July 2018
The industry needs a change in the macroeconomic environment.
SocGen acquires crowdfunding platform for renewable energy
July 2018
The French bank hopes with one small acquisition to burnish its green credentials, meet government requirements on renewable energy and show its potential to adapt disruptive financial technology.
China takes a swipe at the fintech sector
July 2018
Beijing has spent years sitting back and encouraging its powerful fintech firms to create and innovate. But it is starting to crack down on parts of an industry that it feels may have grown too far too fast, starting with peer-to-peer lenders.
China: Foreign banks fumble over their expansion strategies
June 2018
China has finally started to open up its financial sector, but international banks seem to be struggling to find a clear or coherent strategy for tackling the market. It may be time to start worrying.
Banking: Australia demands change
April 2018
Bloodbath at AMP and the crowdfunding of startup Xinja are signs of new era.
Why SME banking may spawn the industry’s next big winners
March 2018
Most new challengers are attacking retail, but a few ingenious startups are moving into the more fragmented and poorly served small business market. It is here that concepts of open banking and banking as a platform may first become real.
Obstacles pepper path to pan-European sandbox
January 2018
The CFA Institute has suggested that the European Commission’s legislative proposal for an EU framework on crowd and peer-to-peer finance creates a precedent for exploring the possibility of creating an EU-wide sandbox and investigating the benefits and challenges such a regime.
Grameen Capital to be part of conscience-capitalism ecosystem
January 2018
CEO has broader ambitions as firm turns 10; impact investing still modest in Asia but growing.
Can a fintech lending firm disrupt the big four?
January 2018
If Australian banking needs a fundamental shake-up, it may come from insiders-turned-outsiders, and few fit that bill better than Jason Yetton at SocietyOne.
Bendigo gives a lesson in community banking
January 2018
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The bank has found a model that puts the local community first – feeding prosperity, not feeding off it as the big four do, says chief executive Mike Hirst.
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Egypt seeks financial inclusion with a digital revolution
October 2017
It’s goodbye cash, hello mobile wallets and digital payments, as Egypt uses financial technology to streamline payroll, keep money in the financial system and improve tax collection.
Imperial FX moves from high street to online
January 2018
The pace of change at Imperial FX during the past 10 months highlights the scale of the task of transitioning from high-street remittance to an online platform.
Southeast Asia's fintechs: Target the underbanked
September 2017
The region’s affluent classes are well served by traditional banks. But fintech firms hope to gain a foothold in financial services through customers that have been left behind.
Tencent’s CICC tie-up shows Chinese fintechs’ next steps
September 2017
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Chinese fintechs have been redrawing the map of financial services for a while now, and Tencent has just added the latest amendment.
New challenger banks drive third-party provider collaborations
July 2017
Recently emerged challenger banks are taking advantage of new regulations to team up with multiple third-party payment service providers (TPPs) to gain a slice of the customer’s business they would otherwise not have access to.
Fintech: PrimaryBid transforms equity capital raising for small companies
May 2017
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Taking payments off retail investors’ debit cards for new share placings has quickly changed the way AIM-listed companies place new equity and could have implications for bigger deals.
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Middle East: Can the crowd fund Gulf SMEs?
May 2017
Beehive and Eureeca are using online crowdfunding to raise debt and equity for small businesses in the Middle East. Becoming regulated will allow them to grow rapidly. In time, they could eat the banks’ lunch, or the banks just might swallow them.
Philanthropy gears up with Asian altruism
April 2017
With increasing wealth and a desire to create sustainable social and environmental impacts, Asia is overtaking the US as the driver of innovation in philanthropy. It’s also creating a great opportunity for private banks and others.
China's Lufax prepares to meet the global market
February 2017
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It started out as one of 3,000 peer-to-peer lenders in China. In six years, it has become a broad wealth management platform that may raise as much as $5 billion in an international IPO this year. The pace of its growth has been every bit as breathtaking as Tencent’s WeChat or Alibaba’s Alipay, yet few outside China have heard of it. They will. CEO Gregory Gibb tells us why.
Emerging Europe: Lithuania goes all in on fintech
December 2016
Lithuania has also passed laws this year regulating peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding; legislation on remote identification is being prepared.
Fintech creeps up on the capital markets
November 2016
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The application of fintech to wholesale banking is, to date, less clear than in retail financial services, where peer-to-peer lenders, start-up remittance companies, crowdfunders and robo-advisers are quickly picking up market share from the incumbents. It is more likely that fintech startups will collaborate with and sell to the incumbents in capital markets than disintermediate them. But they will still transform those markets and the business leaders.
Soft costs matter too: how the benefits of peer-to-peer FX stack up for smaller clients
August 2016
Small corporates and not-for-profit organizations are increasingly looking at peer-to-peer FX as a way to lower costs. Euromoney speaks to four customers who have taken their business away from banks.
What banks can learn from fintech CEOs’ reaction to Brexit
July 2016
Start-ups fear a funding stop and loss of access to the single market, but are already making back-up plans that could point the way for their peers in the more established parts of UK finance.
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Macaskill on markets: SoFi's Cagney – The Donald Trump of fintech?
June 2016
Cheerleaders for marketplace lending took comfort from two events in late May that seemed to signal a potential recovery in a sector that had been rocked by the near failure of Lending Club, the leading listed specialist in online lending.
Social impact investing finds its feet
June 2016
UBS oncology fund raises $471 million; banks turn to foundations to collaborate.
New Change FX developing P2P matching engine for corporates
May 2016
New Change FX is developing a peer-to-peer matching platform that will enable corporates to net down their portfolios and reduce their need to trade currencies with banks. But is this a stepping stone towards a full P2P FX exchange suitable for corporates, or is such a venue ultimately only of interest to retail traders?
Fintech 2016: OnDeck seeks scale through international expansion
April 2016
Specialist small business lender grows fast; more banks seek to white label its offering.
Fintech 2016: LendInvest has big ambitions
April 2016
Two large fund-raising rounds have equipped the property-focused marketplace lender to grow into a mainstream mortgage provider.
Fintech 2016: Finpoint connects small firms to many lenders
April 2016
While credit conditions appear to be easing for medium-size borrowers, small companies face big hurdles in securing finance. Finpoint aims to help them over.
Fintech 2016: EdAid brings impact investing to student loans
April 2016
As worries mount that large volumes of student debt extended in developed markets will never be repaid, crowdfunding platform EdAid seeks a new model for student loans and new lenders.
Fintech 2016: Landbay brings P2P to buy-to-let
April 2016
Having attracted investment from Zoopla and with an Isa offering in the works, Landbay sees a big opportunity in marketplace lending for landlords.
Peer-to-peer FX providers hedge disintermediation threats
November 2015
Leading P2P providers are confident their FX products can rival leading banks, but tech bulls concede the shifting FX market-structure landscape will still see the top-tier financial institutions dominate.
Corporates finance supply chains to juice cash returns
November 2015
In a possible further sign of disintermediation, corporates are deploying their excess cash in their self-funded supply chain finance programmes to assist their suppliers downstream.
Peer-to-peer lending: Banking 2.0
September 2015
Once the preserve of risk-taking individuals, P2P lending platforms are now no such thing.
Peer-to-peer FX providers pitch corporates
July 2015
P2P FX is rapidly gaining traction in the retail space, but even providers acknowledge it will take time to achieve significant volumes at the upper end of the corporate market.
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Fintech: SyndicateRoom takes investors into the dragon’s den
March 2015
Equity platform matches business angels with crowd investors – a sign that the venture capital industry is changing fast.
March 2015
A host of new technology and new business models are aiming to transform the financial system. Many will fall by the wayside. But among them are potential winners that could be the Goldman Sachs or Nasdaq of the 21st century. Euromoney looks at the smart people and smart firms attempting to reshape finance.
The fintech entrepreneurs reshaping finance
March 2015
London is strutting its stuff as a world centre for fintech innovation to rival Silicon Valley and New York. The first-stage disruptors, challengers and innovators are now established and growing. Government and regulators want to build a better financial system and see technology as the key.
Municipals: ripe for disruption?
January 2015
Want to see improvements to your town or city? Don’t just rely on municipal budgets. New crowdfunding sources are springing up. The disruptors even have municipal bond markets in their sights.
Banks’ excuses on borrowed time: what’s the point of banks if they won’t lend?
December 2014
Intercompany credit data suggests companies are more willing to borrow than banks claim. But what’s the point of banks if they won’t lend?
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Digital banking: Lessons from the digital disrupters
September 2014
The world’s biggest banks have been slow to embrace the digital era. What can financial services CEOs learn from new, tech-based companies that have successfully disrupted other industries? What needs to change?
August 2014
The foreign-exchange benchmark scandal looks set to be a boon for burgeoning peer-to-peer (P2P) currency-exchange platforms, as they capitalize on the demand for transparent and innovative solutions.
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Austria: Bank lending dominates
January 2014
Most Austrian SMEs depend on banks for funding. And while lending by insurers is emerging, it will be limited to the top end of the borrower market.
UK peer-to-peer lenders eye institutional investors; new crowdfunding products
December 2013
UK companies offering peer-to-peer lending are following their US counterparts into the financial mainstream, with an hospitable regulatory climate, as well as new sources of demand and products.
Peer-to-peer lending enters financial mainstream
November 2013
P2P lending is coming of age, thanks to pent-up demand for credit, new technology and new innovative providers in the market, but the jury is out on whether the sector can become a long-term viable alternative to traditional bank finance.
Funding Circle: We want to be ‘frenemies’ with the banks
October 2013
Peer-to-peer lender in exploratory talks with banks, hedge funds and family offices; P2P ‘can be 20% of market within a decade’.
Venture capitalists: Everyman as entrepreneur
August 2013
Some six million businesses were created in the US in 2012. The country is experiencing a start-up boom. What impact is the wave of entrepreneurs having, and how are the angel investor and venture capital industry adapting?
Fundraising for US small companies gets easier
July 2013
In July, the SEC voted four-to-one to implement Title II of the Jobs Act, lifting the ban on general solicitation of private offerings. That means issuers of non-public equity – namely small businesses – can now approach accredited investors directly and more easily raise capital in private markets.
Disintermediation (doggy-style)
July 2013
BrewDog, probably the most ridiculous name for a beer-brewing company in the world, is retapping a particularly liquid source of funding.
Crowdlending tackles small businesses in New York
The first crowdlending site specifically for small businesses launched this week in New York, with hopes to expand.
Crowdfunding expected to raise more than $5 billion in 2013
Lending campaigns have a 90% success rate and donations-based projects 50%, but equity-based platforms have been slow to take off.
Crowdfunding gets stamp of approval
FSA approves Crowdcube, appoints crowdfunding officer; US P2P lenders take off, endorsed by industry stalwarts.
Alternatives: Crowdfunding fills small-business loan void
Small banks reduce lending by $100 billion; crowdfunders join banks to source loans.
Technology take-off threatens bank foundations
Paypal can make your payments. Google wants your wallet. Facebook sees what you like. Apple and Amazon know when you spend and what you spend it on. How far can the new, powerful technology companies threaten the traditional role of banks?
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Romney and Obama fumble bank reform
Romney and Obama support losing banks; US falling behind Europe in the ‘non-bank bank’ sector.
Special focus: Social impact investing
Impact investing – putting money to work both for profit and social impact – is in its infancy as an industry. But it has the potential to become part of the fabric of financial markets.
Philanthropy debate: Investing's most important evolution?
Impact investing – putting money to work both for profit and social impact – is in its infancy as an industry. But it has the potential to become part of the fabric of financial markets. A group of leading wealth managers, foundations and sector specialists discuss how impact investment will develop, and the challenges they face.
"The entire lending industry was so inefficient, and the way to make it efficient was to cut out the bank."
Crowdfunding industry set to pass $3 billion mark
The first-ever survey to track the growth and trends in the burgeoning crowdfunding industry was released on Tuesday.
The money network: Why crowdfunding threatens traditional ...
The crowd is taking over from traditional sources of finance and it is here to stay. It’s the start of the big bank disintermediation. Unless banks join the revolution, consumer lending may no longer be their sole domain.
US Jobs Act: More than banks' Jobs are worth
Banks’ misgivings about the Jobs Act reflect their own failure to cater to the full spectrum of US enterprise.
Regulation: Bankers enraged by Jobs Act IPO rules
Research rules resurrect conflicts of interest; cost savings ‘compromise safety’.
Crowdfunding: John Mack backs non-bank with board role
Former Morgan Stanley chairman John Mack is to be appointed to the board of Lending Club, a US crowdlending platform that has advanced more than $500 million in loans via its website since its inception.