Banking as a service is one of the hottest trends in fintech today with fintechs, service providers and banks all...
The UK recently visited China on a trade mission and signed a number of fintech deals worth more than $1.8bn; the deals are looking to create a deeper partnership between the nations and potentially create more than 850 jobs; deals include Innovate Finance and NIFA's memorandum of understanding, CurrencyCloud and X-Transfer's partnership and UK fintech R5FX's collaboration with Shanghai Clearing House. Source.
The UK government now has three schemes including the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan...
The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond will announce the creation of a task force focused on cryptocurrencies; the task force will include the Treasury, the Bank of England, and Britain's financial watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority; the task force will help manage the risk surrounding cryptocurrencies and better understand how blockchain technology can be implemented. Source.
U.S. based growth investor, Motive Partners, recently opened their European hub in Canary Wharf, London as they see the market as one of the epicenters of financial services; this is the latest sign that London has not lost their attractiveness since Brexit; a few additional reasons for being a destination include experience with the new open banking regulations and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has been very supportive of fintech. Source.
The UK saw 5.5 percent fewer startups begin in the last year; startups have found getting funding to be increasingly hard and only 53 percent survive their first three years; most business owners are starting companies on the side and tend to have a full time job as well; the government has tried to help with programs like Start Up Loans which lends money to emerging companies; startup owners not only find business to be hard but end up debt in many cases as they can never really get sales off the ground. Source.
While writing in AltFi LendInvest’s Executive Chairman Christian Faes said the UK government should follow what Australia has done to...
The UK’s banking market has seen a number of new entrants since the financial crisis but it hasn’t been easy...
Business Insider reports on the UK Treasury's first International Fintech event; the UK's Chancellor Hammond is scheduled to speak about growing and strengthening fintech amid the challenges presented by Brexit; the CEOs of Funding Circle and TransferWise will also be speaking at the event. Source
Chancellor Hammond has reported the UK Spring Budget which provides insight for the region on the UK's economy as it separates from the European Union; the Spring Budget included a 270 million British pound ($328 million) investment by Industrial Strategy challenge fund for development of innovative technologies; Crowdfund Insider provides comments on the Spring Budget from a few executives in alternative finance; of note is the Budget's continued provision that prevents investors from diversifying across innovative finance individual savings accounts and a change in the tax on dividend income. Source