The emergence of fintech has driven the introduction of new business models, including peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, a sector that’s grown in popularity around the world for its ability to fill the void left by traditional lenders. Alternative marketplace lending or P2P lending refers to a non-traditional form of lending money. It is in contrast with the traditional lending method, where the bank or other financial institution offer loans to individuals or small and medium businesses (SME). Instead, P2P operates through an online platform that matches lenders with borrowers, promising lenders higher returns than a savings account or other investments, and…

Zurich-based blockchain hub Trust Square is expanding its Bahnhofstrasse location to cover more than 3,000 square meters, offering 300 workstations to startups and researchers. The move is set to turn Trust Square into the world’s largest blockchain hub. An open day will take place on September 20, 2018. In the fourth quarter of this year, Trust Square will increase its capacity by renting additional office space at its current location. Additionally, it has renewed its lease at Bahnhofstrasse until the end of 2019 and is currently in discussions about a further extension. In parallel, Trust Square is assessing options for…

Facebook is delving deeper into the financial services business, now attempting to persuade large banks in the US to share detailed financial information about their customers including card transactions, shopping habits, and checking account balances, according to a report published last month by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Over the past year, Facebook has asked JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and US Bancorp to discuss potential offerings it could host for bank customers on Facebook Messenger, anonymous sources told the WSJ, but concerns over data privacy have been a sticking point for the banks in their conversations with the social…

Although commercial use of blockchain technology remains limited, global executives are poised to make some major moves over the next year, according to a research by Deloitte. A survey commissioned by Deloitte and conducted online between March and April 2018, polled more than 1,000 blockchain-savvy executives at companies with US$500 million or more in annual revenue across seven countries: Canada, China, France, Germany, Mexico, UK, and the US. Overall, respondents are still extremely bullish on blockchain’s potential, namely its ability to broadly scale and reach mainstream adoption. A majority also agreed that blockchain technology will disrupt their industry, whether that’s…

Berlin, Germany’s largest fintech hub, is rapidly making a name for itself in the European fintech space. Today, the city hosts some of the region’s most exciting, fast-growing fintech ventures. These cover all aspects of financial services, from banking and payments, to lending and insurance, and are quickly expanding across Europe. The followings are ten of Berlin’s most exciting fintech startups right now: N26 Launched in 2013, N26 is a German neo-bank and one of the fastest growing banks in Europe. It serves more than 1 million customers, both businesses and individuals, across 17 European markets, and intends to enter…

UBS has decided to shut its robo-advisory offering in the UK, SmartWealth, and sell the intellectual property (IP) rights to San Francisco-based wealthtech company SigFig. As part of the transaction, a number of staff at SmartWealth will join SigFig. Behind the reasoning, the bank said that although it was “satisfied” with the commercial progress of SmartWealth, “at this time, we believe the near-term potential is limited and have therefore decided to close our digital-only offering in the UK.” In a memo seen by Reuters, Eva Lindholm, head of wealth management in the UK, and Reto Wangler, chief operating officer of…

Startup.ch publish every year a list of Top 100 Best Swiss Startups. Last year we counted 7  Swiss Fintech Startups, this year we already count 12. Though only Advanon made it into the Top 10 and the Crypto Finance AG made it with 2 ventures into the Top 100 (Rank 25 and 73). Advanon and Crypto Finance aro both also in our list of the best funded Swiss Fintechs . The best Newcomer Fintech Startup is Price Hubble which is ranked #40.  The Crowdfunding Real Estate Startup kicked out competitor Crowdhouse from the Top 100 List. Other top fintech newcomers are Loanboox,…

Amazon is attacking the financial services industry, but rather than building the next-generation bank, the American e-commerce giant is focusing on building financial services that support its core strategic goal of increasing participation in the Amazon ecosystem, according to a report by CB Insights. Amazon has built and launched tools and services mostly focused on payments, cash deposits and lending. These services aim at increasing the number of merchants and customers in its ecosystem by enabling them to sell and buy more, and reducing any buying/selling friction. In parallel, Amazon has made several fintech investments, mostly focused on international markets,…

Non-cash payments are increasing in France, driven by the rise in e-money usage and the decline in the use of national payment instruments such as cheques and trade bills, according to the Banque de France. In 2016, the total value of non-cash payments rose by 3% to EUR 27 billion with the most important increase coming from the use of e-money, which increased by 47% between 2015 and 2016, according to statistics from the institution. In particular, it is the rise in peer-to-peer payment service, including mobile payment apps, that’s fuelled the sharp increase in e-money transactions. Mobile payment…

Germany is quickly emerging as a fintech powerhouse, with Berlin and Hamburg in particular witnessing thriving fintech communities. According to EY, Germany hosts over 300 fintech companies which raised a record of US$655.4 million in 2017. The followings are ten of Germany’s most well-funded fintech startups based on disclosed funding (Sources: crunchbase, funderbeam, company webpages) Kreditech Holding – US$282M Kreditech Holding uses machine-learning technologies and non-traditional data sources to provide access to better credit for the underbanked. The company’s product offerings include consumer loans, a digital wallet and a personal finance manager designed to help customers manage their credit…

Swiss-based company Smart Containers, creators of airfreight containers made with the Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and blockchain, announced in a Medium post that they have concluded the public sales of their tokens with USD 15.42 million raised out of the intended USD 40 million. “As larger investments take time, the private sale is still ongoing with bigger tickets to be closed soon,” said the company in their announcement. The amount raised is a cumulative of an interesting move to run two tokens concurrently–a Smarc token and a Logi token. The Smarc tokens are sold as a securities token, and based on…

In its early days, data and communications securities company Securosys was able to score a huge client in the Swiss National Bank, and also close a successful seed funding round in 2015 to finance their data and communications security services. More recently the company notes that their services have been utilised by crypto-exchanges as well. Now in 2018, the team is ready for a global expansion of their cybersecurity and encryption services, which has led Zurich-based company into following in the tech industry’s footsteps and issuing their own ICO to raise CHF 16 million, or approximtely US$16.4 million. Securosys Issuing a…

Taking inspiration from nearby Crypto Valley in Zug, Switzerland, the tiny European principality of Liechtenstein is making every effort to become a hotbed for crypto and blockchain innovation. Located between Switzerland, Austria, and Germany, Liechtenstein is known for its business-friendly legal framework, unique foundation law and low taxation. In the last decades, Liechtenstein has developed a very professional financial industry and is currently home to more than 700 licensed investment funds and 100 licensed asset management companies. The assets under management of Liechtenstein banks amounted to US$235 billion at the end of 2016. The Liechtenstein financial marketplace is well known…

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a critical aspect in financial services. Financial institutions around the world are making large-scale investments in AI and the trend isn’t expected to slow down anytime soon. The World Economic Forum (WEF) projects this number to reach US$10 billion by 2020. AI is enabling financial institutions to drive new efficiencies and deliver new kinds of value in all areas of insurance and finance, from deposits and lending, and payments, to market infrastructure, investment management and capital markets. But to grasp the full potential of AI, all stakeholders including financial institutions and regulators, will need to…

Liechtenstein’s Union Bank AG  announced that it will be the world’s first fully licensed and regulated bank to issue its own security tokens – Union Bank Payment Coin. According to them its Union Bank Payment Coin, is the first that is in alignment with Liechtenstein’s regulatory authority FMA. The Union Bank Payment Coin will be a stable coin that is fully backed by a fiat currencies like the Swiss Francs. Operating in the blockchain-friendly environment of Liechtenstein, Union Bank AG already supports ICOs and clients by partnering with crypto-brokers and crypto-advisors to facilitate efficient and transparent conversions between crypto and…

Self-custody is an important and fundamentally native feature of cryptocurrency. A blockchain-based digital asset can be stored by its owner without the help of traditional financial intermediaries, such as banks, registered brokers/dealers or qualified custodians. But just because you can store all your coins yourself, should you? The answer depends on many factors, for example, the variety of currencies, the frequency of transfer and the complexities and risks of self-custody which commensurate with the size of funds being stored. Moreover, your custody solution will differ depending on whether you are a typical consumer, a high net worth individual, an asset…

The term blockchain has evolved tremendously since its infancy, we’d spend time talking about it’s transformational nature and disruptive potential, but we’re sure you’ve heard plenty of it from the blockchain experts that are suddenly coming up from the woodworks. While there are varying opinions on blockchain from detractors arguing that blockchain is a crappy technology all the way to evangelists calling it the most disruptive technology in decades – there’s one thing we can all agree on is that the development in this space is dizzying. Which is why we think events Blockchain For Finance 2018 EU can come in handy for…

Seit der Lancierung von VIAC – der digitalen Säule 3a – sind bereits 9 Monate vergangen. In dieser kurzen Zeit wurde bereits die Marke von CHF 50 Mio. an verwalteten Vermögen überschritten. Diese verteilen sich auf nicht weniger als 4‘300 Kunden. Damit zählt VIAC zu den schnellst wachsenden Fintech Start-Ups der Schweiz. Pro Woche werden mehr als hundert 3a Beziehungen per VIAC-App eröffnet und weit über eine Million CHF investiert. Diese Zahlen erreicht das Unternehmen ohne gross Werbung zu machen. «Wir haben uns entschieden, unsere finanziellen Ressourcen besser in unser Produkt zu stecken», erklärt Daniel Peter, Initiant hinter der VIAC…

Swiss fintech startups raised a total of CHF 288 million through nine initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the first half of 2018, surpassing venture capital (VC) investments, according to a new report by e-foresight, the IFZ and Swisscom. The rise of ICOs is real and considerable in Switzerland with the total amount raised by ICOs already surpassing the whole year 2017 with CHF 283 million and seven ICOs. The nine ICOs in the first half of 2018 were Swissborg Invest AG, Tend Technologies AG, AidCoin, Proxeus, Envion AG, Traxia Stiftung, TokenPay Swiss AG, Odin Wealthmanagement AG, and Trade.io. The trend…

Switzerland, a world renowned banking and financial hub, has witnessed a growing fintech ecosystem in the past years fueled by supportive regulations, a large pool of available tech and finance talent, and banks’ desire to innovate. Geneva is one of Switzerland’s top fintech hubs, currently home to 22 fintech companies, behind only of Zurich with 88, and Zug with 45, according to the IFZ Fintech Study 2018. In the Geneva fintech scene, here are ten existing startups to watch closely: Foxstone Founded in 2016, Foxstone is an online crowdfunding platform allowing potential investors and buyers to get in touch…