Michelle Beyo, Advisor, Payments and Financial Inclusivity
July 17th, 2020
Michelle Beyo is Founder & CEO of Finavator INC, Money2020 RiseUp Alumni, Women in Payments Glob[...]
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
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Crowdfund Insider | JD Alois | Aug 11, 2020 Seedrs is a top UK based investment crowdfunding platform that is active in both the UK and continental Europe. Launched in 2012, Seedrs is a trailblazer in online capital formation for early-stage ventures. Since inception, Seedrs has booked over 1100 funded deals recording about £950 million in investment while hosting the most robust marketplace for secondary transactions for crowdfunded securities. Many well-known tech-names have utilized the platform to raise growth capital while enlisting a wider audience of investors that may become unofficial brand ambassadors. Revolut, one of the top UK based digital banks, has crowdfunded on Seedrs. When COVID dropped the world into a global pandemic, like almost all businesses, Seedrs was impacted. Yet out of the shattering economic decline, Seedrs, like some other online investment platforms, has adapted and in many respects thrived. Seedrs quickly embraced the Future Fund schemed crafted by HM Treasury to help support startups and early-stage ventures that did not qualify for loan based Coronavirus support programs. In the weeks since the Future Fund became actionable, Seedrs has helped dozens of early-stage firms to utilize the government program to raise matching funds in a convertible security ...
Read More
McKinsey Digital | Aug 12, 2020 A study referenced in the popular magazine Psychology Today concluded that it takes an average of 66 days for a behavior to become automatic. If that’s true, that’s good news for business leaders who have spent the past five months running their companies in ways they never could have imagined. The COVID-19 pandemic is a full-stop on business as usual and a launching pad for organizations to become virtual, digital-centric, and agile—and to do it all at lightning-fast speed. Now, as leaders look ahead to the next year and beyond, they’re asking: How do we keep this momentum going? How do we take the best of what we’ve learned and put into practice throughout the pandemic, and make sure it’s woven into everything we do going forward? See: Digital IDs Help Open Banking Reach Its Fullest Potential “Business leaders are saying that they’ve accomplished in 10 days what used to take them 10 months,” says Kate Smaje, a senior partner and global co-leader of McKinsey Digital. “That kind of speed is what’s unleashing a wave of innovation unlike anything we’ve ever seen.” That realization is coming not a moment too soon. Even before the ...
Read More
Mentor Works | Alena Barreca | Aug 4, 2020 The Future Skills Centre (FSC) has announced an investment of $15 million towards the growth, innovation, and stability of the Canadian labour market to help maintain, create, and transform jobs across the country in line with the government’s ongoing COVID-19 support. Eligible applications can receive up to $25,000 investments, while large scale projects with potential for exceptional impact can receive funding of up to $2.5 million, with potential for further government funding. Shock-Proofing the Future of Work: Skills Innovation Challenge (SIC) is an FSC program that aims to boost skills innovation across all industries by supporting projects that will discover ways to promote resilience and find new ways forward in the face of social and economic shock caused by unprecedented times such as the COVID-19 pandemic. How Will FSC Funding Help the Canadian Job Market? The FSC-SIC government funding program will prioritize regions, areas, and populations where disruption from the pandemic has hit the hardest and appears to be the most long-lasting. With various sectors including health care, technology, and agriculture facing significant demand for workers with new skills, the Skills Innovation Challenge (SIC) encourages individuals and organizations alike to seek ...
Read More
NCFA - FFCON20: RISE | Samuel He | Aug 12, 2020 For over 50 years, the mortgage sector has relied on very traditional business methods. This involves hard copies of mortgage applications and reliance on personal relationships to source deal flow. Furthermore, teams of people are needed to analyze & filter deals and communicating/sending documents through email and fax. This process can be burdensome for both lenders and brokers. Without personal relationships, brokers frequently have little option but to resort to cold calling or emailing lenders looking for opportunities. Knnct tackles this problem by offering a new and more efficient digital alternative. The company has re-imagined the mortgage process with its two-sided peer-to-peer platform for both mortgage brokers and lenders. They use digital documents and apply AI techniques to digitally analyze and filter data to match the right deal with the right lender. Knnct’s value proposition for brokers focuses on two aspects. One is to offer unparalleled access to lenders, and the other is to provide a platform that emphasizes transparency and efficiency. See: Join us at FFCON20 RISE: What's on this week? Brokers begin by creating a mortgage application and posting a deal to the platform. The proprietary algorithms ...
Read More
IMF | By Tobias Adrian speech | July 22, 2020 I will focus on public-private partnerships to provide central bank digital currency — CBDC. The goal of these partnerships is to preserve comparative advantages: for the private sector to interface with customers and innovate, and for the public sector to regulate, supervise, and ultimately provide trust. In so doing, I cannot emphasize too strongly the importance of regulatory clarity and consistency — domestically and internationally — to encourage innovation. Note that public-private partnerships are not new, even for the provision of money. Cash is designed by central banks but distributed by commercial banks. And most of the money we use — in the form of commercial bank deposits — is created by the private sector; is a private liability; and is settled in great part through private clearinghouses, all under the strict supervision of the central bank. So what would a public-private partnership look like for the provision of CBDC? Two models stand out. The first model is “synthetic CBDC” (or “sCBDC,” for short), introduced last summer in my paper with Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli. And the second model — explored by various central banks, including the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) ...
Read More
Tech UK | Georgina Maratheftis | Jul 31, 2020 Yesterday, the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan tasked his Chief Digital Officer, Theo Blackwell, and the Smart London Board with developing an Emerging Technologies Charter, which will set out the criteria which innovations should meet before they are deployed in the capital. The Charter will seek to ensure Londoners are engaged and listened to in the process of developing new technologies, so their concerns and the likely effects these innovations will have on their lives are fully understood. Areas it is expected to cover include: Ways of working – We want to ensure that trialling new technologies is conducted openly and responsibly, actively engaging with the public, authorities and other relevant bodies. Data – We'll make recommendations on the collection, use, and sharing of data collected by emerging technologies via city data platforms such as at TfL or City Hall's London Datastore, so data can be used for shared purposes such as climate change adaptation or resilience planning. Design – Promoting the best in design and ensuring all Londoners are heard when new technologies are developed and deployed, to ensure digital inclusion and accessibility at the heart of future innovations. Privacy and security – Promoting privacy-by-design to ensure emerging technologies ...
Read More
NCFA Canada | Team FFCON20 | Aug 9, 2020 Join us Thursday, August 13, 2020! (Add to Google Calendar) Learn how traditional banking and payment sectors are being enhanced through digital assets The future of CBDCs, digital assets and trading Stability in finance – the profound impact of stablecoins The Rise of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) – the fastest growing crypto tokens, infrastructure and markets The anatomy of digital securities; how they work now, their evolution, use cases and are they right for our venture FFCON20 Week 6: In Focus NEXT UP --> Aug 13, 2020 Currency Wars, Digital Assets and DeFi Time remaining before registration closes ...
Read More
Aug 7, 2020 As a business owner, you'll always be on your toes to ensure that your business succeeds. However, this may not always be the case. There are financial liabilities that could cost your business a great deal. These may include debts, payable interests, overdrafts, and other various acquired expenses. Liabilities can be categorized into current liabilities, contingent liabilities, and non-current liabilities just to mention but a few. All these could mean disaster for your business especially if you had not had a contingency plan. Now, this could either spell catastrophe for your business or the start of something new. In this informative guide, we'll be shedding more light on what you need to do if your business is on the edge of bankruptcy. 1. File for Bankruptcy If you've been running your business unsuccessfully and are found to be in debt, you shouldn't spend sleepless nights lamenting over it. Just file for bankruptcy and you'll find the help that you need. In doing so, it will help to shield you against creditors. This simply means that when creditors try to collect accumulated debts from you, you'll have been granted immunity by the courts. This, however, means having an ...
Read More
Norton Rose Fulbright | July 2020 Financial institutions, including banks, asset/fund managers and insurers, as well as established FinTech businesses and start-ups, have been presented with major disruptive events with the advent of COVID-19 and national lockdowns, and with the impending risk of global or regional recessions. How are financial institutions and FinTechs responding to such challenges? What role might new business models, strategic collaborations, investment and M&A, outsourcing, regulatory considerations, and the risk of litigation play in addressing such challenges? See: Fintech Reports and Research To find out, in May and June we undertook a survey of a range of banks, asset/fund managers, insurers, established FinTech businesses, FinTech start-ups and venture capital and consulting firms across the globe. We invite you to read the findings of the survey which cover the following subject areas: FinTech as a strategic priority New FinTech use cases FinTech strategic collaborations FinTech investment and M&A Outsourcing and FinTech Regulatory impact in relation to FinTech initiatives FinTech areas of potential dispute Download the 23page PDF Report --> Now 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 ...
Read More
OSC | Press Release | Jul 31, 2020 Toronto – The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) today announced that in light of COVID-19 and the challenges it presents to small businesses seeking to raise capital, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) made an interim local order that adopts the start-up crowdfunding regime currently in place in certain other Canadian jurisdictions (the Interim Order). The Interim Order, which takes effect in Ontario on July 30, 2020, provides registration and prospectus exemptions for start-up crowdfunding that are substantially similar to the local exemptions in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. On February 27, 2020, the CSA published for comment National Instrument 45-110 Start-Up Crowdfunding Registration and Prospectus Exemptions (the Proposed National Instrument), which will replace and harmonize the local start-up crowdfunding exemptions in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Québec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia (as well as those in Ontario adopted through the Interim Order). The comment period on the Proposed National Instrument ended on July 13, 2020. “The adoption of the Interim Ontario order will better facilitate access to capital for start-ups and other small businesses, while still providing appropriate investor protection,” said Louis Morisset, Chair of the ...
Read More
Crowdfund Insider | JD Alois | Aug 11, 2020 Seedrs is a top UK based investment crowdfunding platform that is active in both the UK and continental Europe. Launched in 2012, Seedrs is a trailblazer in online capital formation for early-stage ventures. Since inception, Seedrs has booked over 1100 funded deals recording about £950 million in investment while hosting the most robust marketplace for secondary transactions for crowdfunded securities. Many well-known tech-names have utilized the platform to raise growth capital while enlisting a wider audience of investors that may become unofficial brand ambassadors. Revolut, one of the top UK based digital banks, has crowdfunded on Seedrs. When COVID dropped the world into a global pandemic, like almost all businesses, Seedrs was impacted. Yet out of the shattering economic decline, Seedrs, like some other online investment platforms, has adapted and in many respects thrived. Seedrs quickly embraced the Future Fund schemed crafted by HM Treasury to help support startups and early-stage ventures that did not qualify for loan based Coronavirus support programs. In the weeks since the Future Fund became actionable, Seedrs has helped dozens of early-stage firms to utilize the government program to raise matching funds in a convertible security ...
Read More
Read More
McKinsey Digital | Aug 12, 2020 A study referenced in the popular magazine Psychology Today concluded that it takes an average of 66 days for a behavior to become automatic. If that’s true, that’s good news for business leaders who have spent the past five months running their companies in ways they never could have imagined. The COVID-19 pandemic is a full-stop on business as usual and a launching pad for organizations to become virtual, digital-centric, and agile—and to do it all at lightning-fast speed. Now, as leaders look ahead to the next year and beyond, they’re asking: How do we keep this momentum going? How do we take the best of what we’ve learned and put into practice throughout the pandemic, and make sure it’s woven into everything we do going forward? See: Digital IDs Help Open Banking Reach Its Fullest Potential “Business leaders are saying that they’ve accomplished in 10 days what used to take them 10 months,” says Kate Smaje, a senior partner and global co-leader of McKinsey Digital. “That kind of speed is what’s unleashing a wave of innovation unlike anything we’ve ever seen.” That realization is coming not a moment too soon. Even before the ...
Read More
Read More
Mentor Works | Alena Barreca | Aug 4, 2020 The Future Skills Centre (FSC) has announced an investment of $15 million towards the growth, innovation, and stability of the Canadian labour market to help maintain, create, and transform jobs across the country in line with the government’s ongoing COVID-19 support. Eligible applications can receive up to $25,000 investments, while large scale projects with potential for exceptional impact can receive funding of up to $2.5 million, with potential for further government funding. Shock-Proofing the Future of Work: Skills Innovation Challenge (SIC) is an FSC program that aims to boost skills innovation across all industries by supporting projects that will discover ways to promote resilience and find new ways forward in the face of social and economic shock caused by unprecedented times such as the COVID-19 pandemic. How Will FSC Funding Help the Canadian Job Market? The FSC-SIC government funding program will prioritize regions, areas, and populations where disruption from the pandemic has hit the hardest and appears to be the most long-lasting. With various sectors including health care, technology, and agriculture facing significant demand for workers with new skills, the Skills Innovation Challenge (SIC) encourages individuals and organizations alike to seek ...
Read More
Read More
NCFA - FFCON20: RISE | Samuel He | Aug 12, 2020 For over 50 years, the mortgage sector has relied on very traditional business methods. This involves hard copies of mortgage applications and reliance on personal relationships to source deal flow. Furthermore, teams of people are needed to analyze & filter deals and communicating/sending documents through email and fax. This process can be burdensome for both lenders and brokers. Without personal relationships, brokers frequently have little option but to resort to cold calling or emailing lenders looking for opportunities. Knnct tackles this problem by offering a new and more efficient digital alternative. The company has re-imagined the mortgage process with its two-sided peer-to-peer platform for both mortgage brokers and lenders. They use digital documents and apply AI techniques to digitally analyze and filter data to match the right deal with the right lender. Knnct’s value proposition for brokers focuses on two aspects. One is to offer unparalleled access to lenders, and the other is to provide a platform that emphasizes transparency and efficiency. See: Join us at FFCON20 RISE: What's on this week? Brokers begin by creating a mortgage application and posting a deal to the platform. The proprietary algorithms ...
Read More
Read More
IMF | By Tobias Adrian speech | July 22, 2020 I will focus on public-private partnerships to provide central bank digital currency — CBDC. The goal of these partnerships is to preserve comparative advantages: for the private sector to interface with customers and innovate, and for the public sector to regulate, supervise, and ultimately provide trust. In so doing, I cannot emphasize too strongly the importance of regulatory clarity and consistency — domestically and internationally — to encourage innovation. Note that public-private partnerships are not new, even for the provision of money. Cash is designed by central banks but distributed by commercial banks. And most of the money we use — in the form of commercial bank deposits — is created by the private sector; is a private liability; and is settled in great part through private clearinghouses, all under the strict supervision of the central bank. So what would a public-private partnership look like for the provision of CBDC? Two models stand out. The first model is “synthetic CBDC” (or “sCBDC,” for short), introduced last summer in my paper with Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli. And the second model — explored by various central banks, including the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) ...
Read More
Read More
Tech UK | Georgina Maratheftis | Jul 31, 2020 Yesterday, the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan tasked his Chief Digital Officer, Theo Blackwell, and the Smart London Board with developing an Emerging Technologies Charter, which will set out the criteria which innovations should meet before they are deployed in the capital. The Charter will seek to ensure Londoners are engaged and listened to in the process of developing new technologies, so their concerns and the likely effects these innovations will have on their lives are fully understood. Areas it is expected to cover include: Ways of working – We want to ensure that trialling new technologies is conducted openly and responsibly, actively engaging with the public, authorities and other relevant bodies. Data – We'll make recommendations on the collection, use, and sharing of data collected by emerging technologies via city data platforms such as at TfL or City Hall's London Datastore, so data can be used for shared purposes such as climate change adaptation or resilience planning. Design – Promoting the best in design and ensuring all Londoners are heard when new technologies are developed and deployed, to ensure digital inclusion and accessibility at the heart of future innovations. Privacy and security – Promoting privacy-by-design to ensure emerging technologies ...
Read More
Read More
NCFA Canada | Team FFCON20 | Aug 9, 2020 Join us Thursday, August 13, 2020! (Add to Google Calendar) Learn how traditional banking and payment sectors are being enhanced through digital assets The future of CBDCs, digital assets and trading Stability in finance – the profound impact of stablecoins The Rise of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) – the fastest growing crypto tokens, infrastructure and markets The anatomy of digital securities; how they work now, their evolution, use cases and are they right for our venture FFCON20 Week 6: In Focus NEXT UP --> Aug 13, 2020 Currency Wars, Digital Assets and DeFi Time remaining before registration closes ...
Read More
Read More
Aug 7, 2020 As a business owner, you'll always be on your toes to ensure that your business succeeds. However, this may not always be the case. There are financial liabilities that could cost your business a great deal. These may include debts, payable interests, overdrafts, and other various acquired expenses. Liabilities can be categorized into current liabilities, contingent liabilities, and non-current liabilities just to mention but a few. All these could mean disaster for your business especially if you had not had a contingency plan. Now, this could either spell catastrophe for your business or the start of something new. In this informative guide, we'll be shedding more light on what you need to do if your business is on the edge of bankruptcy. 1. File for Bankruptcy If you've been running your business unsuccessfully and are found to be in debt, you shouldn't spend sleepless nights lamenting over it. Just file for bankruptcy and you'll find the help that you need. In doing so, it will help to shield you against creditors. This simply means that when creditors try to collect accumulated debts from you, you'll have been granted immunity by the courts. This, however, means having an ...
Read More
Read More
Norton Rose Fulbright | July 2020 Financial institutions, including banks, asset/fund managers and insurers, as well as established FinTech businesses and start-ups, have been presented with major disruptive events with the advent of COVID-19 and national lockdowns, and with the impending risk of global or regional recessions. How are financial institutions and FinTechs responding to such challenges? What role might new business models, strategic collaborations, investment and M&A, outsourcing, regulatory considerations, and the risk of litigation play in addressing such challenges? See: Fintech Reports and Research To find out, in May and June we undertook a survey of a range of banks, asset/fund managers, insurers, established FinTech businesses, FinTech start-ups and venture capital and consulting firms across the globe. We invite you to read the findings of the survey which cover the following subject areas: FinTech as a strategic priority New FinTech use cases FinTech strategic collaborations FinTech investment and M&A Outsourcing and FinTech Regulatory impact in relation to FinTech initiatives FinTech areas of potential dispute Download the 23page PDF Report --> Now 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 ...
Read More
Read More
OSC | Press Release | Jul 31, 2020 Toronto – The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) today announced that in light of COVID-19 and the challenges it presents to small businesses seeking to raise capital, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) made an interim local order that adopts the start-up crowdfunding regime currently in place in certain other Canadian jurisdictions (the Interim Order). The Interim Order, which takes effect in Ontario on July 30, 2020, provides registration and prospectus exemptions for start-up crowdfunding that are substantially similar to the local exemptions in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. On February 27, 2020, the CSA published for comment National Instrument 45-110 Start-Up Crowdfunding Registration and Prospectus Exemptions (the Proposed National Instrument), which will replace and harmonize the local start-up crowdfunding exemptions in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Québec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia (as well as those in Ontario adopted through the Interim Order). The comment period on the Proposed National Instrument ended on July 13, 2020. “The adoption of the Interim Ontario order will better facilitate access to capital for start-ups and other small businesses, while still providing appropriate investor protection,” said Louis Morisset, Chair of the ...
Read More
Read More
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