On Nov. 21, the United States Congressional Task Force on Financial Technologies held a hearing on the role of big data in financial services. The last major legislation focused on the subject was the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, which formalized a financial service firm’s obligations to clients — specifically, how they share client information. Given the field’s expansion over the past 20 years, the Fintech Task Force’s posture on Thursday was that of an early exploration of options and opportunities for new and major legislation. The current conundrum Obviously, the scene has changed remarkably since 1999. Financial services are more …
Morocco is looking to expand access to financial services through the integration of blockchain technology in the country’s financial sector. Speaking at the Africa Blockchain Summit in Morocco’s capital of Rabat, the country’s central bank governor Abdellatif Jouahri said that Morocco will deploy financial technology to enhance access to financial services, Morocco World News reported on Nov. 21. This fintech implementation will come as part of the country’s financial inclusion strategy and especially targets underserved citizens. To reach the unbanked Jouahri further elaborated that the application of fintech, including blockchain technology, would help Morocco to achieve its goal to provide …
On Nov. 18, Big Four auditing firm KPMG released its 2019 Fintech100 ranking, which lists the top 100 fintech firms in the world. The list saw a drop in Bitcoin-related companies but reinforced innovation in the payments industry. As was the case in 2018, AntFinancial — owned by Jack Ma of Alibaba — led the ranking. AntFinancial controls Alipay, one of China's leading payment systems, and is valued at $83 billion. Among the companies that offer innovation through blockchain and cryptocurrency, JD Finance was best placed in third place, surpassed by Grab, an Uber-like rideshare app that also functions as …
Lagos-headquartered fintech Opay has sealed $120 million in a series B financing round from a host of high-profile Chinese investors. Founded in 2018 by web browser developer Opera, OPay — which focuses on developing digital payments solutions to promote financial inclusion — had previously raised $50 million in June of this year, according to what Opera’s spokesperson told Cointelegraph. Opay to extend payments solution across Africa According to a Nov. 18 report from TechCrunch, Opera’s OPay reportedly intends to use the new Series B $120 million round to scale and extend its digital payments solution beyond Nigeria to Kenya, Ghana …
The Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) has introduced a new program to attract more startups to the country. According to a press release on Oct. 29, the investment promotion agency for the Kingdom of Bahrain has introduced a fast-track setup program for startups looking to do business there. The new initiative will provide an expedited entry process covering visa requirements, residency and business registration processes. It also offers guidance from the country’s incubators and accelerators, as well as access to grants and financial supports. In its statement, the EDB lauds Bahrain as a better place to do business than its …
China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), will use a new system to certify 11 types of fintech hardware and software products relating to digital payments. On Oct. 29, the PBoC alongside China’s market regulator, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), jointly released a set of documents for the new nationwide Certification of Fintech Products (CFP) system. The documents include definitions of fintech products that require certification as well as rules for its proceedings. The listed products include embedded application software, cloud computing platforms, user front-end software, security carriers and chips, as well as point of sale …
The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) gives its fintech research unit LabCFTC status as an independent operating office. Blockchain and digital assets are an important part of development Established by the CFTC in 2017 with the goal of engaging with the fintech community, LabCFTC will now be reporting directly to the authority’s chairman Heath Tarbert. He announced the news at the CFTC’s annual conference Fintech Forward on Oct. 24. In the announcement, Tarbert noted that engagement with blockchain and digital assets are part of LabCFTC’s commitment to representing a beacon in the emerging world of fintech. He said: …
Just a few years ago, it was hard to imagine that a stablecoin would come to represent a significant portion of the cryptocurrency industry. Market players tended to base their money-making strategies on a cryptocurrency’s volatility rather than its stability. There were only 11 stablecoins on the market in 2016, and another 10 were added in 2017. Nowadays, there are 66 stablecoins, and over 134 others still in development. The overwhelming majority of these stablecoins were running on Ethereum before 2018, without any indication suggesting that this might change. But the script has flipped, according to Blockchain.com’s “2019 State of …
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee on Oct. 23 regarding the firm’s proposed Libra stablecoin project. On Oct. 9, Congresswoman Maxine Waters officially announced that Zuckerberg will attend a congressional hearing entitled “An Examination of Facebook and Its Impact on the Financial Services and Housing Sectors.” Libra and Calibra moratorium The announcement notes that Waters and other Democrats on the commitee sent a letter to Facebook in July, requesting an immediate moratorium on the implementation of proposed cryptocurrency Libra and digital wallet Calibra. The statement also mentions the draft bill “Keep Big …
Decentralized finance (DeFi) startup InstaDApp has secured $2.4 million in a seed round from an array of strategic investors, including Coinbase Ventures and Pantera Capital. New funding InstaDApp is the developer of a mediator smart wallet layer between the user interface and protocols that purportedly simplifies the cost of conducting financial transactions. According to an Oct. 1 blog post, other investors included Robot Ventures and venture capital company IDEO Colab. The startup claims that its protocol launch saw a substantial growth, with the value locked in their smart contracts increasing by a factor of nine, from $4 million to more …
Fintech-as-a-service startup Rapyd has raised $100 million in a funding round led by venture and growth equity investments firm Oak HC/FT. Per an Oct. 1 news release, other investors include Tiger Global, Coatue, venture capital firms General Catalyst, Target Global, and Entrée Capital, and online payments processor Stripe. Building cloud-based tech payment platform Rapyd plans to allocate the raised money to the development of a unified cloud-based technology platform designed to enable enterprises to integrate fintech and payment capabilities into commerce applications. The company will also use part of the funds to further build its Rapyd Global Payment Network that …
China Securities Index Co. (CSI) Fintech Theme Index has risen over 50% in 2019, outperforming the broader market. Some stocks skyrocketing 200% According to a Reuters report on Sept. 26, stocks of China’s fintech firms have seen a notable surge this year amid investors’ anticipation of China’s launch of its own digital currency as well as the demand it would generate for security and payment services. As such, the CSI fintech theme index — which is composed of A-Share stocks relating to fintech, including payment and settlement, capital raising, wealth management and retail banking — has gained more than 50% …