Current personalization efforts from financial services firms are still nowhere near the level necessary to engage increasingly demanding customers. Banks, investment firms, insurance companies and other financial services firms must rethink personalization and focus on driving customer engagement and loyalty, according to a new report by American market research company Forrester. In a paper titled Financial Services Firms Need to Rethink Personalization, the firm explains that financial services firms are currently more focused on tactical business goals and selling products rather than addressing customer needs. This results in personalization efforts missing the mark as they are narrowly applied, create awkward…

The world continues to move towards open banking with some markets, including the European Union (EU), the UK and Australia, taking the lead by creating and passing favorable regulations, according to a new report by the Paypers. In a paper, titled Open Banking Report 2019 and released in September, the company explores the current open banking ecosystem and provides an analysis of the present global state of play of open banking. Open banking leaders According to the research, the UK, Australia, and the EU are the “pioneers” and “the clear ‘front runners’ of open banking” worldwide. In these jurisdictions, regulators…

Für Kunden der Swissquote Bank AG werden Immobilien-Anlagen zum Kinderspiel. Sie können die Anleihe CROWDLITOKEN auf der Angebotspalette der Schweizer Online-Bank wie andere Anlagen ganz einfach erwerben. Swissquote übernimmt zudem die Aufbewahrung der digitalen Anleihe und bietet seinen Kunden eine Plattform für den Wiederverkauf. Swissquote stärkt damit ihr Angebot an digitalen Finanzprodukten, für das Liechtensteiner Fintech-Unternehmen CROWDLITOKEN AG ermöglicht diese Bankenlösung einen alternativen Zugang zu neuer Kundschaft. Über 300’000 Kunden zählt die Swissquote, die grösste Schweizer Online-Bank. Ein grosser Teil dieser Kundschaft dürfte an modernen Finanzprodukten und evolutionären Finanzanlagen interessiert sein. Auf diese Interessen kann die Immobilien-Anleihe CROWDLITOKEN (CRT) bestens…

Within 5 to 7 years, digital payments will become more prominent as tech solutions substantially increase in convenience compared to cash. Nevertheless, cash will continue to be perceived and widely used as a store of value. This is, according to SIX, the most-likely scenario among the seven possible futures for money. In a new whitepaper part of the Picture of the Future series, SIX presents seven scenarios for the future of money. According to SIX, the most-likely scenario to happen is where digital payments would rule. In this scenario, banks would be required to open interfaces to their digital vaults…

A new phenomenon has emerged: WealthTech. Being a younger sibling of the Fintech family this topic is about to change the way we think about wealth and asset management and how we deploy technology in order to improve it. As only very little literature exists on this topic 35 experts from academia and practice have gathered in a truly global fashion to share their views on WealthTech in this newly released book: “WeathTech: Wealth and Asset Management in the FinTech Age”, edited by Professor Patrick Schueffel of HEG, School of Management Fribourg. In one volume scholars and business experts spanning…

Deloitte has announced its selection of this year’s 50 fastest-growing technology companies in the UK, naming digital banking unicorn Revolut as the top tech company. Deloitte’s 2019 UK Technology Fast 50 awards recognize and rank the top 50 tech companies in the UK based on the last four years of revenue data. Fintech unicorn Revolut emerged as the overall winner, generating an average three-year growth rate of 48,477% to the year 2018/2019 – the fourth-highest growth in the history of Deloitte’s UK Fast 50 competition. Revolut offers banking services including a prepaid debit card, fee free currency exchange, commission free…

This year again, Switzerland heads the global ranking in terms of wealth with an average of US$564,650 per adult, a 144% increase since 2000. Switzerland is followed by Hong Kong (US$489,260) and the US (US$432,370) as the world’s wealthiest countries per adult, according to the Credit Suisse Research Institute’s annual Global Wealth Report. And it appears that Swiss have actually gotten richer over the past year. The country recorded the biggest gain in 2019, up US$17,790 compared to 2018 in terms of total wealth gain per adult for a combined personal wealth amounting to US$3.9 trillion. Switzerland surpasses the US…

On the global fintech scene, the US has been amongst the top leaders, accounting for 57% of the fintech market in 2018, according to a Mordor Intelligence research. Consumers in the country have realized the key benefits of fintech solutions such as lower rates and fees, convenience, simplicity, transparency and personalization, and on average, it is estimated that one out of three digitally active consumers uses two or more fintech services. Fintech continues its momentum this year, with investment in US fintech companies surging to US$12.7 billion in the first half of 2019. That represents a 60% increase in value…

Fintech is Europe’s largest venture capital (VC) investment category, receiving 20% of all VC investment in the region between 2017 and 2019 year-to-date (YTD), surpassing enterprise software (17%), health (13%) and transportation (8%), according to the State of European Fintech 2019 report by Dealroom, in partnership with Finch Capital. In Europe, fintech investment is gaining momentum, outperforming Asia for the first time since 2015 with US$5.1 billion raised by European fintechs in H1 2019, against US$2.2 billion for Asian fintechs. European challenger banks and payments companies have raised the largest chunk, with both categories raising EUR 2.4 billion in 2019…

Though challenger banks have attracted a collective customer base of over 200 million customers, many of them are still not profitable, according to a new research by Amsterdam-based Fintech Consultancy Group (Fincog) which analyzed over 150 challenger banks worldwide. Fincog, which performed a benchmark on a selection of leading challenger banks internationally including Revolut, Monzo, Monese, N26 and Bunq from Europe, found that all of the region’s top neobanks have negative profitability. In the region, UK-headquartered Monzo was found to be the biggest loser, with a total net loss of US$58 million in YE (year ending) February 2019, or a…

Gokong, a Swiss Personal Finance Platform, recently announced that Bank Vontobel is taking full control over the platform We did an exclusive interview* with Gokong’s CEO about the exit and about the Swiss Personal Finance and the Financial Fitness market. Fintech News Network (FNN): Why is it important that Bank Vontobel is taking now control? Rahul Kaushik (RK): Let’s have a look around within the banking and financial services space. We see that current distribution which hadn’t been too much of an issue in the past is now in fact a big threat and challenge due to developments in the…

Trade finance is an industry that’s historically been inundated with paper trails and inefficiencies, and which still heavily relies on paper, phone calls, emails and fax machines. But with the emergence of new technologies and innovative business models, fintech companies are poised to disrupt the age-old processes that make up trade finance. One of the major challenges faced by SMEs today is access to financing. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates a US$1.5 trillion gap in global trade finance in 2016 with micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) being the hardest hit by gaps in trade finance. In 2016, as much of…

In the same way technology is changing the financial services industry, technology is also changing how the industry and supervisory authorities implement and enforce regulations. Today, an increasing number of supervisory authorities are turning to technology to support their work, leveraging so-called supervisory technology (suptech) applications to digitize report and regulatory processes. What is Suptech? Suptech refers to the use of innovative technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) by supervisory agencies to support supervision. In other words, it’s the technologies for the regulators themselves. As with other regtech solutions, suptech is about improving efficiency through…

Germany is one of the key fintech locations in Europe, and according to the country’s economic development agency, Germany Trade and Invest, the fourth largest in the world. Germany’s booming fintech industry has been driven by robust funding from domestic and international investors, the federal government’s active support, and the country’s position as a leading financial center in mainland Europe. Today, Germany is home to some 800 fintechs, according to the agency, and to seven of the top 50 most well funded fintechs, namely N26, Wefox, Raisin, Deposit Solutions, Smava, Kreditech and Solaris Bank. German fintech hubs In Germany,…

The European Union (EU) is home to 24 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), representing about 99.8% of all companies and employing 93 million people that account for two-thirds of total employment. Although SMEs make up a large part of the economy, they have traditionally faced many barriers to financing from traditional lending institutions. Additionally, SMEs have also become increasingly frustrated with what they perceive to be poor customer service through the continued deployment of legacy processes. Tapping into unmet needs of SMEs, fintechs and neobanks/digital banks have emerged over the past years to offer more convenient and cheaper products…

Apiax, a Swiss RegTech startup empowering enterprises with digital compliance solutions, today announced its completion of a $6.6 million Series A funding round. The round is co-led by e.ventures, based in the US and Germany, and XAnge, based in France and Germany. The funding round will support Apiax’s global growth plans for its solution for mastering complex regulations digitally. Apiax was founded to empower companies in major industries to focus on their core business objectives despite regulatory headwinds. The RegTech startup transforms written regulations into binary, machine-readable digital compliance rules to provide everyone with easy access to compliance knowledge and…

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) have signed an Operational Agreement on the BIS Innovation Hub Centre in Switzerland. The Hub will identify and develop in-depth insights into critical trends in technology affecting central banking, develop public goods in the technology space geared towards improving the functioning of the global financial system, and serve as a focal point for a network of central bank experts on innovation. In the initial phase, Hub Centres will be established in Switzerland, Hong Kong and Singapore. The Swiss Centre will initially conduct research on two projects. The first…

Blockchain, the technology behind bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, has the potential to transform the way we exchange assets, providing a secure method for transferring money, contracts, land titles, data, and more, digitally and with few or no intermediaries. Yet, despite the many potential benefits, applying blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) this way is still in its infancy and many complex challenges remain, according to a new report by the European Commission (EC). In a report titled Blockchain Now and Tomorrow: Assessing Multidimensional Impacts of Distributed Ledger Technologies, the EC’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), a science and knowledge service, provides…

Net 1 UEPS Technologies, announced that it has exercised its option to acquire an additional 35% interest in Bank Frick, a fully licensed bank based in Balzers, Liechtenstein for approximately USD 46.4 million, subject to certain purchase price adjustments. he transaction is subject to approval from the Liechtenstein Financial Market Authority and is expected to close in March 2020. Following the successful completion of the additional investment, the Company will own 70% of Bank Frick with the Kuno Frick Family Foundation owning the remaining 30% interest. Herman Kotzé: “Combine the benefits of Bank Frick with the technical capabilities of Net1.”…

Andy Waar hat vor 3 Jahren mit Studien-Kollegen&Dozenten vom CAS Digital Finance an der HWZ in Zürich den Fintechrocker Club Schweiz ins Leben gerufen. Wir haben Andy darum zum dreijährigen Jubiläum fünf Fragen gestellt. Wer wissen will warum sogar ein Spitzenkoch die Fintechrocker bekocht, der liest das hier. 1) Du hast vor drei Jahren die Fintechrockers in der Schweiz gegründet? Warum und wer seid ihr? Der Fintechrockers Club ist ein neutraler Ort, zu dem jeder (Privat oder Institution) kommen und Probleme & Ideen sogar mit seinen Konkurrenten diskutieren kann. Das bedeutet selbstverständlich nicht, dass wir über jeweilige Geschäftsgeheimnisse plaudern, sondern…