Rojin Nair, Advisor
June 1st, 2021
Economist | May 9, 2022
Covid-19 has been a trigger for digital acceleration in almost every industry. Technology has forced financial institutions—under mounting pressure from new competitors such as fintechs and large tech companies—to make or propose regulatory, operational and customer-centric changes. Bankers echoed that sentiment in a recent EIU survey, where they were most likely to name payment platforms such as PayPal, Alipay and Apple Pay as the non-traditional industry entrants that represented their biggest competition.
While tech firms have clearly eroded some of banking’s traditional functions, what’s less clear is how bankers plan to respond. Are they altering offers, entering new lines of business, buying technology, lobbying regulators, partnering with potential competitors, or innovating their own technology? How fierce is the competition for talent between banks and tech giants?
Questions we will address include:
What challenges and obstacles do they face in innovating their systems and strategies?
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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TechCrunch | Mary Ann Azevedo | May 5, 2022
Source: NEO Financial
Valar Ventures led the investment, which brings Neo’s total funding to $234.7 million (CAN $299 million) since its 2019 inception, and values the company at over $784.8 million. In Canadian dollars, this means that Neo has achieved unicorn status, or a valuation of over $1 billion. Also participating in the round were Tribe Capital, Altos Ventures, Blank Ventures, Gaingels, Maple VC and Knollwood Advisory.
Neo Financial offers a variety of products to its customers, including cash-back rewards and savings. It expanded into investing in April with a private wealth management product, and plans a mortgage offering for later this year as part of its effort to be a “one-stop shop for all financial services for Canadians and retailers.”
Indeed, the company says that its partnerships, which include Hudson’s Bay, The Home Depot, H&R Block, Boston Pizza, Goodfood and 7,000 other local and national retailers, have accelerated in the past year, “as retailers search for ways to modernize their loyalty programs and financial service offerings.”
Neo has also expanded beyond just offering personalized loyalty card programs and into launching co-branded card programs, “buy now, pay later” options (BNPL), point of sale installment financing and subscription-based loyalty services for both online and brick and mortar retailers.
In an interview with TechCrunch, Neo co-founder and CEO Andrew Chau shared:
[him] and his co-founders Jeff Adamson, Chris Simair and Kris Read started Neo to challenge the Big Five banks that own some 90% of the country’s market share. Notably, it only went live in January of 2021, so it has managed to surpass 1 million customers in a relatively short period of time. We’ve built all our financial infrastructure, our banking core, from scratch. And that really provided us with this advantage to quickly innovate and drive a ton of product velocity.
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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Insurance Business America | Roxanne Libatique | May 2, 2022
PayPal Holdings Inc. formed a partnership with Aon Plc to offer its small-business customers the ability to shop for and manage their insurance policies using the company’s digital-commerce platform. The program went live in the US on April 4, 2022.
The partnership sees PayPal adapt Aon’s CoverWallet solution to its commerce platform, allowing small business customers across the US to shop for, purchase, and manage insurance online and within a few minutes. The program also enables users to obtain personalized advice and guidance from Aon’s licensed insurance advisors.
Roberto Pinto, president of digital client solutions at Aon said:
CoverWallet’s digital capabilities and integrating it into PayPal’s existing offering for small businesses created a unique experience that simplifies insurance access and sale for millions of merchants.
“We share PayPal’s culture of innovating on behalf of clients, and this initiative is one way we are addressing our clients’ most pressing needs,” Pinto said. “We are uniquely positioned to develop and deliver a digital solution to PayPal that will expand access to insurance for small businesses, which is often an underserved market, and ultimately help them make better decisions to grow and protect their business.”
With the new initiative, small businesses could address some of the most persistent challenges they face with their insurance decisions – time, effort, choice, and cost. Specifically, they benefit from real-time visibility into the typical coverage and average costs for their insurance needs, a breadth of online quotes and coverage options from top carriers, and the convenience of purchasing insurance with their PayPal accounts.
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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Support NCFA by Following us on Twitter!Follow @NCFACanada ![]() Not to be missed! Registration NOW OPEN! |