Singapore hosted the 3rd Singapore-Shanghai Financial Forum this week helping to strengthen relationships in the region; over 200 participants were in attendance; the theme of the event was "Strengthening Singapore-Shanghai Collaboration in a Changing Financial World Order" and discussions were centered around deepening financial connections between Singapore and Shanghai; Jacqueline Loh, deputy managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, was a featured keynote speaker at the event and spoke about the opportunities for fintech collaboration in the region. Source
Barclays recently announced Shelton Shugar as the new CIO of the credit card division; in a Q&A with American Banker, Shugar discusses how they plan to compete in the US payment space and ultimately compete with fintechs; he also talks about the company's cloud computing strategy as well as his perspective on voice recognition and chatbots. Source
Implementation of blockchain operations for the finance industry is still ten years away according to UBS executive, Veronica Lange; speaking at the Innovate Finance Global Summit in London, the UBS head of innovation says blockchain is still primarily in a research and development phase; there are a lot of positive reports about pilot programs and solutions and the finance industry is moving toward greater utilization of the technology but discussions at the Innovate Finance Global Summit report that new infrastructure will be required for full deployment and that will take time. Source
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released a discussion paper on blockchain that looked to better understand the new technology and how it can be used in financial services; key takeaways from the paper include the ability to cut costs and remove certain back office operations to streamline processes and increase the speed of reconciliation; while there are many potential benefits, the FCA still wants to ensure the risks don't outweigh the benefits; the FCA is also looking at how they might regulate blockchain, they typically regulate the application of technology but to ensure what they are calling "sensible development" they might consider regulating the actual ledger technology. Source
Bitcoin trading has become a viable income source for many Chinese cryptocurrency traders; launched in 2009 the cryptocurrency has recently reached highs of over 8,000 yuan ($1,160.65) and is currently trading at around 6,600 yuan ($957.53); with a global worth of over $14 billion, over 90% is currently in yuan and Chinese investors are actively taking advantage of the currency's gains; investor Huai Yang is reportedly earning 1 million yuan ($145,081) per month from trading bitcoin; other investors have also reported steady bitcoin trading monthly incomes of over 40,000 yuan ($5,803). Source
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
Kabbage's chief technology officer Amala Duggirala has taken a new role with Regions as the bank's chief investment officer; Amala Duggirala has been with Kabbage since November 2016 leading the firm's technology platform efforts; prior to Kabbage she worked as executive vice president of application development at payments technology company ACI Worldwide; her technology experience in lending and payments will help to support and enhance product development and innovation in her new chief investment officer role at Regions. Source
For the past seven years Motif has offered investors a platform for building portfolios around customized themes personalized to their investment interests and objectives; to extend the platform's offerings and provide investors with a chance to express their personal values through investing, the firm now offers Motif Impact portfolios; the firm's CEO Hardeep Walia provides details on the platform's new investment initiative and explains how the firm's offerings have evolved with economic and social movements in the US. Source
CB Insights provides a list of 189 global unicorns from its private market database; 91 companies are located outside of the US; globally by country, China ranks first in number of private market unicorns with 46; Lufax is the top P2P lender globally by valuation at $18.5 billion. Source
Innovate Finance is planning to move from Canary Wharf to a new location in the Square Mile; the industry body also plans to provide space for startups; Mark Boleat, the City of London's policy chairman, also noted they plan to bring broader and faster wireless coverage in order to attract small businesses stating that the Square Mile was a "natural place for fintech to coalesce." Source