Innovate Finance and the Financial Conduct Authority have published a preview report on the UK Fintech Sandbox with a full report planned for May 2017; the preview report provides insight on the benefits of fintech sandboxes and how they can promote innovation while also helping to facilitate regulation. Source
Broadridge Financial Solutions, J.P. Morgan, Northern Trust and Banco Santander have reported a blockchain solution for increased transparency in proxy voting; the pilot solution can provide daily reporting on proxy voting throughout a company's proxy voting period; the solution is built on the Ethereum blockchain platform and can also provide for enhanced proxy voting analytics. Source
Fintech startup Meniga is one of Europe's leading bank service providers; the firm has developed solutions including software that connects legacy banking tech infrastructure with modern APIs for new digital customer experiences; it also offers banks technology solutions for complying with P2D2 regulations; it is working with some of the world's largest banks to integrate digital solutions. Source
Starting on April 14th consumers in India will be able to use their Aadhaar ID number to make payments; in theory this could replace payment services like PayTM and debit and credit cards; the Aadhaar Payments System (APS) will allow consumers to use their fingerprints to complete a transaction so long as they have an APS linked bank account; the system is not without drawbacks as there are privacy concerns and the entire system is based around data protection; this does fit in with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's move to a cashless society, though it remains to be seen how everyday consumers will utilize it. Source
Deloitte has released a report on global fintech hubs with London reported as the strongest fintech hub for the second consecutive year; the report was generated in collaboration with Innovate Finance and released at the Innovate Finance Global Summit in London; the report results were based on six main factors including: access to technical expertise, proximity to the customer base, regulatory framework, government support, innovation culture and international diversity. Source
Experian will integrate BioCatch with its fraud prevention platform; the new platform services will use behavioral biometrics to help clients detect fraudulent credit card and loan applications; with BioCatch clients can consider a range of factors including the speed at which information is entered and how familiar a user is with the application process. Source
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has partnered with HSBC, Bank of China, Bank of East Asia, Hang Seng Bank, Standard Chartered and Deloitte to launch a trade finance blockchain platform; trade finance operations serviced on the platform will include lending, issuing letters of credit, factoring, export credit and insurance; overall the platform is expected to increase efficiency, transparency and security. Source
StatPro acquired UBS' Delta platform for EUR 13 million ($13.7 million); news of the deal caused shares in the AIM listed StatPro to jump 10%; the deal will help StatPro to reach scale in terms of revenue and clients according to StatPro's CEO Justin Wheatley; the transaction shows that not only banks are able to acquire or partner with fintech firms, but fintech firms can look to acquire parts of a bank as well; in an interview with Business Insider Wheatley explained, "Acquisitions are part of our strategy, however in the short term this is a very big deal for StatPro — it adds 40% to our revenues — I think we'll be digesting this lump for a little while before we carry on but I certainly wouldn't rule out any more deals later on." Source
Jetty is an insurtech startup that focuses on insuring belongings in customers' apartments; the company also announced a $4 million seed round from investors that include Ribbit Capital, Box Group, Social Capital, SV Angel, Red Swan, MetaProp NYC and Solon Mack Capital; the company is initially offering property coverage, liability coverage, loss of use coverage and medical payments coverage; consumers have the ability to upgrade if they have high priced items in need of insurance; Jetty was founded in 2016. Source
Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google's parent company, Alphabet has become CFO Marty Chavez's new mentor at Goldman Sachs; the relationship is part of a new initiative that has Goldman Sachs focused on making its services for risk comparable to Google's services for search; the bank wants to be the leading source for trading and managing risks giving its firm the attention of risk managers that Google gets from advertisers; to do this it has created Data Lake, a machine learning platform that manages information on transactions, markets and investment research as well as communication from emails, voice calls and instant messages; the new internal technology system is based on APIs that connect different parts of the business to the Data Lake central database making its communication processes more efficient. Source