Finextra Research: Latest fintech news, analysis, interviews, features and opinion by industry experts

What will drive capital markets firms to migrate to cloud in 2020 and beyond?

Legacy infrastructure cannot keep pace with the continuous automation, changing regulatory demands, dynamic market conditions and growing customer expectations in the financial services industry today, particularly in capital markets. Firms have started to realise the opportunities that come with cloud, redesigning operating models and implementing cost-saving measures to increase efficiency.

25 September 2020

Company update/startups

Relaunched VC firm Mouro Capital leads $26m funding round

Mouro Capital, the $400 million successor fund of fintech-specialist Santander InnoVentures, has led a $26 million financing round including debt and equity in Uncapped, a company changing the way growing online brands fund marketing and inventory.

23 September 2020

News/startups

UK's Tech Nation announces latest fintech cohort

Thirty one UK scaleups have been selected to participate in the third cohort of Tech Nation's fintech programme.

23 September 2020

News/sustainable

EY: Sustainable goals in finance won’t be met with traditional behaviours

Financial services firms must evolve their mindsets to both manage risk effectively and to ensure that the industry meets sustainable goals, according to Sandy Trust, sustainable finance consulting lead at EY and deputy chair of the IFOA’s Sustainability Board.

23 September 2020

Company update/cloud

Finastra brings financial inclusion to developing markets in APAC

Finastra has announced plans around a range of initiatives which will enable its customers to accelerate through change, as well as creating positive outcomes for millions of people around the world. The move is part of the company’s ongoing innovation and open cloud platform strategy.

23 September 2020

News/inclusion

Finastra to prioritise tackling financial exclusion and SME funding issues

As part of its accelerated innovation mission and open cloud platform strategy, Finastra has set forth a plan to support nine million lives around the world and focus on resolving the SME funding gap, inequality in financial services and financial exclusion.

22 September 2020

News/wholesale

The fintech barbarians are no longer at the gate - they’ve been invited inside

The paradigm of challengers and incumbents should be revisited in the light of widespread collaboration between the two, according to Tony McLaughlin of Citi and Mike Massaro, CEO of Flywire.

18 September 2020

News/payments

Swift outlines strategy to expand beyond financial messaging

Interbank payment network Swift is to expand beyond pure-play financial messaging to offer member banks a range of transaction management services.

17 September 2020

News/covid-19

Covid crisis sparks innovation drive at UK banks

The Covid-19 crisis is spurring incumbent banks to shed costs and increase automation at speed, leading to surprising breakthroughs in agility and innovation nouse, according to a survey of 263 senior UK banking executives conducted by FT Focus on behalf of Appian.

17 September 2020

Company update/startups

Plug and Play selects eight startups for Fintech Europe programme

Fintech Europe, Plug and Play's fintech-focused innovation platform based out of Frankfurt, Germany, announced today the eight startups selected for its sixth batch.

16 September 2020

Company update/Innovation

Bank of America sets company record for patents filed and granted during first half of 2020

Bank of America today announced it has recorded the most patents filed and granted in the first half of any year in the history of the company.

15 September 2020

Company update/startups

OTP kicks off startup partner programme

Announced for the fourth time, OTP Group is looking for innovative startup partners as part of the OTP Startup Partner Program.

15 September 2020

News/cloud

How to combat payments fraud with machine learning in the cloud

Financial services customers are operating with faster speed and greater agility in the payments space, now more than ever with the incremental volume of card-not-present transactions, accelerated adoption of contactless payments, and new financing options at the point-of-sale, among other key trends.

11 September 2020

News/covid-19

Look beyond London for the UK fintechs that will lead post-Covid recovery

Echoing Prime Minister’s Boris Johnson pledge to 'double down on levelling up' the UK economy, Citi Bank’s Tony McLaughlin believes the country can become an even more friendly environment for fintech and should be looking outside “a small perimeter around Old Street”.

09 September 2020

Company update/startups

Fintech Frontier aims to make Cincinnati epicentre of innovation

In September and October, FinTech Frontier will present a series of virtual events featuring diverse “dream teams” of venture capitalists, founders and corporate champions to explore the future of fintech and showcase startups.

03 September 2020

Company update/startups

Alpha Bank invites applications for annual FinQuest competition

The innovative ideas, applications and technological solutions that will shape the digital future of the banking sector are being sought again this year by Alpha Bank, through the second international digital innovation competition, FinQuest.

28 August 2020

News/retail

BBVA builds gender-neutral global chatbot

BBVA has kicked against the trend to assign female voices to artificial intelligence assistants with the launch of Blue, a gender-neutral chatbot trained to answer customer's everyday banking queries.

28 August 2020

News/startups

ABN Amro joins with Techstars in startup hunt

ABN Amro is collaborating with Techstars in a search for new startups capable of transforming financial services for businesses and consumers.

28 August 2020

News/markets

BBVA trials quantum computing to optimise investment portfolio management

BBVA and Spanish startup Multiverse have run a proof-of-concept using quantum technologies to improve the process of dynamically optimising investment portfolios with market data.

27 August 2020

News/sustainable

Alipay Ant Forest, the catalyst for enabling citizen action towards carbon reduction

According to the Green Digital Finance Alliance (GDFA), by introducing nudging and incentives on digital platforms, there is potential for substantial behavioural change among digitally-savvy consumers. This can act as a springboard for scalable global climate change mitigation and reduce 8.6% of emissions from public transport.

26 August 2020