Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: Digital, NEO, Open Banking, Open Finance
UBS [Submission deadline: Aug 6]: Future of Finance Challenge 2021
UBS | Jacoline Loewe | Jul 13, 2021
Since 2015, the UBS Future of Finance Challenge has been open to start-ups and established, growing companies that change the way finance works and meets the client needs of the future. Take part in the 2021 competition and access benefits and prizes of over USD 400,000 worth in value, delivered in collaboration with Anthemis, Deloitte and Microsoft for Startups.
Challenges
What are key challenges for the finance industry? We have identified four challenges that are key to how finance meets the client needs of the future
Who is eligible to enter?
We’re looking for start-ups and growing companies, with an annual turnover lower than USD 150m. You should have received less than USD 150m in total investments:
Participants should have developed:
- A working prototype of a product, service or application grounded on innovative / disruptive technology applied to banking / finance
Proposed technology solutions should:
- Be focused directly on banking and financial services, or
- Have a demonstrable impact in another sector but with a potential connection or application within the banking and financial industry.
Some other restrictions apply – see the Official Rules for full details.
See: 65% of Global banking executives see branch-based models dead in 5 years
What is in it for you
One winner per challenge will be selected and each winner will win a cash prize of USD 10,000.
In addition, over 120 hours of dedicated coaching and mentoring from experienced technology and business leaders will be offered to competition finalists. Some finalists may also be considered to participate in a «proof-of-concept» or pilot program with UBS after the competition or enter our UBS Next investment pipeline.
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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Banking the Underbanked
Scott Galloway | Jul 9, 2021
My north star(s) for philosophy, management, and politics are Star Wars, The Sopranos, and Game of Thrones, respectively. The Iron Bank (GoT) is a metaphor for today’s financial institutions, if present-day banks didn’t need bailouts or to invent fake accounts to juice compensation. Regardless, it was well known throughout Braavos that The Iron Bank will have its due. If you failed to repay, they’d fund your enemies. So today’s Iron Bankers are the venture capitalists funding (any) incumbents’ enemies. If this makes VCs sound interesting/cool, don’t trust your instincts.
See: Getting tangible about intangibles: The future of growth and productivity?
Lately, I’ve spent a decent amount of time on the phone with my bank in an attempt to get a home equity line, as I want to load up on Dogecoin. (Note: kidding.) (Note: mostly.) If Opendoor and Zillow can use algorithms and Google Maps to get an offer on my house in 24 hours, why does it take my bank — which underwrote the original mortgage — so much longer?
Let’s start with this: Twenty-five percent of U.S. households are either unbanked or underbanked. Half of the nation’s unbanked households say they don’t have enough money to meet the minimum balance requirements. Thirty-four percent say bank fees are too high. And, if you’re trying to get a mortgage, you’d better hope the house isn’t cheap.
Inequity is a breeding ground for disruption, leaving underserved markets for insurgents to seize and launch an attack on incumbents from below. We have good reason to believe that’s happening in banking.
Insurgents
A herd of unicorns is at the stable door, looking to trample Wells Fargo and Chase. Fintech is responsible for roughly one in five (17%) of the world’s unicorns, more than any other sector. In addition, there are already several megalodons worth more than financial institutions that have spent generations building (mis)trust.
How did this happen? The fintechs are zeroing in on everything big banks aren’t.
Example #1: Innovation. Over the past five years, PayPal has issued 26x more patents than Goldman Sachs.
Example #2: Cost-cutting. “Neobanks” offer the basic services of a bank, with one less expensive and cumbersome feature: the branch. A traditional bank branch needs $50 million in deposits to generate an adequate return. Yet nearly half (48%) of branches in the U.S. are below that threshold. Neobanks don’t have that problem, and there are now at least 177 of them. Founders frame these offerings as more progressive, less corporate. Dave, a new banking app, offers a Founding Story on its website (illustrated with cartoon bears) about three friends “fed up” with their banking experience, often incurring $38 overdraft fees. Fed up no longer: Dave provides free overdraft protection and has 10 million customers.
See: Economist Spotlight: Imagining a world without banks
Example #3: Less inequity. NYU Professor of Finance Sabrina Howell’s research found fintech lenders gave 18% of PPP loans to Black-owned businesses, while small to medium-sized banks provided just 2%. Among all loans to Black-owned firms, Professor Howell found 54% were from fintech startups. Racial discrimination is the most likely explanation, as lenders faced zero credit risk.
Example #4: Serving the underserved. Unequal access to banking is a global botheration. Almost a third of the world’s adults, 1.7 billion, are unbanked. In Argentina, Colombia, Nigeria, and other countries, more than 50% of adults are unbanked.
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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Financial data unbound: The value of open data for individuals and institutions
McKinsey Global Institute | Jun 24, 2021
Economies that embrace data sharing for finance could see GDP gains of between 1 and 5 percent by 2030, with benefits flowing to consumers and financial institutions.
As countries around the world look to ensure rapid recovery once the COVID-19 crisis abates, improved financial services are emerging as a key element to boost growth, raise economic efficiency, and lift productivity. Robust digital financial infrastructure proved its worth during the crisis, helping governments cushion people and businesses from the economic shock of the pandemic. The next frontier is to create an open-data ecosystem for finance.
Already, technological, regulatory, and competitive forces are moving markets toward easier and safer financial data sharing. Open-data initiatives are springing up globally, including the United Kingdom’s Open Banking Implementation Entity, the European Union’s second payment services directive, Australia’s new consumer protection laws, Brazil’s drafting of open data guidelines, and Nigeria’s new Open Technology Foundation (Open Banking Nigeria). In the United States, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau aims to facilitate a consumer-authorized data-sharing market, while the Financial Data Exchange consortium attempts to promote common, interoperable standards for secure access to financial data. Yet, even as many countries put in place stronger digital financial infrastructure and data-sharing mechanisms, COVID-19 has exposed limitations and gaps in their reach, a theme we explored in earlier research.
See: What is open banking and why hasn’t it come to Canada yet?
This discussion paper from the McKinsey Global Institute (download full text in 36-page PDF) looks at the potential value that could be created—and the key issues that will need to be addressed—by the adoption of open data for finance. We focus on four regions: the European Union, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
By open data, we mean the ability to share financial data through a digital ecosystem in a manner that requires limited effort or manipulation. Advantages include more accurate credit risk evaluation and risk-based pricing, improved workforce allocation, better product delivery and customer service, and stronger fraud protection.
Our research identifies seven broad mechanisms through which open financial data can create economic value. Three directly benefit individual and MSME customers: increased access to financial services, greater user convenience, and improved product options. The other four mechanisms directly benefit financial institutions: increased operational efficiency, better fraud protection, improved workforce allocation, and reduced friction in data intermediation.
Our analysis suggests that the boost to the economy from broad adoption of open-data ecosystems could range from about 1 to 1.5 percent of GDP in 2030 in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States, to as much as 4 to 5 percent in India. All market participants benefit, be they institutions or consumers—either individuals or micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs)—albeit to varying degrees.
See: Privacy Reform: Back to the Drawing Board For C-11?
Capturing the full value requires both a level of data standardization and a breadth of data sharing that are not yet current in many economies. Indeed, our research suggests that more than half the potential value remains inaccessible, particularly the value that financial institutions could gain directly through greater efficiency and reduced fraud costs. The use of open data raises questions about user consent, data protection, and cybersecurity. But if these issues are addressed, the innovation such ecosystems could enable would be a spur to economic recovery and broader-based prosperity.
Continue to the full article --> here
Download the 32 page PDF discussion paper --> 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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Financial Health Network Report: Financial Data – The Consumer Perspective
Financial Health Network | Jun 24, 2021
While technology-driven financial products, services, and institutions have the potential to benefit consumers, they can also pose new risks due to the increased availability of financial data. To better understand the consumer perspective on the use of financial data, the Financial Health Network fielded a nationally representative survey.
See: EY Global FinTech Adoption Index finds over half (64%) of global consumers use FinTech
The findings in this report describe consumer understanding of practices in the financial data ecosystem, and consumer preferences on how they would like personal data to be treated. These findings can serve as a guide to both industry stakeholders and policymakers as they seek to build trust and ensure that both practice and policy serve consumers.
Data Portability:
62% of consumers think their bank should be required to share data about them if they direct it to.
Data Privacy:
Approximately 90% of consumers favor an opt-in standard for banks, tech companies, and fintech apps to share data about them.
Data Minimization:
87% of consumers favor data minimization, but only 41% think it is taking place in the market today.
Consumers’ views on data portability, data minimization, and opt-in standards do not vary with political party affiliation.
Continue to the full article --> here
Download the 23 page 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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What is open banking and why hasn’t it come to Canada yet?
Financial Post | | Jun 24, 2021
Advocates say Canada is falling behind, while critics warn it's risky
Canadian consumers are being left to share their financial data in potentially risky ways as the government winds its way through a belaboured open banking review process.
As global competitors flock to countries with established open banking regulations, consumers and fintech companies are using workaround processes to access online banking services. Open banking advocates say the delayed regulatory review could cause Canada to fall behind further and restrict the ability of domestic fintechs to scale. Critics, meanwhile, warn the new regime could bring risks of its own, including the potential for more cyberattacks on banks.
Meanwhile, open banking remains an elusive term to most Canadians.
So what is it and why does it matter? The Financial Post’s Stefanie Marotta breaks it down.
What is open banking?
In a nutshell, opening banking is a regulatory framework that would allow consumers to determine how to share their banking data with financial service providers, or move their information from one institution to another.
The framework, which has already been adopted by the United Kingdom, could reduce barriers to switching that encourage customer loyalty and allow upstart fintech companies to compete more directly with incumbents — developments that could put pressure on the bottom lines of Canada’s Big Six banks.
See: Review: Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) submission to Advisory Committee on Open Banking
Critics of open banking allege that the regime change could put privacy at risk by exposing large financial institutions to cyberattacks.
A government advisory committee, however, found that the current process already fails to secure data sharing and limits consumer choice.
What is Canada’s current regulatory environment?
Currently, fintech companies use a form of technology known as screen-scraping. Consumers share the usernames and passwords from their financial institutions to allow applications to access their bank transaction history. As many as 4 million Canadians use data-driven financial service providers that require screen-scraping, according to a 2020 report by the government’s advisory committee.
But this process also puts consumers at risk. Screen-scraping could violate a bank’s terms, and the customer could be liable for any potential losses incurred if there is a data breach or if their account is compromised. The process also poses barriers to a fintech company’s growth, hindering Canada’s ability to compete globally.
“It’s a really crushing landscape,” said Hanna Zaidi, Wealthsimple director of regulatory research and development and Open Banking Initiative Canada board member. “Banks technically own your financial data, and there isn’t any legislation that says otherwise. So all your financial history, information, behaviour is the property of whatever financial institution that you bank with, so fintechs have to use screen-scraping tools to get access to a segment of that data.”
What does open banking look like globally?
As Canada spins its wheels, other countries have already started implementing new regulations — and are seeing their fintech sectors expand, creating jobs in the process.
See: Digital IDs Help Open Banking Reach Its Fullest Potential
Britain introduced open banking in 2018, and a number of fintech companies have since relocated their headquarters to the U.K. — including global fintech startup Revolut, which left the Canadian market in the spring. Australia launched its regime last year, and Singapore and Brazil have started making incremental changes to their regulatory frameworks.
Meanwhile, delays in Canada’s shift to open banking weigh on home-grown fintech companies and compromise the country’s ability to attract global players.
“That’s significant investment and job creation that goes to other markets, and Canadian consumers also aren’t getting the benefit of the tools that those fintechs are providing, whereas consumers and businesses in other markets do get those tools,” Boms said. “We saw almost half of the global fintech investment pre-COVID going to the U.K., and it wasn’t because there was political stability or a low-cost taxes, it was because there was certainty around the regulatory regime.”
What is the Canadian government doing about it?
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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How Corporations Are Protecting Themselves From Fraud
Guest Post | Jun 17, 2021
Although smaller businesses are more likely to be targeted by cybercriminals, large corporations are having to employ much tougher defences. That’s because they deal with more financial resources, more data, and higher customer expectations. As a result, they are investing in the technologies and the people that make it easier to detect the increasingly sophisticated frauds and scams that cybercriminals use.
See: Comparison of UK banking providers’ fraud controls
The key is to make it as difficult as possible for fraudsters to receive payments, and there are multiple methods of avoiding those payments or recognizing when a fraudulent payment has occurred. Learning lessons from large corporations makes it easier for smaller businesses to recognize where they can implement their own fraud defences.
Employee Training
The first step to any kind of online security is to ensure that team members are kept up to date with risks and warning signs. Every member of the team, no matter their department, needs to be aware of the online safety procedures and the detected fraud process of the company. They also need to know the specific threats that their role might be expected to be faced with. While basics such as password management should already be part of your online security policy, even staff training on how they use their personal email and social media accounts when discussing work should be a regular part of the company calendar.
Secure Customer Payment Systems
There are a variety of ways to ensure customer payments are protected from fraud. To prevent fraudulent refunds, there is a range of valuable email scanning tools that corporations use to detect and then block any emails that come from unknown domains or that come with malicious content. Also more common to see being implemented is a fraud verification process that uses consumer identity and AI to keep businesses safer.
Additionally, the larger a business, the more need there is for a rapid alerting system that lets team members know that a new destination account has been introduced that has never been used for an issued payment. The final must-have for more secure client payment systems is a firmly established emergency protocol, where there is a very clear set of steps towards recovery.
Supplier Onboarding Processes and Payments
The onboarding process for new suppliers should have a set series of steps that need to be followed regardless of internal pressure. All new suppliers need to come with a valid email address and a single phone number that a relevant team member can use as needed. When it comes to payments to suppliers, each stage needs to be documented, whether those are one-off payments or recurring ones. There also needs to be a system in place that makes it easier for employees to handle a lack of the usual authorizations when there is an urgent situation. Finally, any changes to billing details from existing suppliers need to be validated using the already collected contact details.
Although fraudsters and cybercriminals use both traditional and cutting-edge methods for committing fraud, there are more tech solutions than ever before. By watching the technologies and processes that the biggest corporations use, smaller brands can identify which can be implemented into their own business strategies. When no business is immune to fraud attempts, knowing how to detect and avoid fraud is as important now as it’s ever been.
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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Canadian Prepaid Payments Industry Increases Financial Services Innovation and Choice
Canadian Prepaid Providers Organization | Jun 9, 2021
TORONTO, June 9, 2021: The Canadian Prepaid Providers Organization (CPPO), the collective voice of the open-loop prepaid payments industry in Canada, today released the second comprehensive analysis of the Canadian prepaid landscape, a segment which continues to drive payments innovation in Canada. The Canadian Prepaid Ecosystem Report 2021, produced in collaboration with FinTech Growth Syndicate (FGS), is an analysis of 90 companies operating in the Canadian open-loop prepaid ecosystem to develop a deeper understanding of the innovative offerings, market forces and trends, as well as to build a heatmap of all players in the Canadian prepaid space.
Prepaid cards have allowed for the development and introduction of numerous innovative use cases to the Canadian ecosystem, for both consumer and small business segments. The use cases that have gained prominence within the market employ a wide range of value propositions while laying the foundation for further innovative offerings to be developed and brought to market.
See: More Industry research and reports
According to The Canadian Prepaid Ecosystem Report 2021, Canada is starting to see early movers offering integrated consumer ecosystems that represent the opportunity to become super apps enabled by payments. Non-banks have also been able to launch banking for their customers as an alternative to credit, and capture their spending data for further innovation in predictive services.
“Among the many benefits of the growing prepaid industry in Canada, prepaid offers increased financial inclusion to our essential and growing gig economy, while also offering more choice and convenience to all Canadians,” said Jennifer Tramontana, Co-Founder and Executive Director, CPPO. “In support of post-pandemic economic recovery, we anticipate that prepaid usage will ramp up quickly over the next few years in Canada. The CPPO is excited to continue its market research initiatives to further promote the evolution of the Canadian payments industry.”
As consumer preferences shift towards digital and contactless payment methods long-term, prepaid provides both incumbents and FinTech entrants with an avenue to introduce new products and services, while still adhering to stringent regulatory requirements.
Key report findings:
- There are 90 companies in the prepaid market in Canada, an increase of 21 percent since 2020
- Companies in prepaid space constitute about 1/6th of all paytechs in Canada and majority of those are new FinTech entrants, the same percentage as 2020
- Most of the new company launches and innovations are seen in Challenger Bank, Program Manager and Service Provider segments. Challenger Banks have the highest percentage of the new FinTech entrants
- 38 percent of the Challenger Banks in Canada offer prepaid cards
- Out of the total 90 prepaid value chain players, 50 are headquartered in Canada and 60 percent of those 50 are based out of Ontario
Continue to the full article --> here
Download the 31 page 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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