The Best Reads On FinTech From Last Week

Four themes continue to dominate the global financial technology scene - developments in the payments domain, peer to peer lending, continued attention to block chain - beyond the virtual currencies, the robo advice space.

Regulators continue to take active interest in the the disruptive innovative arena acknowledging a new approach is needed to regulate the new order.

Sarah Kocianski, of BI, reports that Central Banks have also taken cognizance of Fin tech innovation and rapidly growing scale in the world today.

Central Banks Need To Innovate

Central banks are legacy institutions and at risk of disruption as much as the rest of the financial services industry, according to Andrew Hauser, Executive Director for Banking, Payments, and Financial Resilience at the Bank of England who spoke at an event this week.

He cited the fact that the Bank still closes at night and on weekends, because it does not have the technological capacity to operate constantly, as an example of the need for the Bank to evolve. We think the disruption the Bank is facing is simply that it may lose relevance as technologies are developed to fill gaps where the Bank is failing.

One of the domains that impacts them is Payments and central ledgers. In that context role of blockchain is significant.

Federal Reserve Speaks Up On Blockchain

Lael Brainard, a member of the US Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, discussed the potential of blockchain in the financial industry in a recent speech to the Institute of International Finance Blockchain Roundtable, according to CoinDesk. Brainard discussed the efficiency potential of blockchain as well as the challenges it could pose to a notoriously restricted and private industry.

For context, financial institutions are researching blockchain because of its potential to automate transaction processes and eliminate middlemen, which could increase efficiency and cut industry costs by up to $20 billion annually by 2022, per Business Insider estimates.

On the business end of the scene, Globalization of Fin tech is fraught with challenges of capital, business models, organizational complexities, local partnerships etc.Yet few of the firms are visible across the globe, at least in major markets, opening up new era of growth and disruptions-

Payoneer empowers global commerce by connecting businesses, professionals, countries and currencies with its innovative cross-border payments platform. . In today’s borderless digital world, Payoneer enables millions of businesses and professionals from more than 200 countries to reach new audiences by facilitating seamless, cross-border payments.

TransferWise moves $778 million every month in international remittances. In January 2015, the company received a funding of $58 million in its Series C funding round led by US venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Tipalti is the only payment management platform to automate all phases of the global supplier payment management lifecycle in one unified SaaS solution. Tipalti makes it painless for finance departments to pay any partner in a range of payment methods across the world while ensuring all tax and regulatory requirements are met and enhancing the partner payment experience.

Remitly is a mobile payments service, supported on Android, iOS and online, that enables consumers to conveniently make person-to-person, international money transfers from the United States

A new remittance service being rolled out by MasterCard, Western Union, bKash and BRAC aims to open up financial inclusion to 22 million Bangladeshis. Barb King, MasterCard’s SVP of P2P segment, tells PYMNTS how it works, and what might lie in the future.

Mobeewave’s PayMeTap Makes Canadian Peer-to-Peer Mobile Payments a Tap Away

A Tattoo-Based Mobile Payment System May Be Coming

A new iPhone application launching today called Plastiq lets you pay any bill with your credit or debit card just by snapping a photo. The goal with the app is to offer something designed for mobile, that’s also more convenient than using a bank’s online bill pay feature.

Avoka, founded in 2002, has won numerous industry awards for its innovative customer experience solutions. Avoka has digitized over 100 million transactions spanning more than 16,000 sales and service projects.

Personetics offers a predictive interaction solution designed specifically for the financial services industry. The company is dedicated to helping all types of financial institutions deliver a more personalized customer experience across all service channels, especially online, mobile and tablet.

Trulioo is an online ID verification company providing advanced analytics based on traditional information such as public records, credit files and government data as well as alternative sources including social login providers, ad networks, mobile applications, e-commerce websites and social networks.

The payments giant Paypal has invested £21 million ($30 million) in US app Acorns, which automatically invests spare change from card purchases into an investment portfolio, according to Finextra. Acorns’ customers can add to their portfolio using the round-up feature, invest lump sums or set up a recurring amount to be transferred from their card.

Funding Circle is the world’s leading marketplace exclusively focused on small businesses. More than $1.5 billion has been lent to 12,000 businesses in the UK, USA, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. Funding Circle enables businesses to borrow directly from a wide range of investors, including more than 43,000 people, the UK Government, local councils, a university and a number of financial organizations

Borro is an online platform for secured loans that targets affluent consumers who seek credit at scales not available from traditional lenders. Over 75% of the loans are completed within 24 hours from valuation.

Play Moolah is an interesting digital education initiative around money and transformation.

SmartAsset’s free and interactive tools help you make smarter decisions on home buying, refinance, retirement, life insurance, taxes, investing, personal loans.

Sumzero: The World’s largest community exclusively for professional investors

Stocktwits: The #1 Social Network for Investors and Traders.

Addepar is the investment management technology company empowering investors and advisors to navigate the increasingly complex world of finance

Next week, we will focus on one of the sub-segments and work thru the events reshaping that segment of the industry.