This weekly summary from our 8 experts, brings you insights based on their experience as investors, entrepreneurs & executives.
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Your Editor is Bernard Lunn. He is also the CEO of Daily Fintech and author of The Blockchain Economy and occasional opinion columnist.
Monday Ilias Hatzis our Greece-based crypto entrepreneur (Founder & CEO at Mercato Blockchain Corporation AG and Weekly Columnist at Daily Fintech) @iliashatzis wrote Loyalty and Ledgers driving Crypto
Over the last weeks, in my exploration to what could drive crypto into mainstream and what could transform people from speculators to users,I’ve been writing about wallets, payments, staking and crypto debit cards. An area that I have not touched yet, is customer loyalty programs. In a post coronavirus world, it will be a long haul before we are back to business as usual. More now than ever before, customer loyalty is critical to the success of any organization, but most loyalty programs are complicated and clunky. Out of the total points earned, 30% are never redeemed. The majority of the programs require people to sign up for another credit card they don’t really need. In theory most programs are useful, but the reality is that they are full of hidden restrictions and red tape. Even the simple coffee punch cards are more likely to be lost than ever actually redeemed. Customer loyalty can make or break companies and blockchain can make or break customer loyalty. Customer loyalty could be crypto’s path into mainstream.
Editor note: Utility Tokens are a more efficient version of those loyalty card cluttering your wallet. Read this to understand the intersection of these two huge markets.
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Tuesday Efi Pylarinou @efipm our Swiss-based Fintech Adviser, founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory and a Fintech/Blockchain influencer – No.3 influencer in the finance sector by Refinitiv Global Social Media 2019 wrote The Re-bundling rhythm varies by region
As technology commoditizes products and services at an ever-increasing rate, the re-bundling of fintech services is trying to catch up with the rhythm.
In the US market which has more unicorns and later-stage fintechs, this is more prevalent.
SoFi first comes to mind, which started with a laser focus on refinancing student loans (a large sector in the US market), then offered personal loans and mortgages; and then grew a wealth management offering that includes, equity investing, issuing ETFs, crypto investing; and a sizable Money offering with a debit card, a credit card, a checking account, savings accounts; and partnerships with brands like Mastercard, Samsung, Lyft, etc.
Wealthfront, one of the two standalone `robo-advisors, that as early entrants and purists have advanced and impacted the entire digital investing space; has added direct deposits, saving accounts, prepaid and debit cards, personal loans and mortgages.
Editor note: As single focus Fintech ventures add more services by rebundling, they compete head on with legacy banks.
Alan Scott Managing Director EMEA at 24 Exchange @Alan_SmartMoney wrote Stablecoin News for week ending Tuesday 21 July 2020
This weekly snapshot is the news that matters in the Stablecoin market.
Wednesday Jessica Ellerm @jessicaellerm, our Australia-based Fintech entrepreneur and thought leader specializing in Small Business and the Gig Economy & CEO/Co-Founder of Zuper, a new superannuation startup in Australia wrote New SME Bank Avenue Sets Sights On Australian Market
If all things go to plan, Australia will soon have a new SME neobank pitching its services to Australia’s small business community – Avenue.
Avenue’s aim is to provide businesses with turnover of between AU$500,000 and AU$2,000,000 access to instant credit, using data to more accurately assess risk and cash flow.
The aspiring bank’s founders have real chops in the SME space, having founded one of Australia’s most prominent and home-grown disruptors in the credit reporting sector – CreditorWatch.
Editor note: Interesting story of neobank created by serial entrepreneur leveraging his prior venture’s success
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Thursday Patrick Kelahan @insuranceeleph1, our US based Insurtech expert (a CX, engineering & insurance professional, working with Insurers, Attorneys & Owners who also serves the insurance and Fintech world as the ‘Insurance Elephant’) wrote Is this how we will be seeing how the insurance industry is changing?
It’s not disruption, innovation, or reaction to pandemic that is prompting change in the insurance industry- it’s all of those and more. Look at the news that comes in fire hose volume and force- Hippo raising $150 million for a $1.5 billion valuation as an MGA, Burn to Give continuing to build its social benefit life insurance offering in LatAm, and Aditya Birla Health Insurance realizing its Indian market agents’ sales habits have changed, probably for good due to Covid-19 and loss of collocated customer access. These are but a few of the insurance change points that are seen as occurring- right now.
Editor note: A great overview of recent Insurtech innovation in homeowner, health and life insurance.
Thursday Christian Dreyer @x3er, our Swiss based CFA who focusses on how XBRL changes our world wrote XBRL: reporting costs for EU banks, iXBRL in US markets, IFRS taxonomy
Editor note: This weekly snapshot is the news that matters in the XBRL market.
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Friday Howard Tolman, a well-known banker, technologist and entrepreneur in London, wrote: Alt Lending: Interest Rate, High Risk Lenders and Banking Parables
Editor note: This weekly snapshot is the news that matters in the Alt Lending market.
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Source: https://dailyfintech.com/2020/07/24/this-week-in-fintech-ending-24-july-2020/
