Shareholders and regulators have approved Sichuan XW Bank as the new name for one of China's newest online banks; Sichuan XW Bank is supported with capital by Xiaomi, an electronics and home appliances manufacturer; its leading competitors in the online banking market in China will be WeBank and MYBank. 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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California mortgage lender Opes Advisors is using proprietary software technology to help clients think more holistically about how buying a home fits into their financial plans; the company originates approximately $3 billion in mortgage loans per year and has built technology software that advises clients on comprehensive financial planning; also offering wealth management, the company provides comprehensive advisory services that are unique in the mortgage lending market. Source
Chinese consumers are increasingly using mobile payment technology; currently 57.7% of the country's internet users are using mobile payment services; the shift to mobile payments is being supported by the growth from fintech companies which has also helped to make China the world's leading fintech hub; four of the world's largest fintech unicorns, Ant Financial, Lufax, JD Finance and Qufenqi, all have their headquarters in China; Bitcoin is also popular in China, accounting for 42% of the digital currency's transactions; statistics also show mobile payment services advancing ahead of traditional bank offerings with Alipay reporting more than 50% market share in mobile payments; while the country has seen exponential growth from fintech services, Chinese regulators are evolving fintech regulations which could require greater compliance requirements from fintech companies. Source
PJSC Siberia Airlines has announced the first letter of credit service payment using blockchain; the opening and executing of the letter of credit issued from Alfa-Bank was recorded with smart contracts on a distributed ledger; the subsequent payment for services will also be transacted through blockchain technology; Alfa-Bank provided members of the deal with an electronic Alfa-business online system for deal processing. Source
Stratfor has released its predictions for the global economy in 2017 with some interesting forecasts; the global intelligence firm says a slowing economy in China will affect the world with demand down and more domestic manufacturing; the US will experience a global retrenchment as it focuses more on its domestic economy; in Europe, countries will become more divided and the European Union will move toward dissolving; oil prices will improve which will help producers globally; monetary policies will also be an important factor. Source
In 2016 government regulators became more involved in the fintech industry in a variety of ways; while new regulations were discussed across the globe, governments also got more involved in the industry through sandbox and innovation programs; China's fintech market continued to grow in 2016 with both private market funding and fintech company growth; in 2016 robo advisors and blockchain emerged with new services; the market now offers a broader range of robo advisor services and the leading asset managers have introduced their own platforms; blockchain also reported unprecedented growth with distributed ledger being used for a wider variety of solutions across all industries; all of these industry developments are expected to remain in focus for 2017. Source
Finnovista is a leading market advocate for fintech in Latin America and Spain; looking ahead to 2017 the organization thinks fintech will be important in promoting financial inclusion specifically with 40% of the fintech services in Latin America focused on unbanked and underbanked consumers and businesses; Finnovista's Fermin Bueno says Latin America has the ecosystem, venture capital and government support for fintech growth and financial inclusion improvements; Bueno also predicts growth in fintech will increase competition for traditional providers with 30% of traditional industry income at risk from fintech companies. Source
Bloomberg Intelligence provides insight on Asia's fintech market in 2017; in internet finance Alibaba and Tencent have a strong market position with high barriers to entry set for the growing market; blockchain is expected to remain at the forefront of fintech development with use in online money transfers, electronic payments, banking and internet finance; insurtech will also be important with technology focused on sales distribution, product development and client engagement; data tracking, artificial intelligence and internet of things technology are also expected to be factors for insurtech. Source
Banking-as-a-service, banking-as-a-platform, platform-as-a-service, open banking and open application program interfaces (APIs) are all terms being used by fintech companies who are building innovative products for banks; the long term question is will the banks buy or partner with this technology and in a banking system like the US how wide will adoption need to be for the banking system as a whole to change; recent surveys by Cornerstone Advisors of 300 community banks, regional banks and credit union CEOs shows the current economic environment and presidential election has them very optimistic; when they are making money, they innovate less. Source