Rishi Khosla, chief executive and co-founder of OakNorth, told CNBC that eventually the company plans to make the move into China; "It is going to be a market that we will go into. It's just a question of when and how rather than if," Khosla explained at a fintech event last week.; talk of a move comes after China’s new central bank head said he is willing to open the market to foreign companies; OakNorth has said they are in discussions with a variety of countries across the globe about expansion plan. Source.
JoinedNov. 30, 2016
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Todd is the host of PitchIt: the fintech startups podcast, a weekly interview show featuring emerging fintech founders and leading venture capitalists. He is responsible for leading the content team which covers fintech through daily & weekly email newsletters, editorial, virtual events, and in-person conferences. He has been covering fintech, banking, and venture capital for more than 15 years, including speaking regularly at industry events.
Data collected by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo) showed that China applied for more than half of the 406 blockchain patent applications; patents specific to cryptocurrencies rose by 16 percent in 2017 to 602 overall, cryptocurrency patents are not included in the blockchain category; 6 of the top 9 patent filers from 2012 to 2017 were China based companies. Source.
TD Bank has signed a partnership agreement with nCino to digitize the bank’s corporate and commercial lending; the nCIno technology will allow for quicker lending decisions and more transparency; nCino’s Bank Operating system features CRM, loan origination, account opening, workflow, content management, business process management, customer engagement, and instant reporting all on a single platform according to Banking Technology. Source.
Santander has teamed up with Ripple to bring to market the first international money transfer app by a large retail bank based on blockchain technology; the project does not yet have a launch date but Business Insider reports the companies said in the next few months; the app will allow for transfers to be settles within 24 hours and customers will be able to understand all costs before making a transfer. Source.
China’s central bank said they will open up the electronic payments market to foreign companies for the first time; international firms will be required to set up local units, establish infrastructure within China, and store client information within the country; China is one of the biggest and most competitive payments markets in the world; there are currently more than 260 companies with payments licenses and they processed more than $26tn in volume in 2017. Source.
In 2011 Regions Bank started studying their customers usage of social media and how that might effect the bank’s interaction and understanding of them; they found household revenue of customers active on social media was 60 percent higher and household deposits of social media users was 76 percent higher than non social users; the bank has a social strategy that focuses on increasing loyalty, delivering customer service but most importantly driving revenue; Tearsheet interviewed Melissa Musgrove, head of social media at Regions Bank, about how they have evolved since 2011 with their approach to social media; they also discussed challenges faced inside the bank, what drives revenue and what keeps Melissa up at night. Source.
The Venture Capital industry has seen some early signs of positive change when it comes to gender discrimination and diversity; though some still believe there is no issue and that they cannot do anything to effect change; brave women like Ellen Pao and Susan Fowler have helped others to share their stories and men in power have been forced to leave and policies at firms have changed; you are starting to see VC’s hire more women and require companies they fund to show diversity among their executive ranks; there is still a ways to go for VC’s and Silicon Valley overall, though change is happening. Source.
Lloyds CEO António Horta Osório told a conference that his bank is the largest digital bank in the UK with more than 30 million digital customers; the bank plans to spend about $1.5bn annually on their digital strategy for the next three years; he also stated he thought partnerships between banks and fintech companies will become even more important and wants to work with them in a symbiotic relationship. Source.
Florida based Axiom Bank launched a new all digital account targeted at the unbanked; Axiom partnered with fintech company Malauzai to help design and launch their mobile app; "For many in our community, AxiomGo provides the first tangible banking experience that not only eliminates expensive fees, but also enables them to perform any banking transaction needed at any time of day,” says Ron Strand-Sorrell, the bank's chief operating officer, in a release reported by American Banker. Source.
Banks have started to implement behavioral biometrics more and more as it is seamless for customers and helps to better detect fraud; behavioral biometrics firms like BioCatch has provided banks with the type of security they like, customers cannot see if but it also is harder for criminals to spoof; BioCatch reviews more than 5 billion transactions per month and has about 60 million users in their system; another reason banks love this type of security is the privacy regulations are not as strict, the data is not personally identifiable and is based on type of actions. Source.