Paul Schulte, Advisor, Banking and Financial Services
August 22nd, 2019
Paul Schulte is the Founder and Managing Editor of Shulte Research based in Singapore. Paul's roles[...]
5 ways regulation can be a competitive advantage to British business
Management Today UK | by Conrad Thompson | Sep 21, 2018
Brexit is an opportunity for regulators to enable innovation while protecting wider society, says PA Consulting's Conrad Thompson.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
 |  |  |
Forbes | Andrea Tinianow | Oct 18, 2019 Fnality, a London-based company is banking on blockchain technology to usher in an era of digital financial markets. They are betting that the financial markets are going to tokenize. Fnality intends to be there when that happens. In fact, they intend to spur the transformation. According to Fnality’s chief executive officer, Rhomaios Ram, “if the markets are moving to a new model, they will need a secure infrastructure for digitizing payment and settlement on a global basis. We are creating a new financial market infrastructure, a new payments system [for wholesale banking].” Wholesale banking refers to lending and borrowing between banks, or with large customers such as the government, pension funds, and big corporations. Ram continues, “our two areas of focus right now are establishing a digital currency capability in each currency, and coordinating and orchestrating with business applications, such as tokenized exchanges, issuance platforms, collateral and trade finance, that want to use this new payment functionality.” Backed by a consortium of financial institutions, including some of the world’s most important banks: Banco Santander, BNY Mellon, Barclays, CIBC, Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, ING, KBC Group, Lloyds Banking Group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., ...
Read More
NCFA Guest Post | Oct 18, 2019 During the history of the stock market its value has typically climbed. This has seen the most successful investors profit by buying shares in stocks at a low price and seeing their value increase steadily over time. Playing the markets can be risky however, as entire investments can be lost. But with the right set of circumstances stock prices can increase in value greatly over the years. This reward and risk trade off is appealing to lots of investors. However, it is sometimes the case that investors believe that the value of a certain stock will decrease rather than increase. In such instances, buying these shares will result in the investor losing money. Short selling provides investors with the opportunity to profit from the price of a stock decreasing in value. This practice is also sometimes referred to as going short on a stock and provides the investor with a profit should the price of a stock decrease. However, if the price of the stock goes up then the investor will face losses. How is shorting a stock done? This process involves lending shares of a stock that you wish to sell from ...
Read More
Financial Post | Geoff Zochodne | Oct 15, 2019 China and India, at 87 per cent, sported the highest rates of adoption and the United Kingdom clocked in at 71 per cent adoption Canadian consumers have greatly increased their use of financial technology, such as payment or budgeting apps, but trail their global counterparts in adoption across every age and income bracket, according to findings from accounting firm Ernst & Young. The new adoption index published by EY shows fintech use in Canada jumped to 50 per cent in 2019, up from 18 per cent in 2017, yet still below the 64 per cent global average for this year. “While fintech use may be on the rise and the number of fintech companies in Canada are on the rise, we continue to lag behind our global peers with one of the lowest adoption rates in the world,” said Ron Stokes, EY Canada’s fintech leader. Among the countries studied by EY, only the United States, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Japan had lower rates of fintech adoption than Canada. China and India, meanwhile, at 87 per cent, sported the highest rates of adoption. The United Kingdom clocked in at 71 per cent ...
Read More
Forbes | Ron Shevlin | Oct 14, 2019 Partnerships are Not the Future of Fintech “Bank/fintech partnerships are crucial to the future of banking” has become a widely accepted meme in the industry. In a recent study from Finextra, 81% of bank executives surveyed said that collaborating with partners was the best strategy to achieve digital transformation. They’re going to be disappointed. The vast majority of banks are not well suited to partnerships: Larger institutions may have the resources to identify, vet, and enter into partnerships, but their size and organizational complexity makes operationalizing and scaling partnerships difficult. Smaller institutions typically don’t have the resources or skills needed to identify, vet, and enter into any meaningful number of relationships. Operationalizing partnerships often requires integration into core apps which can be a challenge for smaller institutions. Then there’s the issue of corporate culture which, in many banks, is not conducive to partnering with outside entities. The Competing Values Framework developed by Cameron and Quinn helps explain why–some cultures are more control-oriented than collaborative. Partnerships Are No Piece of Cake from the Fintech Perspective Brett King, founder of fintech Moven told me, “The biggest barrier to bank/fintech partnerships is banks’ procurement departments ...
Read More
Luge Capital and Flare Systems | Sonia Gasparini | Oct 17, 2019 Flare Systems Enables Financial Institutions to Protect Themselves from Financial Crimes Before They Happen Montréal, October 17, 2019 - Flare Systems has closed a $1 million seed round led by Luge Capital, with WhiteStar Capital participating in the round. The investment enables Flare Systems to expand its roll-out in Canada and the USA, and further develop a complementary suite of products to help financial institutions fight financial crime. A cyber attack occurs every 39 seconds and the frequency and sophistication of these attacks are increasing. Flare Systems automatically collects and structures millions of data points from the dark, deep and clear net to provide actionable intelligence in real time, enabling financial institutions to mitigate these attacks and prevent financial crimes. Flare Systems’ products take data from sources such as broadcasts of stolen information, private forum discussions, chat posts, and cryptocurrency transactions and combine it with world-class proven research in criminology to provide actionable insights to financial crime teams. With Flare Systems’ proprietary platform, financial institutions can efficiently monitor malicious actors and their activities across numerous threat landscapes and connect the chains of attack, from phishing to laundering funds ...
Read More
Forbes | Richard Harroch and Melissa Guzy | Oct 12, 2019 Investment in financial technology (“Fintech”) companies is growing dramatically. Global Fintech funding has risen to over $100 billion, fueled by large M&A deals and large rounds of financing. Investment in Fintech companies is expected to continue to grow significantly in the next few years as such companies offer outsized growth opportunities. Fintech companies encompass a broad landscape of businesses, generally around financial-oriented services and products. Examples of Fintech-related companies or products include: Payment infrastructure, processing and issuance, such as services provided by Square, Ant Financial, Revolut, and Stripe Stock trading apps from Robinhood, TD Ameritrade, and Schwab Alternative lending marketplaces, such as Prosper, LendingClub, and OnDeck Cryptocurrencies and digital cash, a prime example of which is Bitcoin Blockchain technology, such as Ethereum Insurtech, which seeks to modernize and simplify the insurance industry, with companies such as Lemonade, Oscar, and Fabric Money transfer and remittances, including services from TransferWise, PayPal, and Venmo Mortgage lending, such as through LendingHome and Better Mortgage Robo investment advisors, such as Betterment and Wealthfront Neobanks, including Chime, N26, and Monzo Credit reporting, such as Credit Karma Online business loan providers such as Lendio and Kabbage Small business ...
Read More
Crowdfund Insider | JD Alois | Oct 15, 2019 Last week, Crowdfund Insider reported on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement action against Telegram and the issuance of Gram tokens. The move by the SEC is a doozy and telling. First, Telegram sold about $1.7 billion in a SAFT (simple agreement for future tokens) that appeared to abide by the rules. Telegram filed a Form D and apparently only sold to accredited investors in the US. As CI has heard, the token offering was wildly popular at the time of the offering. But the SEC’s “emergency action” was predicated on the expectation the Gram tokens would be available to the general public and thus akin to an initial public offering (IPO). Once the Grams hid various and sundry crypto exchanges – anyone would be able to purchase them – not just the accredited investor types. In the US, an IPO requires registration with the SEC, a significant undertaking. See: Your Complete Guide to Security Token Exchanges We have received several comments on the SEC’s move to target an issuer that is not US-based but sold to US investors, approximately 39 purchasers who committed in total $424.5 million, according to ...
Read More
Sky News | Robin Scarborough, Deloitte Digital | Oct 14, 2019 The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org ...
Read More
National Post | Andy Blatchford | Oct 5, 2019 The letter was drafted by a lobby group representing signatories run domestic firms that employed more than 35,000 people last year and generated more than $6 billion for the economy OTTAWA — More than 110 Canadian tech CEOs have signed an open letter urging political parties to take action to strengthen the country’s innovative economy, and avoid falling further behind international peers. So far, major parties have put forward pledges in areas like affordability, first-time home-buyers and climate change, but the campaigns have offered few promises designed to drive economic growth in the digital age. “We’re writing because Canada’s productivity is lagging and our future economic prosperity is at risk,” reads the letter addressed to Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Leader Elizabeth May. “You can help by developing economic policies that advance innovative Canadian companies, including increasing their access to skilled talent, growth capital and new customers.” The letter was drafted by the Council of Canadian Innovators, a lobby group representing some of the country’s fastest-growing companies. Combined, its signatories run domestic firms that employed more than 35,000 people last year and ...
Read More
CarefulCents | Ryan Friend | Sep 17, 2019 Of all the types of insurance out there, health insurance is perhaps the most important. After all, without our health, it’s difficult to do much else in life. However, in the United States, which relies mostly on a private health insurance system, costs are high, and it’s often very confusing to know how much you can expect to pay. This is because you can get health insurance in many different ways. You can buy it on your own, receive it from your employer as part of your compensation package, or get it from the federal government. However, just because the world of health insurance is confusing, it does not mean you need to pay more than you should, and knowing the average costs of the many different types of health insurance can help you understand if your premiums are fair or if it’s time for a change. Below we’ve outlined all the different factors that determine the cost of your insurance and also identified the average rates for the various options out there. In addition, you will find some tips to help you save on your insurance so that you can get ...
Read More
Forbes | Andrea Tinianow | Oct 18, 2019 Fnality, a London-based company is banking on blockchain technology to usher in an era of digital financial markets. They are betting that the financial markets are going to tokenize. Fnality intends to be there when that happens. In fact, they intend to spur the transformation. According to Fnality’s chief executive officer, Rhomaios Ram, “if the markets are moving to a new model, they will need a secure infrastructure for digitizing payment and settlement on a global basis. We are creating a new financial market infrastructure, a new payments system [for wholesale banking].” Wholesale banking refers to lending and borrowing between banks, or with large customers such as the government, pension funds, and big corporations. Ram continues, “our two areas of focus right now are establishing a digital currency capability in each currency, and coordinating and orchestrating with business applications, such as tokenized exchanges, issuance platforms, collateral and trade finance, that want to use this new payment functionality.” Backed by a consortium of financial institutions, including some of the world’s most important banks: Banco Santander, BNY Mellon, Barclays, CIBC, Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, ING, KBC Group, Lloyds Banking Group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., ...
Read More
Read More
NCFA Guest Post | Oct 18, 2019 During the history of the stock market its value has typically climbed. This has seen the most successful investors profit by buying shares in stocks at a low price and seeing their value increase steadily over time. Playing the markets can be risky however, as entire investments can be lost. But with the right set of circumstances stock prices can increase in value greatly over the years. This reward and risk trade off is appealing to lots of investors. However, it is sometimes the case that investors believe that the value of a certain stock will decrease rather than increase. In such instances, buying these shares will result in the investor losing money. Short selling provides investors with the opportunity to profit from the price of a stock decreasing in value. This practice is also sometimes referred to as going short on a stock and provides the investor with a profit should the price of a stock decrease. However, if the price of the stock goes up then the investor will face losses. How is shorting a stock done? This process involves lending shares of a stock that you wish to sell from ...
Read More
Read More
Financial Post | Geoff Zochodne | Oct 15, 2019 China and India, at 87 per cent, sported the highest rates of adoption and the United Kingdom clocked in at 71 per cent adoption Canadian consumers have greatly increased their use of financial technology, such as payment or budgeting apps, but trail their global counterparts in adoption across every age and income bracket, according to findings from accounting firm Ernst & Young. The new adoption index published by EY shows fintech use in Canada jumped to 50 per cent in 2019, up from 18 per cent in 2017, yet still below the 64 per cent global average for this year. “While fintech use may be on the rise and the number of fintech companies in Canada are on the rise, we continue to lag behind our global peers with one of the lowest adoption rates in the world,” said Ron Stokes, EY Canada’s fintech leader. Among the countries studied by EY, only the United States, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Japan had lower rates of fintech adoption than Canada. China and India, meanwhile, at 87 per cent, sported the highest rates of adoption. The United Kingdom clocked in at 71 per cent ...
Read More
Read More
Forbes | Ron Shevlin | Oct 14, 2019 Partnerships are Not the Future of Fintech “Bank/fintech partnerships are crucial to the future of banking” has become a widely accepted meme in the industry. In a recent study from Finextra, 81% of bank executives surveyed said that collaborating with partners was the best strategy to achieve digital transformation. They’re going to be disappointed. The vast majority of banks are not well suited to partnerships: Larger institutions may have the resources to identify, vet, and enter into partnerships, but their size and organizational complexity makes operationalizing and scaling partnerships difficult. Smaller institutions typically don’t have the resources or skills needed to identify, vet, and enter into any meaningful number of relationships. Operationalizing partnerships often requires integration into core apps which can be a challenge for smaller institutions. Then there’s the issue of corporate culture which, in many banks, is not conducive to partnering with outside entities. The Competing Values Framework developed by Cameron and Quinn helps explain why–some cultures are more control-oriented than collaborative. Partnerships Are No Piece of Cake from the Fintech Perspective Brett King, founder of fintech Moven told me, “The biggest barrier to bank/fintech partnerships is banks’ procurement departments ...
Read More
Read More
Luge Capital and Flare Systems | Sonia Gasparini | Oct 17, 2019 Flare Systems Enables Financial Institutions to Protect Themselves from Financial Crimes Before They Happen Montréal, October 17, 2019 - Flare Systems has closed a $1 million seed round led by Luge Capital, with WhiteStar Capital participating in the round. The investment enables Flare Systems to expand its roll-out in Canada and the USA, and further develop a complementary suite of products to help financial institutions fight financial crime. A cyber attack occurs every 39 seconds and the frequency and sophistication of these attacks are increasing. Flare Systems automatically collects and structures millions of data points from the dark, deep and clear net to provide actionable intelligence in real time, enabling financial institutions to mitigate these attacks and prevent financial crimes. Flare Systems’ products take data from sources such as broadcasts of stolen information, private forum discussions, chat posts, and cryptocurrency transactions and combine it with world-class proven research in criminology to provide actionable insights to financial crime teams. With Flare Systems’ proprietary platform, financial institutions can efficiently monitor malicious actors and their activities across numerous threat landscapes and connect the chains of attack, from phishing to laundering funds ...
Read More
Read More
Forbes | Richard Harroch and Melissa Guzy | Oct 12, 2019 Investment in financial technology (“Fintech”) companies is growing dramatically. Global Fintech funding has risen to over $100 billion, fueled by large M&A deals and large rounds of financing. Investment in Fintech companies is expected to continue to grow significantly in the next few years as such companies offer outsized growth opportunities. Fintech companies encompass a broad landscape of businesses, generally around financial-oriented services and products. Examples of Fintech-related companies or products include: Payment infrastructure, processing and issuance, such as services provided by Square, Ant Financial, Revolut, and Stripe Stock trading apps from Robinhood, TD Ameritrade, and Schwab Alternative lending marketplaces, such as Prosper, LendingClub, and OnDeck Cryptocurrencies and digital cash, a prime example of which is Bitcoin Blockchain technology, such as Ethereum Insurtech, which seeks to modernize and simplify the insurance industry, with companies such as Lemonade, Oscar, and Fabric Money transfer and remittances, including services from TransferWise, PayPal, and Venmo Mortgage lending, such as through LendingHome and Better Mortgage Robo investment advisors, such as Betterment and Wealthfront Neobanks, including Chime, N26, and Monzo Credit reporting, such as Credit Karma Online business loan providers such as Lendio and Kabbage Small business ...
Read More
Read More
Crowdfund Insider | JD Alois | Oct 15, 2019 Last week, Crowdfund Insider reported on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement action against Telegram and the issuance of Gram tokens. The move by the SEC is a doozy and telling. First, Telegram sold about $1.7 billion in a SAFT (simple agreement for future tokens) that appeared to abide by the rules. Telegram filed a Form D and apparently only sold to accredited investors in the US. As CI has heard, the token offering was wildly popular at the time of the offering. But the SEC’s “emergency action” was predicated on the expectation the Gram tokens would be available to the general public and thus akin to an initial public offering (IPO). Once the Grams hid various and sundry crypto exchanges – anyone would be able to purchase them – not just the accredited investor types. In the US, an IPO requires registration with the SEC, a significant undertaking. See: Your Complete Guide to Security Token Exchanges We have received several comments on the SEC’s move to target an issuer that is not US-based but sold to US investors, approximately 39 purchasers who committed in total $424.5 million, according to ...
Read More
Read More
Sky News | Robin Scarborough, Deloitte Digital | Oct 14, 2019 The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org ...
Read More
Read More
National Post | Andy Blatchford | Oct 5, 2019 The letter was drafted by a lobby group representing signatories run domestic firms that employed more than 35,000 people last year and generated more than $6 billion for the economy OTTAWA — More than 110 Canadian tech CEOs have signed an open letter urging political parties to take action to strengthen the country’s innovative economy, and avoid falling further behind international peers. So far, major parties have put forward pledges in areas like affordability, first-time home-buyers and climate change, but the campaigns have offered few promises designed to drive economic growth in the digital age. “We’re writing because Canada’s productivity is lagging and our future economic prosperity is at risk,” reads the letter addressed to Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Leader Elizabeth May. “You can help by developing economic policies that advance innovative Canadian companies, including increasing their access to skilled talent, growth capital and new customers.” The letter was drafted by the Council of Canadian Innovators, a lobby group representing some of the country’s fastest-growing companies. Combined, its signatories run domestic firms that employed more than 35,000 people last year and ...
Read More
Read More
CarefulCents | Ryan Friend | Sep 17, 2019 Of all the types of insurance out there, health insurance is perhaps the most important. After all, without our health, it’s difficult to do much else in life. However, in the United States, which relies mostly on a private health insurance system, costs are high, and it’s often very confusing to know how much you can expect to pay. This is because you can get health insurance in many different ways. You can buy it on your own, receive it from your employer as part of your compensation package, or get it from the federal government. However, just because the world of health insurance is confusing, it does not mean you need to pay more than you should, and knowing the average costs of the many different types of health insurance can help you understand if your premiums are fair or if it’s time for a change. Below we’ve outlined all the different factors that determine the cost of your insurance and also identified the average rates for the various options out there. In addition, you will find some tips to help you save on your insurance so that you can get ...
Read More
Read More
Related Posts
Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN) – Regulators Launch Global Sandbox Pilot
FCA Regulatory sandbox participants – Cohort 4
UK and World Economic Forum to lead regulation revolution to foster industries of the future
Regulating financial innovation – going behind the scenes
A Regulation Revolution In Financial Services
FCA Launches Consultation Paper on Crypto Asset Guidance
