The insurance industry is adopting innovative technologies for profitable and sustainable growth; 2017 could be a transformational year for the insurance industry; key trends in insurance technology for 2017 include: artificial intelligence, predictive analytics with machine learning, cloud-based infrastructure, customer experience, and data solutions centered around internet of things technology and big data. Source
Spanish bank BBVA has acquired Openpay; fintech startup Openpay is a payment service provider that will help to facilitate real-time payments and transfers for BBVA; according to Openpay Co-Founder Roberto Bargagli: "This acquisition shows BBVA's commitment to digital transformation and it is an example of how fintech firms and banks are going to revolutionize the global ecosystem together. We will work with tremendous enthusiasm to take advantage of this huge potential." Source
The Asian Banker has awarded CreditEase Wealth Management with its first Best Non-Bank Private Wealth Product award; the award was part of the Asian Banker's awards program which has been recognizing financial services companies for 16 years; voting was done by an advisory board using detailed criteria to identify the non-bank with the best solutions for meeting the needs of high net worth customers by matching their risk profiles and investment objectives; CreditEase's CEO Ning Tang said its wealth planners focus on cross-border, cross-regional portfolios with multi-asset classes for clients and that its Toumi RA robo advisor service was created to help clients evaluate and minimize risks with a scientific portfolio. Source
Hong Kong-listed Credit China FinTech Holdings led the launch of the fintech fund with 11 other partners that consist of central state-owned enterprises, provincial investment funds, trust and securities firms and private equity firms; financial gain was not the main motivation of the fund as the participants are looking at exposure to the emerging fintech space and possible partnerships in the future; "China's fintech sector was started later than the West's but is expanding at an unparalleled pace compared with the West," Credit China Executive Director Sheng Jia said at the opening ceremony. Source
In our recent blog post we outline our three audiences in the USA, Europe and China; all of our global fintech conferences highlight the most innovative companies from around the world; at our March LendIt USA conference we are expecting 5,000 attendees in New York City with participants from over 40 different countries; we encourage our international attendees to book their travel plans early; read more about our global audiences in our blog post and contact LendIt to answer any questions you may have about international travel plans or visa letters. Source
Fast Company looks forward to 2017 after a rough 2016 for fintechs; highlighted in their five fintechs to watch in 2017 is real estate technology firm Cadre which has closed more than $500 million in inventory; wealth management company Stash also made the top five; the company has gathered over 300,000 users and recently raised $25 million from a Series B funding round; Cross River Bank, a community bank which has close ties to the marketplace lending industry, also made the list; the company provides a banking infrastructure to many fintech firms and recently raised $28 million in new capital. Source
Former CIO and Group Managing Director at UBS, Oliver Bussmann, provides his insight on financial services technology and why blockchain matters in a CXOTALK interview; Oliver Bussmann was involved in the early discovery of blockchain and says one of its greatest advantages is transaction speed specifically in securities settlement where it can reduce settlement times from two to three days to seconds; Bussmann also says blockchain will be influential for insurance, trade finance, payments and the internet of things; overall he thinks regulation, consumer preferences and new technology are important factors changing the landscape and outlook for the financial services industry in the near term. Source
Biometric authentication is becoming increasingly utilized; a few factors could help it become more integrated into mainstream technologies; an American Banker article suggests that devices need to be more compatible, consumers would need to be more accepting, multiple options need to be offered and the recognition needs to be simple; big strides have been made in 2016 however barriers to mainstream use still remain. Source
JPMorgan has invested over $10 million in LevelUp, a startup offering mobile payment services to restaurant customers; JPMorgan plans to integrate LevelUp's mobile app restaurant ordering features with its Chase Pay mobile wallet app in an effort to increase acceptance of Chase Pay at restaurants; JPMorgan's Chase Pay was announced a year ago and competes with Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. Source
Ant Financial Services Group is focused on serving small and micro enterprises as well as consumers. With the vision "to turn trust into wealth," Ant Financial is dedicated to building an open ecosystem of internet thinking and technologies while working with other financial institutions to support the future financial needs of society. Businesses operated by Ant Financial Services Group include: Alipay for payments, Yu'e Bao for money market services, Ant Fortune for wealth management, Ant Check Later and Ant Micro Loans for financing, Zhima Credit (formerly Sesame Credit) for credit reference, Zhao Cai Bao for online lending and MYBank for small business lending. Source
