive, wait-and-see stance, according to research from PwC.

12 August 2016

News/Innovation

Blockchain to become 'beating heart' of financial system

Blockchain technology will fundamentally alter the way financial institutions do business, according to a report from the World Economic Forum.

12 August 2016

News/Innovation

ING pairs startups with inhouse pitches for accelerator

ING is pairing four external startups with two inhouse teams selected from an innovation bootcamp for its next global accelerator programme

12 August 2016

News/Innovation

Mondo gains banking licence

App-only bank Mondo is the latest UK challenger bank to gain a banking licence from the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulatory Authority.

11 August 2016

News/Innovation

Team GB gets in shape for wearable payments

Visa is to equip all 366 British athletes, as well as 150 support crew, with a Team GB-branded Payment Band for making tap-and go purchases during the Olympics.

10 August 2016

News/Innovation

Bank consortia look to distributed ledgers and smart contracts to rewire trade finance

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, HSBC and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore have claimed success in demonstrating the application of distributed ledgers to replace paper-based Letters of Credit in trade finance transactions.

10 August 2016

News/Innovation

Alibaba makes VR payments play

Chinese web behemoth Alibaba is working on bringing its payments clout to VR, developing technology that will let people buy goods in a virtual world by making physical gestures.

10 August 2016

News/Innovation

CMA pins hopes on technology revolution to shake up UK banking

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority is relying on a technological revolution driven by the introduction of Open APIs to kick start competition in the UK market for personal and business bank accounts, following a two-year investigation into the sector.

09 August 2016

News/Innovation

Mondo hits £20 million customer spend

Digital challenger bank, Mondo, has reached a £20 million spend on its mobile app just four months after moving in to a public Beta phase.

08 August 2016

News/Innovation

Westpac doubles down on fintech venture fund

Westpac is doubling down on its investment in the fintech startup scene, pumping another $50 million into a second fund to be managed by Reinventure Group.

05 August 2016

News/Innovation

Bitcoin and blockchain pose little risk to payments giants - Credit Suisse

Visa, MasterCard, WorldPay and others in the payments sector can relax: Bitcoin will remain a niche player and blockchain technology poses little risk, according to a new report from Credit Suisse, which has less comforting news for Swift.

05 August 2016

News/Innovation

UBS synchs trading infrastucture to NPL atomic clock

UBS has signed a deal with the UK's National Physical Laboratory for a trusted timestamping service that operates independently of GPS timing, removing susceptibility to jamming, spoofing, urban canyon effects and space weather during high frequency trading.

04 August 2016

News/Innovation

OCBC Bank to begin customer trials of accelerator graduate apps

Singapore's OCBC Bank is to move into customer testing of new applications developed by three startups graduating from its inaugural fintech accelerator programme.

04 August 2016

News/Innovation

Hogan Lovells maps out regulatory challenges for UK fintech startups

Hogan Lovells is giving UK fintech startups a leg-up on the regulatory ladder with the launch of an online tool to help firms navigate the Financial Conduct Authority's authorisation process.

03 August 2016

News/Innovation

Anthemis secures backing from EIF and UniCredit for inaugural venture fund

Fintech venture capital outfit Anthemis has raised a $60 million war chest to provide pre-seed, seed and series A financing to digitally native financial services startups across North America and Europe.

02 August 2016