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

Fintechs must ‘sell simplicity’ to carve out competitive advantage

Where selling trust with a brand was once the key point of distinction for effective marketing in the fintech space, streamlining user experience through product simplicity now leads the way in superior branding strategy.

25 October 2019

News/retail

'Contactless tackle' lets fans feel the force of a real England rugby player

With the rugby World Cup around the corner, fans in London got a taste on Friday of what it's like to be on the pitch thanks to a Mastercard virtual reality gimmick that simulates a tackle from real England players.

17 September 2019

News/wholesale

UBS commissions installation to visualise air pollution

UBS has come up with a novel way to show off its big data capabilities, enlisting designer Elaine Yan Ling Ng to create an interactive installation that explores global air quality through a feed of data from monitoring stations around the world.

11 September 2019

News/Marketing

Tide debuts TV ad campaign

UK fintech Tide will begin advertising their online business banking account on television, expanding on their One Less Thing to Improvise campaign having debuted on Sky AdSmart this week.

16 August 2019

News/Marketing

Mastercard and Citi invest in Flybits

Mastercard and Citi Ventures have joined a $35 million Series C funding round for Flybits, a startup that uses AI and machine learning to help banks personalise their customer offers.

16 July 2019

News/Marketing

Dutch banks told to stop using payments data for personalised marketing

Dutch banks have been told to stop using their customers' payments data for the purposes of personalised direct marketing.

09 July 2019

News/payments

Women in Payments and Finance: Championing women across the global ecosystem

With International Women’s Day 2019 upon us, banks around the world are celebrating females in finance and addressing the scarcity of women heading up global corporations and institutions. Finextra Research will to do the same at EBAday, the two-day conference curated by the Euro Banking Association to be held in Stockholm on the 18th and 19th June 2019.

08 March 2019

News/ai

BBVA's Propel invests in psych/AI startup DataSine

Propel Venture Partners, BBVA’s San Francisco based venture capital investment vehicle, has co-led a $5.2 million funding round into London-based DataSine, which blends psychology with machine learning to create highly individualised marketing campaigns.

08 February 2019

News/Marketing

Revolut gives biz customers three months free WeWork space

Revolut has struck a deal with shared workspace provider WeWork to give its business banking customers three months of free hot-desk space.

06 February 2019

News/Marketing

Meniga buys Wrapp for transaction-driven marketing push

Icelandic digital banking tech startup Meniga has acquired Swedish rewards platform Wrapp in a bid to take on the likes of Google and Facebook in the European marketing arena. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

11 January 2019

News/Marketing

Mastercard ditches name in logo rebrand

Mastercard has taken the bold step of removing its name from its logo in a move it says is inspired by the rise of digital banking and a future where there will be less reliance on card payments.

10 January 2019

News/Marketing

Anna launches debit card that miaows

As any cat owner will testify, moggies are capable of making humans wither under their judgemental glare. Now, money management startup Anna is tapping into man's deep fear of his feline overlord with a debit card that miaows every time it is used.

02 November 2018

News/inclusion

Money 20/20 Day Four: The unconscious bias inhibiting diversity and inclusion

Taking a step back from innovation for the day, this year’s Money 20/20 Las Vegas event concluded with banking executives and fintech players sharing their personal experiences of the financial services industry.

24 October 2018

News/Marketing

EToro pays for football club sponsorship deals in Bitcoin

In an English Premier League first, seven football clubs will be paid in bitcoin for sponsorship deals with online trading and investment platform eToro.

21 August 2018

News/Marketing

TD Ameritrade buries logo on the blockchain

US brokerage TD Ameritrade has found a novel way to use distributed ledger technology, making a series of transactions in order to imprint an advertisement on Bitcoin's blockchain.

26 April 2018

News/Marketing

KFC introduces Bitcoin Bucket

The Canadian arm of KFC has launched a 'Bitcoin Bucket', inviting people to trade in their cryptocurrency for a more stable asset - fried chicken.

12 January 2018

News/Marketing

BofE had no business case for £3000 Snapchat filter

Was £3000 on a SnapChat geofilter to promote the new £10 note money well spent by the Bank of England? We'll never know because the bank did not put together a business case prior to the campaign or carry out any evaluation once it was completed.

24 November 2017

News/Marketing

F1's Jenson Button takes Santander 'Phish and Chips' van for a spin

British F1 driver Jenson Button has taken the wheel of Santander’s Phish & Chips van - serving fish and chips to the public in exchange for phishing emails and dodgy mobile texts.

02 November 2017

News/Marketing

Flight of fancy: Starling Bank ponders debit card drone delivery

Pigs might fly. And so, claims UK challenger bank Starling, might debit cards if its plan to make deliveries to customers via drones takes off.

14 December 2016

News/Marketing

Diebold Wincor and Cuscal tap beacon tech for personalised ATM marketing

Diebold Wincor is teaming up with Australian payment processor Cuscal to test the use of beacon technology that identifies people as they approach ATMs and feeds them tailored marketing offers.

23 November 2016