Zasteo

Why Good UX & Strong Security Are Critical in Mobile Banking https://bit.ly/3792Y1X In banking, there’s a long-standing belief that apps can be secure or user-friendly — but not both.
Stronger security requires usability compromises, the thinking goes, while a slicker, smoother and simpler experience inevitably introduces vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can exploit.

This view is, at best, misguided. You can create a banking app that meets high security standards without forcing your customers to do the equivalent of filling out a ten-page form every time they want to change their details.

A UX Concept Built on a False Choice
The problem with the user experience versus security debate is that it frames it as a binary choice between the lesser of two evils. The conventional wisdom is that cybercriminals tend to go for the lowest hanging fruit.

The power of purpose in business https://bit.ly/38DBHF3 What's a company's purpose? It's not the same as mission or vision, which change when leadership changes. Strategist Ashley M. Grice explains the power of purpose to push boundaries of innovation and bring clarity to every aspect of an organization, from the top floor to the shop floor.

The power of purpose in business What's a company's purpose? It's not the same as mission or vision, which change when leadership changes. Strategist Ashley M. Grice explains the power of purpose to push boundaries of innovation and bring clarity to every aspect of an organization, from the top floor to the shop floor.

Money20/20 Europe: where fintech communities do business https://bit.ly/3uuF1Lp Money20/20 Europe will take place on 7-9 June in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, giving attendees the opportunity to find out about the latest news, decisions and technologies in payments, banking, retail, regulation and more.

With over 4,000 people from more than 1,900 businesses participating in the event in 2021, this year’s conference will bring together global leaders, challenger banks, technology companies and financial start-ups to share ideas and power new strategies and partnerships.

Confirmed speakers include Anne Boden, CEO of Starling Bank; Charlotte Hogg, CEO Europe of Visa; Susan Barton, director of EY; Gijs Boudewijn, general manager of Dutch Payments Association; and Hakan Eroglu, global open data and open banking lead at Mastercard.

Money20/20 Europe: where fintech communities do business Money20/20 Europe will take place on 7-9 June in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, giving attendees the opportunity to find out about the latest news, decisions and technologies in payments, banking, retail, regulation and more.   With over 4,000 people from more than 1,900 businesses participating in th...

Bank vs Fintech: Shifting from Competition to Collaboration https://bit.ly/3NT1kls Traditional banks are turning to Fintech in order to transform legacy processes and be better equipped to compete in the digital race.

Fintechs, focused on streamlining digital transformation for financial institutions (FIs), including banks, have raised millions to continue developing their products. With an unfading interest in companies that would help compete against fast-growing high-tech rivals, banks are now trusting Fintech to help them get up to speed and ahead of the competition; this has brought an entirely new balance in the industry that, in the end, could be beneficial for both.

Most traditional banks have decades of experience behind them and, with it, vast amounts of diverse client data. According to Simas Simanauskas, Partnerships Director at ConnectPay, this brings two-fold benefits.

“The very essence of fintech is to utilise superior technology to create better products in the financial sector, so the fact that big banking groups are turning to fintech for solutions is a dream come true for the industry,” Simanauskas said. “Firstly, the vast amount of real-world data that banks possess is a gold mine for fintechs that can utilise it to make their technology better. Secondly, many banks have similar problems, which means that a solution built for one bank can be repackaged and sold to the others.”

4 Key Omnichannel Trends Impacting Strategies in the Banking Sector https://bit.ly/3JjmANL As interactions between consumers and financial providers increasingly occur in digital channels, longstanding knowledge of consumer needs held by people at banks and credit unions must be updated or reconfirmed by digitally monitoring and analyzing people’s feedback.

The financial services sales funnel is evolving. In a market with increasing digital consumer preference, research shows digital consumers can be 60% through the buying process and will have researched two or three competitors before they move to a fulfillment step with an institution.

Recognizing this shift, financial institutions should reimagine engagement approaches and the use of modern web technology to harness the digital economy at work.

Four high-valued areas will differentiate customer experiences and drive value in the year ahead:

“We must continue uplifting each other”: Interview with Vivienne Hsu, CMO at Sokin https://bit.ly/35KwOcd It has been a crazy adventure at Sokin. Given we are a startup, we are building from scratch, and it is all very new and exciting.

It comes with its challenges but if you like to learn and problem solve, this is the place to be. We are doing things that haven’t been done before and everyone at Sokin knows that their ideas are having a real impact and are helping shape the growth of the company. At the heart of our business, we are creating a product that promotes greater access and can help people, and these values extend across the organisation.

I wholeheartedly feel so passionately about what we do, and I have seen Sokin’s incredible trajectory over the last year. What’s even more thrilling is Sokin is still in its early stages, so being part of the upward momentum as it happens is wonderful.

"We must continue uplifting each other": Interview with Vivienne Hsu, CMO at Sokin | EU-Startups It is a known fact that females are underrepresented in the overall fintech workforce. When we zoom in further and look at females in leadership positions

How AI can save our Humanity https://bit.ly/3LZEhDZ This talk is by Kai-Fu Lee, one of the leading venture capitalists in the Chinese Technology industry.
He speaks on the subject of artificial intelligence helping us improve our basic humanity with opportunities to open up more industries fueled by compassion like volunteering and helping others. A beautiful take on a subject most do not associate with being humane.

How AI can save our humanity | Kai-Fu Lee AI is massively transforming our world, but there's one thing it cannot do: love. In a visionary talk, computer scientist Kai-Fu Lee details how the US and C...

Fintech On The Front Line https://bit.ly/3u5YSQI Your Country Needs You (Well, your social media account). I was invited on to a BBC radio show recently (The Jeremy Vine show, 8th March 2022, if you are interested) to comment on the war in Ukraine. Since I know absolutely nothing about Russian mechanised infantry tactics or the relative effectiveness of tank defences against shoulder-launched anti-tank missiles I was, as you've probably guessed, there to talk about financial services with respect to sanctions and Russian payment systems.
Fintech on the front line, so to speak.

Many fintechs, such as the UK’s Wise multi-currency transfer service which has “temporarily stopped” transfers in Russian rubles, are doing their bit to contribute to the pressure on the Russian government. Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and others have blocked access to the Russian market. As a result there are cash shortages and e-commerce will be extremely difficult.

Meet Moonfare, the German fintech which raised $35 million to lower entry barrier for private investors https://bit.ly/3NClosf With the democratisation of private markets and stock market volatility, high net worth individuals, retail investors and their advisors are looking for alternative investments to benefit from high returns. However, retail access to private equity funds for individuals remain low. Addressing the gap, German fintech company Moonfare has raised a $35 million funding from London-based private equity firm Vitruvian Partners, which has earlier invested in Just Eat , Farfetch, Transferwise and Trustpilot.

The funding will come in handy as the startup is gearing up to fuel its global expansion. The company entered the U.S. market this January after it raised a massive $125 million funding in November last year.

Equipped with fast and easy-to-use digital platform, the startup offers retail investors access to select, top-tier private market funds and venture capital funds that were previously only available for institutions.

Meet the fintech that wants to make credit cards cool again https://bit.ly/3wZztd8 It’s targeting professional millennials (can’t you tell from that familiar pink hue in the marketing photos?) and it’s even won backing from Rio Ferdinand — making it the third European fintech the retired footballer has backed after Sorare and Sokin.

Yonder’s launch is the result of a £20m seed round that was co-led by Northzone and LocalGlobe, with participation from Seedcamp, and a roster of angels that includes The Stack World and Beautystack founder Sharmadean Reid, Marshmallow founders Oliver and Alex Kent-Braham, Payhawk founder Hristo Borisov and Matt Robinson.

Meet the fintech that wants to make credit cards cool again Yonder wants to woo millennial city dwellers with no credit score requirements and free gigs instead of Avios points.

First-generation finance: The struggles of being the ‘new player’ https://bit.ly/3wPhHJx On a crisp Wednesday in October 2019, Ana Leal typed away on her computer as she anxiously watched the time on her phone. A first-year journalism student at the time, Leal rushed to submit her news story by the 6 p.m. deadline. While her peers around her made plans to go out for sushi after and take naps once they got home, Leal ran to catch the subway to make it on time for her evening shift at Two Peas Pod hostel in Chinatown at College and Spadina streets.

She got home from her shift around 11:30 p.m. exhausted from the day, trudging into the shower where she began to cry. The shower was the only moment where Leal could let her feelings show. “I don’t have the time to have meltdowns otherwise,” says the former second-year journalism student, who was forced to take the 2021-22 academic year off due to cuts to her Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) funding.

Leal was previously a sociology major at McMaster University, but dropped out after her second year because she wasn’t happy there. When she transferred to Ryerson in the 2019-20 school year, she was told by OSAP she wouldn’t be given any more student loans until she paid off what she owed from her time at McMaster. When she learned this, Leal was already in Toronto, enrolled in a full course load at Ryerson with the impression she’d be getting funding. As payments kept getting delayed and then denied, Leal had to front the bill for her first year at Ryerson on her own.

First-generation finance: The struggles of being the ‘new player’ Wait, you guys are getting RESPs?

Parents are sacrificing their own financial wellness to support their adult children, survey finds https://cnb.cx/3Dn2nVL Many American parents are financially supporting their adult children at the expense of their own financial wellness.

Almost half, or 45%, of parents with adult offspring have given their children money during the coronavirus pandemic and of those 79% said the funds would have otherwise gone towards their own personal finances, a survey from CreditCards.com found.

It wasn’t just chump change, either. Those with an annual household income of less than $40,000 gave an average of $1,403, while those with a household income of $40,000 to $80,000 gave $2,170 on average. Parents who had an annual household income of more than $80,000 gave their kids an average $8,530.

Parents are sacrificing their own financial wellness to support their adult children, survey finds Almost half, or 45%, of parents with adult offspring have given their children money during the coronavirus pandemic, a survey from CreditCards.com found.

The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Yuga Labs Goes Ape For A Large Round, Fintech Rules Again https://bit.ly/3qGEQdm This week was big for NFTs and corporate card and expense reporting platforms. While only one round broke the quarter-billion-dollar barrier—a “seed” round to a company that makes ape NFTs—investors spread their money around to data analytic, biotech and cyber companies. However, fintech was the big winner again this week, as two companies raised $380 million combined.

1. Yuga Labs, $450M, blockchain: Seed rounds have come a long way—at least what people sometimes call seed rounds. Miami-based Yuga Labs closed a $450 million “seed” round led by a16z crypto. The funding round values the company at $4 billion. Yuga Labs is best known for its Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, and with the new funding announced its own metaverse project called Otherside. Just last week the company made two acquisitions in the blockchain and NFT spaces. With a $450 million “seed” round and some of its Bored Ape NFTs selling for as much as $2.9 million—according to DappRadar—it’s clear the world has gone bananas.

The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Yuga Labs Goes Ape For A Large Round, Fintech Rules Again This week was big for NFTs and corporate card and expense reporting platforms

Fintech for Gen Z: Picking Up Where The Challenger Banks Left Off https://bit.ly/3tDpEjh Gone are the days of lining up at the bank, filling out form after form, before “patiently” waiting 3 weeks for your bank card to arrive.

Just as the Challenger Banks changed the banking experience for Millennials (and many others), they’ve also begun to change the way financial institutions think about targeting other younger generations. Although young people have traditionally been thought of as having less money and as being less monetizable than older cohorts (rightly so), Gen Z are starting to turn the tides.

Many of us may think Gen Z mostly live off the Bank of Mum and Dad, but as of 2020, they comprise about 25% of the UK's workforce and 40% of the global population. Gen Zers have now surpassed Millennials as the world’s most powerful consumers, with $145Bn in spending power. As such, companies have rapidly begun to directly target this generation, with fintech companies quickly following suit.

European fintech’s fierce last year of funding shows no sign of slowing in 2022 https://bit.ly/3qyV9ZU Ahead of our Online: Fintech event, we took a look at our funding and exits data for the sector.

“Shut up and take my money!” pretty much sums up the attitude of investors towards European fintechs last year. In 2021, Tech.eu tracked more than 750 financing deals for European fintech companies, sometimes multiple rounds per company, adding up to a nearly €26 billion in investment. The biggest round hit almost €900 million, while a whopping 63 of them were over €100 million.

Talk of a "fintech bubble" seems to have quietened down for now, and the money is still flowing in 2022. In the first two months of this year, investors already ploughed €5.7 billion into fintech firms, far surpassing the €2.7 billion invested in January and February of 2021.

European fintech’s fierce last year of funding shows no sign of slowing in 2022 The fintech industry outpaced all other tech sectors when it came to VC funding last year — and it is off to a supercharged start in 2022.

Building a Generational Fintech: Empower the CFO https://bit.ly/3NdSv5r One of the common questions we encounter in this space is as follows: this seems like a crowded market; there are tens, if not hundreds of tools addressing each key function and their respective sub-functions.

However, as we peel the onion a little, we realize that companies are solving each activity as a disparate function, and no part of the stack actually talks to each other. A vast majority of the tools are legacy, do not scale well on the cloud, and most importantly, require an army of employees to operate.

Therefore, companies often end up building large finance teams who spend the bulk of their time gathering data from different systems, cleaning it up, and then tying it all together to get a seemingly accurate picture of their business.

Building a Generational Fintech: Empower the CFO The role of a CFO will witness a paradigm shift; much like the sales organization, tech adoption in CFO office will be ubiquitous.

David Burkus: Why you should know how much your coworkers get paid https://bit.ly/3tw1Cqe In his talk at TEDxUniversityofNevada, David Burkus poses the question: "What would happen if we had total pay transparency?"

As a management researcher and the author of "Under New Management: How Leading Organizations Are Upending Business As Usual," Burkus has spent several years studying pay transparency and found that employees at companies that are open about salary tend be more engaged, work harder to improve, and are less likely to quit. At companies where salary is kept secret, employees generally feel they're being underpaid and discriminated against.

In this talk, Burkus presents compelling research to back up his claim that keeping salary secret within an organization could lead to what economists call a "total market failure."

9 of the most fascinating TED Talks about money These TED Talks will alter the way you think about money, and how you choose to save, spend, and earn.

David Burkus: Why you should know how much your coworkers get paid https://bit.ly/3tw1Cqe In his talk at TEDxUniversityofNevada, David Burkus poses the question: "What would happen if we had total pay transparency?"

As a management researcher and the author of "Under New Management: How Leading Organizations Are Upending Business As Usual," Burkus has spent several years studying pay transparency and found that employees at companies that are open about salary tend be more engaged, work harder to improve, and are less likely to quit. At companies where salary is kept secret, employees generally feel they're being underpaid and discriminated against.

In this talk, Burkus presents compelling research to back up his claim that keeping salary secret within an organization could lead to what economists call a "total market failure."

This fintech stock is part of the future of money https://bit.ly/3il6qZh Financial technology stocks – the fintech companies disrupting how we use and manage money in the digital age – have struggled in difficult markets this year. Their 30% fall is almost twice that of technology stocks generally and nearly three times the US stockmarket overall.

You might well begin to think the much-heralded financial revolution from a sector that’s given us star stocks like Paypal and Square (now called Block) has collapsed. But this isn’t true – get it right and the potential rewards from using technology to muscle in on the daily financial needs of hundreds of millions of people every hour of every day remain huge, with double-digit long-term growth rates widely predicted.

This fintech stock is part of the future of money | MoneyWeek Financial technology stocks have sold off in recent months, but companies such as SoFi Technologies offer attractive long-term prospects

Most Exciting Stats And Predictions For FinTech Market https://bit.ly/3tjuWA1 Globally, the factors contributing to the fintech revolutionization include technical innovations like AI and cloud technologies. With customers no longer satisfied with the ways banks were delivering services, the revolution in finance was welcome and long-anticipated. The statistics below reveal the influence that fintech is currently having on major markets and industries.
The Fintech stats:

- On a global scale, 96% of customers are aware of at least one digital payment or money transfer service. The figure is featured in Ernst&Young’s “Global Fintech Adoption Index”.

- In 2020, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, ⅔ of global transactions were executed online, as reports Atos.

- In 2018, the global investments in the development of fintech services constituted $128 billion, making it a pivotal year for fintech.

- The global fintech adoption rate reached 64% according to the EY index of global fintech adoption.

Tech for good: Environmental, social and governance innovations in Scotland https://bit.ly/34NApFV Scotland’s world-renowned fintech sector is solving a multitude of issues for society and the environment. Scottish-developed tech and data solutions mean that people are no longer excluded from legal or financial services and can prove their identity digitally.

Meanwhile, satellite data is enabling insights into issues such as greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation, allowing greater scrutiny of green pledges from governments, investments and corporations around the world.Scotland is a hive of activity for tech, data and financial services – and it is the purposeful intent of data use that is accelerating the development of improved products.

Leading the drive is FinTech Scotland, a cluster of problem-solving organisations made up of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), working with strategic partners across industry, universities, government agencies and regulators.

Organisations in the fintech cluster are pulling in the same direction. Different verticals are collaborating horizontally to advance technologies. This will ultimately help build a more inclusive society during the shift to a low-carbon economy.

Tech for good: Environmental, social and governance innovations in Scotland Scotland's globally recognised fintech hub is attracting talent and businesses from the world over to help make a positive difference to Scotland and the planet.

SME LENDING HITS £4.8BN IN Q1 – UK FINANCE https://bit.ly/3q9zQ0A Gross lending to SMEs stood at £4.8bn in the final quarter of 2022, according to data published by UK Finance.

The data, released as part of the latest Business Finance Review, found that the figure for Q4 was broadly unchanged from previous quarter and totalled £22.6bn for the whole of 2021.
Applications for new loans and overdrafts stabilised in the final quarter of the year.

Invoice finance and asset-based lending advances increased by five per cent on the quarter.The value of repayments edged down on the quarter but remain above pre-pandemic levels and were 38 per cent higher in 2021, compared with the previous year.

Stephen Pegge, managing director of commercial finance at UK Finance, said: "2021 was another rollercoaster year for SMEs, right to the end. Encouragingly, we have seen the economy recover back to pre-pandemic levels, though some sectors still have a way to go to close the gap.

SME lending hits £4.8bn in Q1 – UK Finance Gross lending to SMEs stood at £4.8bn in the final quarter of 2022, according to data published by UK Finance.

Top FinTech TED Talks That Inspire Us https://bit.ly/3MR8qGD TED Talks are thought provoking, inspirational, and arguably one of the best ways to make your daily commute entertaining. One of the most amazing things about TED Talks is the diversity of topics that speakers discuss, and how their talks are frequently at the forefront of emerging technology.

In our last TED Talks blog post we selected a number of inspiring TED Talks that address the subject of Lending, and how machine learning, alternative data, and technology are changing the way lenders operate and offer their services. This time we’ve binge watched our way through talks that explore the topic of FinTechs and how technology is advancing the world of finances.

When it comes to FinTech, banking, and well, financial services in general it’s easy to get lost in the numbers (pun intended), and forget about the potential impact a business can have on their industry or even the world. Fortunately, TED Talks are available to inspire you to look at the big picture and use technology to create positive change in both financial service accessibility and the impact banking availability can have on an individual.

Charting the growth of the regional fintech ecosystem https://bit.ly/3MRE071 How did the pandemic turbocharge the financial sector?

The pandemic had a major impact on the financial sector, with a notable acceleration in the global trend for online trading and investment in the self-directed space primarily due to increased volatility in the worldwide capital markets.

Enabled by technological developments being made by the industry, a new generation of investors migrated to online trading, where they are better able to track and trade markets thanks to the enhanced information and education available on digital platforms.

This trend had been building for some time, thanks to the tech advancements and changing behaviours that have brought about the ’digital-first’ approach that has been embraced by both society and our industry, leading to digital and mobile platforms, apps and services, which have provided consumers with new ways to manage wealth.

Five Questions Startup Investors Must Answer In 2022 https://bit.ly/3tN54vt Serial entrepreneur and angel investor Steve MacDonald CEO of MacDonald Ventures of looks at five areas for startup investors to watch in 2022.

Despite all the disruptions of 2021, it was a good year for startup investors. A recovering economy, booming tech sector, endless dealmaking, and lots of investment capital fueled plenty of investing opportunities despite the pandemic’s continuing impacts. Just as importantly, there’s still plenty of room for optimism heading into 2022, despite all of January’s stock-market mayhem.

That market mayhem, combined with several maturing technology trends, a winter Covid resurgence, tougher regulatory oversight, the Great Resignation, and other changes will require new strategies for success in 2022, though. It won’t be enough to throw a wad of cash at a decent idea and walk away, expecting later investors to cover up any mistakes with late-arriving “dumb” money. Here are my thoughts on five big questions that will shape where I’m putting my money in the new year:

17 Fintech Trends You Should Know About: The Ultimate Guide https://bit.ly/3I3Bbw2 The future of fintech looks bright, with AI, robotic process automation, smart contracts, DeFi, and virtual reality all on the rise

Fintech is a rapidly evolving development with the potential to disrupt many parts of the financial sector. The growth of financial technology companies in recent years has been astonishing.

There are now more than 26,000 fintech companies operating internationally, and collectively they employ around 500,000 people worldwide. About 30% of all banking customers use at least one financial service offered by a non-traditional provider.

In the world of banking, fintech is on everyone's lips. It has revolutionised several industries in the financial sector, from payments to consultancy services. To help you stay on top of all the latest trends propelling the fintech revolution, we have compiled a list of seventeen technologies changing the industry.

17 Fintech Trends You Should Know About: The Ultimate Guide The future of fintech looks bright, with AI, robotic process automation, smart contracts, DeFi, and virtual reality all on the rise