Fintech

Thing is once you become The Boss, how do you stay The Boss and not become The Old Boss? Writing yesterday about the growing pains of FinTech firms, there are also menopausal strains at incumbents. Once you become The Boss, how do you stay The Boss? That is a key question. When you become a…

I find it interesting reading the articles about toxic cultures at Revolut. If you Google “Revolut Culture”, the second search item is this one: “You’re nothing but a number to them with dollar signs attached.” That’s how Revolut, one of the fastest growing fintech startups in the UK, described traditional banks when advertising for business…

Banks are loners. They do it all internally. They don’t want outsiders stepping in. Too much risk. Leave us alone. Thing is, that doesn’t work anymore. Today, banks are just a component on the network of finance. They are just part of an ecosystem on a platform. Do they understand this? I don’t think so…

When you mention Africa, some people think it is a country full of famine and war. First, it is not a country but a continent and yes, there is some famine and war, but that’s not Africa. Before the pandemic, I travelled to many countries in the region and had amazing experiences in Kenya, Rwanda,…

South Park recently did a great skit on NFTs, and one line really resonated with me: The reason the line works so well is that money and finance, markets and companies, countries and laws, are all about beliefs. That’s the basic underlying fundamental. If you believe this contract with this currency authorised by this government…

Crypto is in its usual rollercoaster mode with bitcoin prices halving in January, but then it did the same in January 2021. Regardless of this and, building on yesterday’s blog, there’s an interesting trend I’ve spotted, and it is the reason why bitcoin is not going away. The trend is that if you live in…

I’ve said for some years that digital challenger banks will not break the stranglehold of the big banks on the retail banking space. Am I wrong? According to a new report by the UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FSA), things are changing fast. Around one in 12 (8%) personal current accounts are now held…

Ron Shevlin, now Chief Research Officer at Cornerstone Advisors, a US research and consulting firm, posted a fascinating article based on his research the other day. Supposedly, banks and credit unions in America think they’re are doing digital transformation. Interestingly, less think they’re doing it today than a few years ago. Here are Ron’s thoughts:…

I took a contrarian view and said that FinTech investments worldwide would plateau in 2022. Interestingly, 2021 was a record year. Just looking at the figures from Innovate Finance, you can see things were still on fire: Sector bounces back from pandemic – 217% overall YoY investment increase in the UK Total capital invested in…

Many financial processes were created centuries ago. When technology arrived, we automated those historical processes to make them more efficient. We didn’t necessarily focus upon how to make them more effective, as the focus was on how to reduce costs. Years later, we are paying the price. The issue is that banks automated old processes…