Today, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, chaired by Rep. James E. Clyburn, released a 
Canada experiences rebound in transaction volume and value in 2021
The current model of universal retail banking is unsustainable over the long term. To thrive, banks need to reinvent themselves, focusing on businesses where they can achieve and extend market leadership in the new digital world.
Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: Research
US Subcommittee on Covid Releases Staff Report: How Certain Fintechs Facilitated Fraud in the Paycheck Protection Program
US House Subcommittee on Covid | Release | Dec 1, 2022
Today, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, chaired by Rep. James E. Clyburn, released a staff report detailing the poor performance of many financial technology companies (fintechs) in administering the nation’s largest pandemic relief program, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)—may have themselves committed PPP fraud
- In May 2021, the Select Subcommittee initiated an investigation into the role of fintech companies Kabbage, Inc. and Bluevine and partner banks Cross River Bank and Celtic Bank in facilitating PPP fraud following public reports they were linked to disproportionate numbers of fraudulent loans. The investigation was expanded in November 2021 to include fintech start-ups Blueacorn PPP, LLC, and Womply, Inc., after an analysis determined significant percentages of PPP loans facilitated by the companies had indicators of fraud.
- The investigation was expanded in November 2021 to include fintech start-ups Blueacorn PPP, LLC, and Womply, Inc., after an analysis determined significant percentages of PPP loans facilitated by the companies had indicators of fraud.
See: Consumer Protection: Fintech Complaints Have Been Rising
Chairman Clyburn released the following statement about today’s report:
“As today’s report details, many fintechs, while promising to help disburse billions of Paycheck Protection Program dollars to struggling small businesses efficiently and expeditiously, refused to take adequate steps to detect and prevent fraud despite their clear responsibility to safeguard taxpayer funds. Even as these companies failed in their administration of the program, they nonetheless accrued massive profits from program administration fees, much of which was pocketed by the companies’ owners and executives. On top of the windfall obtained by enabling others to engage in PPP fraud, some of these individuals may have augmented their ill-gotten gains by engaging in PPP fraud themselves.
“We must learn from this inexcusable misconduct to erect guardrails that will help ensure that federal programs—including emergency assistance programs in future crises—are administered more effectively, efficiently, and equitably while keeping waste, fraud, and abuse to an absolute minimum. Based on our initial findings, I have asked the SBA and SBA OIG to conduct further investigation into these companies and pursue all appropriate remedies, and I have informed DOJ that some of our findings may warrant its attention.”
See: UK Alternative Lenders Funding Delivery Performance to Small Businesses During COVID
- Today’s staff report is entitled “‘We Are Not the Fraud Police’: How Fintechs Facilitated Fraud in the Paycheck Protection Program” and is available in full here. The report reveals the following key findings: Fintechs and Lenders Observed Significant Fraud in the PPP, Which They Attributed to Program Mismanagement as They Sought to Evade Responsibility
- Blueacorn Took Only Minimal Steps to Prevent Fraud in Its Facilitation of Billions of Dollars in PPP Loans, While Abusing the Program to Enrich Its Owners
- Womply’s PPP Fraud Screenings Failed to Prevent “Rampant Fraud”—and Were Accompanied by Questionable Business Practices—Despite Generating Over a Billion in Profits
- Capital Plus, Harvest, and Other Fintech-Partnered Lenders Conducted Little Oversight over Womply and Blueacorn’s Activities, Allowing Fraud to Infiltrate The PPP
- Kabbage’s PPP Activities Illustrate that the PPP Lacked Incentives for Fintechs to Implement Strong Fraud Prevention Controls or Appropriate Borrower Servicing
- Bluevine Initially Faced Significant Fraud Rates, but Its Longstanding Partners Intervened to Improve Fraud Prevention Over the Course of the Program
- Based on the findings, the report includes 11 recommendations to address PPP fraud and improve future programs.
- It urges the SBA to consider carefully whether businesses like fintechs that are not subject to traditional financial regulations should be permitted to play a part in future federal lending programs, and recommends that Congress take these factors into account in considering future legislation.
View the original release --> here
Download the 130 page PDF full Staff Report --> here
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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Leger Survey: More Education is Required to Increase Awareness of Fintech Adoption in Canada
Leger | Dec 1, 2022
Image: Leger
What do Canadians think about fintech in Canada? Do they trust online banks? How much do they know about fintech? And how likely are they to use different financial technologies in the future? We conducted a large-scale online survey to find out.
- Survey: A total of 1,544 Canadians were surveyed from November 3 to 6, 2022. The respondents were randomly selected from Leger’s LEO panel.
- Banks still dominate yet 2 in 5 would consider an online bank for their next financial product.
- Canadians who are likely to consider an online bank place the highest value on low account fees, the ability to manage everything online, and a user-friendly website/app.
- User profile: Those likely to consider an online bank are more likely to be under 55, male, employed, have an annual income of over $60,000, and have a university education.
See: Fintech Leaders Say Regulatory Challenges No. 1 Concern
- Digital banks will need to different offerings from traditional banks
- A strong majority trust traditional banks to adopt the newest technologies (82%), and also want their bank to adopt the newest technologies (80%).
- More education is required: Many Canadians are aware but few are knowledgeable
- Among those aware of each fintech trend/technology shown, more Canadians “don’t know very much” compared to those who know “a little” or “a lot” about each. Financial technologies that Canadians are most knowledgeable about are cryptocurrencies, buy now/pay later (e.g., PayBright), and crowdfunding
- Despite NFTs being hotly covered in the media, only 25% are aware of NFTs and intend to use them
- Compared to: On the other hand, intent to use is highest for DeFi (decentralized finance) (49%), international online money transfers (48%) and peer-to-peer lending (44%).
Continue to the full article --> here
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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Incubella Publishes Research on the 2022 Canadian Web3 Landscape
Incubella | Nov 30, 2022
Image: Incubella
Every year, Canadian Web3 companies continue to attract private investment, mostly from post-seed funding as the brightest ideas charge towards Unicorn status. Of the total $4 Billion CAD invested to-date in Canadian Web3 companies, the largest single private investment was Dapper Labs’ $305M USD Series C.
There are currently 5 Canadian Web3 Unicorns, Axelar, Blockstream, Dapper Labs, Figment, & LayerZero Labs. The fastest to achieve Unicorn status is LayerZero Labs, founded in early 2021 and crossed the $1 billion USD valuation mark just over one year later after raising $135 million USD in March of 2022.
See: McKinsey: Beyond the Hype of Web3. Potential and Challenges
Who is incubella? As proven leaders in the Canadian web3 and blockchain space, Incubella is a startup incubator specialised in marketing, growing and developing projects built on blockchain in the Web3 ecosystem. Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Incubella’s creatives have extensive experience building and executing growth marketing strategies for promising NFT, DeFi, Metaverse, and P2E (Play to Earn) gaming startups.
Incubella’s complete report of the Canadian Web3 ecosystem is available to read here.
View the original release --> here
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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Fintech Leaders Say Regulatory Challenges No. 1 Concern
BankingDive | Gabrielle Saulsbery | Nov 28, 2022
Image source: Gartner, Peer to peer 2022 Fintech survey
Private firms are adopting a more defensive posture, delaying new funding rounds, planning for modest growth and addressing regulatory risks, according to a report.
- Regulatory challenges have doubled in importance to fintech leaders from 2021 to 2022, according to the results of a survey of 100 industry leaders released Monday. Now, nearly half (47%) of respondents dubbed regulatory challenges their No. 1 concern.
See: EY Handbook: Key Priorities for Fintechs to Sustainably Grow from Start-up to Scale-up
- Could see it coming: Survey data was collected Aug. 2 to Oct, 22, after several U.S. senators first put big-bank-owned fintech Zelle under a microscope due to fraud concerns. Shortly before the report came out, the Treasury Department declared a need for more oversight of the fintech sector and bank-fintech partnerships.
- Private fintech companies have been made obvious by double-digit percentage-point workforce layoffs at places like Brex, Chime and Stripe.
- Public fintech companies have seen their share prices cut at the knees — SoFi is down from $15.05 on Jan. 3 to $4.98 as of Nov. 23, and PayPal is down from $194.94 to $80.28 for the same period
- Hiring: Despite the recent layoffs, however, leaders of private fintechs are optimistic about the second half of 2022, with only 3% of companies expecting to reduce headcount. Most (81%) of respondents expect to increase their workforce at least somewhat in the second half of this year.
- H2 plan: Fintech companies instead plan to spend the second half of this year focusing on core priorities such as product development (49%), profitability (35%) and developing partnerships (30%). And they continue to focus on the same markets as last year, with 40% primarily targeting millennials and 37% primarily targeting low-income consumers.
See:
CB Insights Report: The State Of Fintech: Q3 2022
EmFi Fueled by Cloud-based Infrastructure | KPMG Fintech Pulse H1 2022
Alloy General Manager Charley Ma:
Before this year, “regulators were sort of viewed as, they move really slowly, and they’re more interested in regulating large banks and [financial institutions].” Regulators have moved a lot faster this year, for example, with crypto, and anything within crypto will touch fintech. Noting the “spectacular failures in the stablecoin space, like Luna and Terra,” fintech and crypto both have a “big, flashing red light for regulators to look at. It’s clear that private firms in particular have adopted a more defensive posture for the time being — delaying new funding rounds, planning for modest (rather than explosive) growth, and addressing regulatory risks
Continue to the full article --> here
Download the PDF report --> here
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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Federal Reserve Bank of New York Kickoffs off 12-week Digital Dollar Pilot with Financial Titans
Seeking Alpha | Max Gottlich | Nov 15, 2022
Image: PYMTS
A raft of the biggest players in the financials space said Tuesday that they're starting a 12-week digital dollar pilot along with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's innovation center including global partners such as BNY Mellon, Citi, HSBC, Mastercard, PNC Bank, TD Bank, Truist, and Wells Fargo.
- Test Pilot: proof-of-concept experiment is set to explore the feasibility of an interoperable money platform, known as the regulated liability network, to see if financial settlements can improve and gain more speed.
- Overall, the pilot, using distributed ledger technology, will test how lenders using simulated digital tokens settle through simulated central bank reserves on a shared database.
- Findings will be released post-pilot.
See:
According to CBDCTracker, these Central Banks have Launched a CBDC or Pilot Initiative as of Today
Rich Turrin: mBridge Pilot Demonstrates How CBDC Framework Can Avoid Sanctions (Part 1)
- The move comes as many central banks explore the risks and benefits of creating a central bank digital currency, a digital representation of fiat currency issued by a central bank.
- India's central bank, for instance, said it will introduce a wholesale CBDC pilot at the beginning of November, followed by a retail version shortly thereafter.
Continue to the full article --> here
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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Payments Canada Report: Rebound & Grow – Payment Methods and Trends in 2021
Payments Canada | Oct 4, 2022
Canada experiences rebound in transaction volume and value in 2021
Report Highlights:
- Pandemic changes long-term payment preferences for 43% of Canadians
- 50% of Canadians use e-commerce platforms more often than pre-pandemic
- Contactless payment transaction value increased year-over-year in 2021 by 18%
- Credit card use rebounded, increasing by six per cent
- Mobile payments volume and value each grew by 13% year-over year
- Cash and cheques declined nine per cent and six per cent respectively in volume, but increased 14% and seven per cent in value
See:
Research: ECB publishes report on payment habits and attitudes as part of digital euro project
How the Big Five Banks Control Canada’s Payment Systems
Payments Canada Delays Launch of Real-Time Rails Again (without a timeline)
- Online transfer transactions value exceeded debit cards for the first time ever in 2021
- Almost one quarter (22%) of Canadians are comfortable making payments using QR (quick response) codes
- 37% of Canadians are comfortable using fingerprint, facial, or voice recognition to authenticate a payment transaction
- Buy now, pay later (BNPL) is beginning to take hold with almost 1 in 10 (eight per cent) of merchants accepting BNPL and 48% of merchants interested in offering it
The new report reveals that while many payment trends remain consistent in 2021, there is continued acceleration in digital, contactless and mobile payment adoption.
Continue to the full article --> here
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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McKinsey: Reshaping Retail Banks for the Digital Battlefield
McKinsey & Company | Oct 18, 2022
The current model of universal retail banking is unsustainable over the long term. To thrive, banks need to reinvent themselves, focusing on businesses where they can achieve and extend market leadership in the new digital world.
- Banks face severe challenges and key trends:
- shifting in scale advantages from branches to innovation
- digital attackers taking the first significant bites out of traditional banks’ revenue streams
- consumers wanting more digital offerings and superior experiences
See: HSF: 6th Global Bank Review 2022 | Banking on People
- Digital battlefield: The fight for customer relationships has moved to new terrain unfamiliar to banks, and many incumbents are ill-equipped to defend market share on the digital battlefield. This is a battle banks cannot afford to lose, and they will need to fortify themselves with new, reimagined, fit-for-purpose value propositions and business models.
- Update value proposition
- The daily banking platform would focus on simplifying daily shopping activities by embedding transactions seamlessly (and often invisibly) within customer journeys and giving customers fast, convenient access to diverse retailers and service providers.
- The home and life events (or complex lending) platform would increase customer value through ecosystem partnerships supporting end-to-end journeys for major life undertakings, from search and selection to financing and ongoing management and maintenance.
- The platform for wealth and protection services would compete on the appropriate use of customer data to deliver hyperpersonalized advisory support, enabling investors to make well-informed decisions about increasing and protecting wealth over decades.
See:
Deloitte: 2023 Banking and Capital Markets Outlook | ‘A new global economic order seems imminent’
FCA review finds evidence of growing competition in retail banking
- Operate like a tech company:
- Leveraging data for personalization and stronger customer engagement
- A cutting-edge technology stack to reduce costs and speed up innovation
- An agile operating model to respond to fast-changing markets
Continue to the full article --> here
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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