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

Open Banking Era Starts in Australia (Feb 2020)

October 14, 2019

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 ...
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Tech CEOs call on political parties for policy action to drive digital economy

October 11, 2019

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 ...
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The Average Cost of Health Insurance

October 10, 2019

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 ...
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Vanguard Developing Blockchain Platform for $6 Trillion Forex Market

October 10, 2019

Coindesk | David Pan | Oct 9, 2019 Mutual fund giant Vanguard has partnered with Nasdaq Ventures-backed blockchain startup Symbiont to develop a trading platform for the $6 trillion currency market, the companies said. With the new platform, Vanguard, which manages $5.2 trillion, aims to lower transaction costs for the trillions of dollars worth of currencies it trades annually by boosting peer-to-peer trading for investors, connecting them directly via blockchain technology. Symbiont CEO Mark Smith told CoinDesk the company teamed up with Vanguard to build the currency platform, confirming a Bloomberg report that cited an anonymous source. The platform has been operational for two months and completed its first trades during the time, according to the report. A Vanguard spokesperson told CoinDesk: “Vanguard is currently piloting a project focused on improving the efficiency and reducing risk of FX hedging.” The new platform is part of the fund manager’s commitment to lowering the cost of investing for all investors, the spokesperson said. Neither company would provide further details of the pilot. See:  HSBC settles FX deals worth $250 billion on blockchain in last year Machine Learning in Finance – Present and Future Applications The project, if successful, would be another important milestone ...
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Swiss National Bank and BIS use innovation hub to explore digital central bank money and DLT

October 10, 2019

Finextra | Oct 8, 2019 The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is working with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) on an innovation hub in Switzerland that will initially focus on research into digital central bank money and distributed ledger technology. The SNB is working with SIX on the research, embarking on a proof of concept to explore how digital central bank money could be used in the settlement of tokenized assets between market participants. The project is making use of the SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) platform, which is currently being built and promises to be the world's first end-to-end exchange for digital assets when it launches next year offering listing, trading, settlement and custody service. See:  Mark Carney’s Trojan Unicorn — Are Central Banks Considering Stealth Nationalization in Sovereign Digital Currencies? The SDX system will be used to explore technical possibilities for integrating digital central bank money into DLT platforms. Options include the connection of the existing Swiss Interbank Clearing System or the issue of digital Swiss franc tokens by the SNB for financial market participants. Jos Dijsselhof, CEO, SIX, says: "We are pleased to contribute to this initiative and, through SIX Digital Exchange, to explore the technological possibilities with ...
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The future of fintech: lending + services

October 9, 2019

Andreessen Horowitz | Anish Acharya In 2006, LendingClub introduced a then-novel business model: the ability to offer online personal loans to millions of underserved customers. The peer-to-peer lender was a media and investor darling, hailed as a tech-enabled alternative to traditional banks. When LendingClub went public in 2014, it was valued at $8.5 billion, the year’s single largest US tech IPO. Now, five years later, that fintech pioneer has lost 85 percent of its market value. Meanwhile, mobile upstart MoneyLion launched in 2013, also providing online personal loans—a direct competitor to LendingClub. Today, MoneyLion claims more than 5 million users and is valued at nearly $1 billion. See:  Peer to Peer Lending: The Future of Fintech is Now LendingClub had significant competitive advantages, from low customer acquisition costs—back then, personal loans keywords weren’t nearly as competitive on Google and Facebook was actively promoting LendingClub as an early F8 partner—to improved underwriting (the company provided lenders with access to customers’ credit score, total debt, income, monthly cash flow, and social data). So why is LendingClub experiencing growing pains while MoneyLion sees significant growth? Though the latter started out solely as an online lender, it quickly morphed into an all-in-one lending, savings, ...
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Singapore overtakes the US to become world’s most competitive country, WEF says

October 9, 2019

CNBC | Chloe Taylor | Oct 8, 2019 Singapore has overtaken the U.S. to become the most competitive nation in the world, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). In its 2019 Global Competitiveness Report, the WEF measured the strength of 103 key indicators, such as inflation, digital skills and trade tariffs, across 141 countries. The key indicators in the report were organized into 12 pillars, which included institutions, macroeconomic stability and health. The U.S., which held the top spot in 2018′s ranking, dropped into second place this year, although the report’s authors noted that it “remains an innovation powerhouse.” America received the highest score in the world in several subcategories, including ease of finding skilled employees and venture capital availability, with the U.S. also being ranked higher than any other country in the business dynamism pillar. However, the country scored relatively low in some categories, with increasing trade tariffs, declining life expectancy and low digital skills among the American population taking a toll on the United States’ overall ranking. The WEF noted that life expectancy in the U.S. is now lower than it is in China, with the U.S. having only the 39th highest life expectancy in the world ...
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Inflection point:Seven transformative shifts in US retail banking

October 8, 2019

McKinsey & Company | Oct 2019 Ten years ago 10 years ago, the US retail banking industry was in the depths of the global financial crisis, with many one-time leading institutions struggling to survive. Since then, after bringing in billions in fresh capital, US banks have made a return to stable ground and greater liquidity. Despite this progress, aggregate return on equity is at the lower bound of sustainability, and the industry’s price-to-book value is about 1.4, not far above where it stood in 2009. Customer trust has improved from the downturn but is still well below pre-crisis levels. Though most banks were able to avoid unsettling challenges in the following ten years, few were able to break out and significantly outperform the industry. Now, however, several major forces are accelerating the evolution of the US banking industry–the encroachment of new competitors, rising expectations from customers on service levels and corporate responsibility, and an intensifying war for talent—and promising to make doing business more challenging in the coming ten years. Further, US banks have yet to go through the restructuring that has already swept European and Asian markets, where a majority of services are delivered digitally. In this report, we ...
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Canada Update: Alberta Updates Crowdfunding Regulations but Where Does Canada Stand in the National Harmonization of Rules? What about Fintech Development?

October 8, 2019

Crowdfund Insider | JD Alois | Oct 7, 2019 Last week, the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) adopted a “Blanket Order” for “Startup Crowdfunding Registration and Prospectus Exemptions.” In effect, the ASC was seeking to improve access to capital for smaller firms – a good thing- but the move also highlights the disparity between the provinces and a greater need for national harmonization of online capital formation rules. Financial services in Canada are all regulated at the provincial level thus there exists a degree of disparity regarding rules. While a smaller country by population, Canada has consistently ranked high in entrepreneurship and innovation. According to a recent KPMG report, the Canadian Fintech ecosystem is thriving but, like any other country, more can be done. Crowdfund Insider reached out to Denise Weeres, Director, New Economy at the ASC and Craig Asano, Executive Director and founder of the National Crowdfunding and Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA). The NCFA has long led the charge advocating on behalf of Canada’s emerging Fintech market and various securities crowdfunding platforms. The New Economy Division of the ASC works closely with staff to coordinate efforts to facilitate capital-raising by new economy companies entering the capital market. The Division ...
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Facebook faces EU grilling over Libra ‘cryptocurrency’ after losing PayPal backing

October 7, 2019

TNW Hard Fork | Yessi Bello Perez | Oct 7, 2019 As Facebook deals with the loss of PayPal‘s backing for its ‘cryptocurrency‘ Libra, the tech giant must now get ready to answer EU regulators’ questions about the potential risks posed by the project. The European Commission has requested that Facebook and the Libra Association – the body tasked with supervising the digital currency – answer questions relating to financial stability, money laundering, and data privacy risks. According to the Financial Times, which saw the commission’s questionnaire last week, this is all part of EU financial commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis’ efforts to asses whether projects such as Libra should be regulated in the EU, if new regulation is required, or whether the ‘cryptocurrency‘ should be allowed to operate at all. See:  Libra: France opposes the development of Facebook’s currency “on European soil” News on China cryptocurrency and more reforms Competition Bureau’s call for intel on anti-competitive conduct in digital economy raises eyebrows The news couldn’t come at a worse time for Facebook, which has faced increasing scrutiny and opposition from regulators in recent months. Just last month, Libra‘s founders were subject to questioning by 26 central bank officials in what was the first encounter between the ...
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