AI and Big Data: Can they guide investors through the pandemic? September 1, 2020 | City Talk The defeat of the top human Go player by the AlphaGo artificial intelligence (AI) in 2017 revealed to the public the world of possibilities that AI scientists had been quietly exploring for years. Driverless cars, AI doctors, and robo-advisers, among other innovations, all seemed within reach. Amid such promise and possibility, Roy Amara’s famous law was [...]
Monzo marketing chief steps down amid doubts over bank’s future August 19, 2020 Monzo’s long-standing head of marketing is stepping down as the challenger bank faces doubts over its future due to the coronavirus crisis. Tristan Thomas, who joined Monzo in its infancy in 2015, told staff he will leave the company at the end of the year. The move comes as the digital bank faces a fight [...]
Fintech can drive the economic recovery — if the government would only give the sector the right support August 19, 2020 Over the past month or so, the Digital Finance Forum has been carrying out its second annual Summer Survey, which aims to gauge the opinion of founders across the fintech sector. Unsurprisingly, this year’s survey was concerned primarily with Covid-19 and how it has affected founders and their companies. It paints a stark picture. To [...]
Coronavirus will make it harder to raise finance in the next year, say fintech founders August 18, 2020 The majority of fintech founders in the UK believe the pandemic will make it harder to raise finance in the next year. A survey by the Digital Finance Forum (DFF) found that just under half of respondents cited limited access to capital as the most pressing challenge during the pandemic. It comes as the government [...]
N26 staff to form works council after bank fails to break up meeting August 14, 2020 Staff at N26 have made a major breakthrough in their efforts to form a trade union after the digital bank failed to break up a meeting of employees during a dramatic day of confrontation. N26 workers today confirmed they had met and selected an electoral board, which will now begin the process of organising an [...]
N26 in stand-off with staff as confidence in founders hits ‘all-time low’ August 13, 2020 Meetings between N26 staff to create a so-called works council are scheduled for today and tomorrow, despite the digital bank’s best efforts to stop employees organising with a legal injunction. The founders of N26 obtained an injunction against workers trying to establish a council earlier this week, after staff wrote in an open letter that [...]
Revolut trebles loss as digital bank continues to expand customer base August 11, 2020 Digital banking firm Revolut trebled its loss last year as the fintech firm took on three times as many staff to handle its continued expansion. The UK’s most valuable fintech said it booked a £104.7m loss in the 12 months ended 31 December, up from £34.1m the previous year. At the end of December, revenue [...]
Monzo? I’d rather invest my tuppence in the bank August 10, 2020 “Railways through Africa. Dams across the Nile. Fleets of ocean greyhounds. Majestic, self-amortizing canals.” So enthuses Mr Banks to his dubious son Michael. An investment in the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, in the words of director Mr Dawes, “fires the imagination”. And tuppence is all you need to open an account. Never has the promise of [...]
Starling Bank predicts 2020 profitability despite deepened losses August 6, 2020 Starling Bank has said it expects to break even by the end of this year and be profitable in 2021, despite more than doubling its losses in 2019. Chief executive Anne Boden told reporters the digital bank had benefited from participating in government schemes to provide business loans during the pandemic, gaining new loans on [...]
Wirecard business partner reported dead in Philippines amid investigation August 6, 2020 A German businessman responsible for one of Wirecard’s biggest sources of profit has been reported dead in the Philippines amid ongoing investigations into his involvement with the disgraced payments firm’s collapse in June. Filipino authorities are seeking to confirm whether a recently registered death was that of former Wirecard executive Christopher Bauer, one of several [...]