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.
News Roundup
This page contains an archive of the Global Newsletter summaries and the weekly fintech news roundups.
Every day the Fintech Nexus news team scours the globe for the most important stories of the day to include in our daily newsletter.
Then every Saturday we bring you our weekly news roundup of the top 10 fintech stories of the week with commentary from Peter Renton.
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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.
Penta is a German based fintech company that is looking to improve business banking with their Compass platform; Penta is streamlining the process to allow founders the ability to open up an account in less than 15 minutes; further features will be added in the coming months to assist founders with other registration and legal issues related to starting a small business. Source
- Shinnecock Partners Publishes an Investor’s Guide to Fine Art Secured Lending
- Sydney Angels funds QPay $570k to steal millennial students from banks
- Omnichannel and Short-Term Lending
- BBVA-backed fintech launches global bank account
- How blockchain is affecting banking (Bank on It Podcast with LendIt Co-Founder Jason Jones)
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.
Raisin has over 100,000 customers and launched investment products for their customers in Germany; customers will be able to choose from index or exchange traded funds from Vanguard or DAB BNP Paribas that cost less than .5%; Germany is a newer market for Vanguard which listed its ETFs on the German stock exchange last year. Source
Citigroup has shrunk its retail banking business over the years, but is now looking to become a national player; they plan to do this by expanding mobile app features to serve new customers wherever they live; the app will include banking, credit card, lending, investment tools and account aggregation; Citigroup has invested three years into their digital plans and also has plans for a roboadvisor within the app 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.