Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group will start a venture next month to create new fintech businesses and catch up with its rivals, according to Reuters. As Banking Technology reported last month, Mizuho Financial Group, Mizuho Bank and IBM Japan teamed up to build a blockchain-based trade financing platform – and so edged commercialisation ever forward. So […]
BitPay, a 2017 Pay Award winner, said this week that it has released its BitPay Visa Prepaid Debit Card in 131 countries. The card “makes it possible for users to convert bitcoin into a spendable dollar, euro or pound balance” on the card in a matter of minutes, the company said.
Cut to the chase with this brief blockchain and Bitcoin round-up. Features Waves Platform, Everex and Bitcoin’s price surge. Moscow-based Waves has launched its Euro gateway, which will allow users of the platform to deposit and withdraw Euros directly from within the lite client, holding and trading them directly from their Waves accounts as WEUR […]
Blockchain consortium R3 has completed the first two of three tranches in its Series A fundraising round, securing $107 million in the “world’s largest distributed ledger technology (DLT) investment to date”. The consortia contest is heating up as this handy cash injection follows on from yesterday’s (22 May) announcement from the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) […]
Nasdaq and Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) have unveiled a new payment solution for automating reconciliation using Chain’s blockchain infrastructure platform. The solution enables straight through payment processing by using a distributed ledger to record and transmit payment instructions. A number of payment transactions have been done including Citi’s automated processing of cross-border payments […]
The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) has seen a surge of interest in its plans to drive Ethereum blockchain technology best practices with the arrival of 86 new members. New faces include Broadridge, DTCC, Deloitte, Infosys, MUFG, National Bank of Canada, Rabobank and Samsung SDS. As Banking Technology reported in March, Banco Santander, BNY Mellon, Intel, […]
Citi has revealed the three winners from its Tech for Integrity Challenge (T4I) Demo Day in Dublin – all part of its plan to promote integrity, accountability and transparency in the public sector and beyond. Fintech developers from eight countries presented their working prototypes; and the “award recipients” from the Demo Day included: T4I Award […]
It was only two days ago since the last blockchain and Bitcoin round-up, but here’s more news to keep you in the loop. Features Ripple, BitGo, Abu Dhabi Global Market, R3 and Corion. Ripple has enjoyed a good start to the year with ten more financial institutions recently jumping onboard its blockchain network; and deals […]
IBM has launched its Blockchain Founder Accelerator to help enterprises and enterprise developers power up their blockchain networks. The programme provides one-on-one mentorship and support by network founders and technologists for business case development, network membership incentives, technical development, governance and legal issues. In addition, members of the Founder Accelerator will receive early access to […]
IBM and Chile’s Santiago Exchange, the largest in the country, have teamed up to introduce blockchain across the country’s financial sector. The agreement makes the Santiago Exchange the “first stock market in Latin America” to apply IBM blockchain within its short selling system for securities lending. Built by IBM and Santiago Exchange, the solution is […]
Indian IT firm Wipro has developed nine blockchain-based solutions for banking financial services and insurance (BFSI), manufacturing, retail and consumer goods industries. The solutions were defined, designed and co-developed with Wipro’s clients in its blockchain innovation lab. In terms of fintech and insurtech, these concepts include trade finance and P2P insurance for the “sharing economy” […]
Quickly following on from the cash flow glow of 15 May, here’s another fintech funding round-up. Features Additiv, BZ Bank, Symphony, BNP Parabis and IOTA. Zurich-based digital finance provider Additiv knows how to stay healthy as it has secured its first capital investment funding round of CHF 21 million ($21.3 million). The round was headed […]
The world moves fast, so you need a fast read. A round-up of key events in the blockchain and Bitcoin arena. Featuring Coinsilium Group, SatoshiPay, Aragon, ShapeShift and Kotak Mahindra Bank. Blockchain accelerator Coinsilium Group reveals that SatoshiPay, a “nano-payments” company in which Coinsilium has a 12.08% equity interest, has added PayPal as a new […]
Anyone that picks up any business publication has no doubt read about blockchain. Conceptualised around the same time as the financial crisis in 2008, blockchain as originally conceived served as a digital ledger to publicly record cryptocurrency transactions and execute contracts.
SAP has launched a blockchain platform – “ready-to-use blockchain technology” – in the SAP cloud.
SAP has made a raft of announcements (and promises) at its annual Sapphire conference in Orlando, Florida. Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP, says the company continues to be committed to its “empathy” strategy unveiled last year and the time is now for “the urgency of action”. The vendor has unveiled its new SAP Leonardo platform […]
Brevity and celerity. It’s our latest fintech funding round-up for a quick fix – featuring Axoni, Citi, MarketInvoice, Banco BNI Europa, Alibaba and Qupital. Distributed ledger technology (DLT) provider Axoni has revealed that Citi has joined its Series A funding round, bringing the total amount raised to over $20 million. Citi joins a group of […]
Whether it’s blockchain, lending or core banking – everyone likes a bit of cash. Our latest funding round-up – featuring Coinsilium Group, Coindash, Kreditech, PayU and Finxact. Blockchain accelerator Coinsilium Group has completed its investment of $75,000 in Coindash, which is developing a social trading platform for cryptocurrency investors. Coinsilium will also receive an entitlement […]
Good days and good times have come to Australia’s fintech scene with the 2017-18 Australian budget bringing in some useful initiatives. Some of the positives include open financial data reforms, reduced barriers for banking licences, an expanded regulatory sandbox and digital currency tax cuts – all welcomed by Fintech Australia, a national industry association. Australian […]
Hong Kong’s government has come under fire for perceived failings in the further development of fintech in the region. The Financial Services Development Council (FSDC) today (9 May) has released two research reports that look at the fintech scene in Hong Kong and it urges the government to step up the action. Chairperson of the […]
No need to pace yourself. Here’s a quick blockchain and Bitcoin round-up. Featuring Infosys Finacle, Commercial Bank of Qatar, Adel and Blockpool. Infosys Finacle and the Commercial Bank of Qatar have completed a pilot on the “first ever” cloud-based blockchain network to process international remittances. The bank, along with its subsidiary Alternatifbank (ABank) in Turkey, […]
Innotribe, Swift’s innovation arm, has named the ten firms who will compete in its Start-up Challenge Africa. The start-ups will pitch their products in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on 17 May 2017 during Swift’s African Regional Conference. Innotribe evaluated close to 100 applications received for the third edition of the Startup Challenge in Africa. The applications […]
Quick steps to quick news. Hot on the heels of Wednesday’s (26 April) blockchain and Bitcoin round-up, here’s another one. Featuring Emercoin, IHS Markit, Santiment and Coinsource. “We have crossed the Rubicon, getting rid of the last instruments which affect the health of the Emercoin network. Whether this was the right step or a mistake […]
JP Morgan Chase has finally bid farewell to the R3 blockchain consortium as it pursues its own interests. As Banking Technology reported in November, JP Morgan was understood to be in the “leave” camp as it opted out of a fundraising effort for R3. R3 had initially planned to raise $200 million from its members […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Amlak in core banking software overhaul with Temenos and NDC EXCLUSIVE. T24 will replace Silverlake Axis’ SIBS. Temenos MarketPlace gets boost with new services and leadership Targets open banking and PSD2 services. Trio tussle to win Payments Canada’s […]
Ten more financial institutions have jumped onboard Ripple’s blockchain network for cross-border payments. The new faces are MUFG, BBVA, SEB, Akbank, Axis Bank, YES Bank, SBI Remit, Cambridge Global Payments, Star One Credit Union and eZforex.com – representing a mix of banks and payment service providers (PSPs). “The world’s largest banks have been the first […]
They said it. We read it. We edit. Hot on the heels of Monday’s (24 April) fintech funding round-up, we have more action. Featuring Quovo, Gnosis and Indian Angel Network. New York-based Quovo, a data platform providing insights and connectivity for financial accounts, has raised $10 million in Series B funding. F-Prime Capital and Napier […]
Mizuho Financial Group, Mizuho Bank and IBM Japan have teamed up to build a blockchain-based trade financing platform – with commercialisation edging ever forward. With the platform, Mizuho is aiming to “make it easier” for parties involved in the supply chain, including exporters, importers, shippers, insurance companies, port operators and port authorities, to “share critical […]
Here’s something brief to avoid wasting precious minutes on pernicious waffle. A blockchain and Bitcoin round-up, featuring Populous, Humaniq, BOScoin and the Winklevoss twins. In the UK, blockchain invoice and trade finance platform Populous will launch its initial coin offering (ICO) on 16 July. It is an Ethereum-based platform and uses smart contracts, XBRL data […]
Swift has launched a proof of concept (PoC) to explore whether blockchain/distributed ledger technology (DLT) can be used by banks to improve the reconciliation of their nostro databases in real time. Under the current correspondent banking model, Swift says banks need to monitor the funds in their overseas accounts via debit and credit updates and […]
While the maturity of blockchain discussions and advances are at different stages of development around the world, blockchain is said to be at the height of the Gartner hype cycle. This implies that 2017 will be the year where disillusionment with the technology begins. However, 2017 may also see some real breakthroughs with its application and the emergence of pockets of the first concrete results.
BBVA has announced the completion of “the first real-life implementation of an international money transfer using Ripple’s new distributed ledger technology (DLT)”. The transaction, which ran on BBVA infrastructures with real money, resulted in money moved between Spain and Mexio “in a matter of seconds”.
BNP Paribas Securities Services is partnering with AXA Investment Managers for the creation of a new digital fund distribution platform. Called BNP Paribas Fund Link, it aims to make the fund distribution process better by improving the flow of information between fund buyers and sellers via blockchain and smart contract technology. Jean Devambez, head of […]
Aaron Cutler, partner, and Loyal Horsley, associate at Hogan Lovells, examine the state-level fintech regulation, proposed legislative solutions, and provides a brief overview of international regulation.
Consortium R3 has partnered with Acord (Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development) to launch a virtual “centre of excellence” for distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the insurance industry. R3 counts a number of insurance companies amongst its member base, including MetLife, AIA and Suncorp Group, as well as other financial services members that have […]
Addressing the views of the Department of Treasury, the CFPB, and the SEC on the regulation of the fintech industry in the US.
Make the most of your limited time with this brief blockchain and Bitcoin round-up. Featuring Commercial Bank of Qatar, Russia, Waves Platform, and a farmer. The Commercial Bank of Qatar has completed an initial pilot phase using the “first ever” blockchain network to process international transfers in partnership with ABank in Turkey, National Bank of […]
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is calling for feedback on the potential for future development of distributed ledger technology (DLT) / blockchain in the markets it regulates. It says it is “particularly interested to explore where the balance of risk and opportunities may lie” for DLT and wants to boost innovation that advances it […]
Distributed ledger technology (DLT) consortium R3, together with five of its members and financial resource management specialist HQLAX have built a collateral lending solution for liquidity transfers. The solution is based on R3’s flagship platform, Corda, and is “an operating model for a digital collateral receipt (DCR) lending marketplace”.
An overview of the current fintech regulation in the US by the prudential regulators: the OCC, the FDIC, and the Federal Reserve.
