Mastercard announced the new service, Assemble, will allow Mastercard partners to provide checking, budgeting and other money management tools; partners can choose from a white label version or integrate certain functions through an API; the product is geared towards millennials and is part of a wider trend in the market; Tom Cronin, Mastercard's senior vice president of global prepaid product development, said “This technology enables our partners to deliver best-in-class digital experiences today, as we work to address additional segments such as gig economy workers and underserved consumers and micro businesses.” Source.
Discusses the political and legal context for development of the agency's initiatives; outlines the Project KISS and LabCFTC initiatives which were announced in May 2017; provides an overview of the objectives involved and includes details on Guidepoint and CFTC 2.0 which are important aspects of LabCFTC. Source
Mckinsey has released a new report on fintech; report focuses on seven changes in fintech that could affect the industry; factors include expanding scope, increasing diversity, improving collaboration, impending consolidation, normalizing valuations, shifting regulations and emerging ecosystems. Source
UK challenger bank Metro Bank sees the value in having branches along with the innovation they are doing; speaking at The Economist's Finance Disrupted conference, Metro Bank CEO Craig Donaldson explained that offering the right mix of both is the key for his firm; reliance on one solution or the other does not allow them to serve customers in the way they would like, though he did say that the market has room for the digital only bank. Source
One of the most innovative banks in Europe is now partnering with Airbnb to allow residential mortgage customers to rent their properties; Metro Bank will allow customers to rent their homes for up to 90 days without any written approval; Paul Riseborough, chief commercial officer at Metro Bank explained, "Our focus is on making our customers' lives as straightforward and convenient as possible and we therefore hope today's news will give our customers the reassurance they need to jump in and take advantage of everything the dynamic sharing economy has to offer." Source
MasterCard has announced three blockchain APIs to accelerate independent developers' use of MasterCard's technology; the API sets facilitate implementing blockchain nodes/servers, defining 'smart contracts' using MasterCard's technical language and executing transactions on its 'Fast Pay' network; MasterCard is targeting applications in P2P payments, trade finance and supply chain. Source
In its annual banking report McKinsey & Co. said there is the potential for 40 percent of revenues that could be at risk by 2025 from firms like Amazon entering the space; Asheet Mehta, one of the authors of the McKinsey report, said in an interview reported by American Banker "E-commerce and tech giants are under pressure to keep increasing revenue, and financial services is a large pool they can go after. We're starting to see that." 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
The founder of Metro Bank, a UK challenger bank, says app-only banks are "all hype" and sees them more as a provider of solutions and not banking; Vernon Hill told Business Insider in an interview that Metro Bank has been around for six years, has a market cap of $3.2 billion but only started to become profitable now; he went on to say: "No mobile-only bank can deliver anything I can't deliver in the next minute and a half. What they're offering you is a tool, not a solution. The customer wants the best of every channel and my job is to deliver them the best of every channel." Source
The UK's Metro Bank has enhanced its digital banking platform and launched new services; the new services include advanced technologies across nearly all aspects of the online user experience; the enhancements follow increased competition by digital-only banks including Starling, Atom, Tandem, Loot and Monzo; Metro Bank opened in 2010 and is also an investor in consumer loans through marketplace lender, Zopa. Source