The big FinTech story of the weekend was the move by the UK’s lead financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority to clamp down on much of the cryptocurrency trading activity in the UK. Crypto transactions are opaque (the transaction is easy to see on the blockchain, but the true identity of the beneficial owner of […]
Well, at the risk of repeating ourselves… today sees yet more news of the rise of cryptocurrencies, as reported by our friends at Finextra. Here’s an excerpt: New research from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has found that excitement about the rising valuations attached to cryptocurrencies has firmly penetrated the retail consumer market. Overall, public […]
The ever-changing world of Alternative Finance raises all sorts of issues as it rushes headlong towards the mainstream. To complete that journey the world at large must place its trust in the new-fangles sub-sector. Our friends at AltFi opine on the topic of trust in FinTech. The question of consumer trust in financial services came […]
The FCA has been busy taking care of the fast-changing Fintech sector. The regulator has good reason to be vigilant. Our friends at AltFi run a tale with what looks like a happy ending. Lanistar, a new fintech start-up with big ambitions and some controversy, has been approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to provide payments services. […]
Build it, and they will come. Further proof were it needed, that the FinTech sector is a giant experiment in, amongst other things supply-side development, comes with the latest announcement from the top financial watch dog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Our friends at Finextra report: The Financial Conduct Authority and the City of London […]
The wait-and-see period continues. As we deal with the second Covid-19 wave and wait for vaccine rollout there’s much belt-tightening and general preparation for the battle to come in a world that reverts to the new version of “normal”. In FinTech, we’re seeing plenty of jockeying for position. AltFi reports the latest: London-based Zilch has today become […]
The FinTech sector is agile and far less affected by the horrors of Covid-19 than many more mainstream sectors of the economy. Nevertheless, many FinTechs are seeking niche business models, often involving secured lending (in the case of direct lenders) and are looking for consolidation and to bolster their capital reserves. News reaches us from […]
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has attracted a lot of criticism for its oversight (or alleged lack thereof) of financial marketing. The investors in the failed London Capital & Finance (LCF) are rightly incandescent with rage at the loss of so much of their money – and much of the investors’ ire has been directed […]
Our long-standing interest in the crypto world has been further piques by a report from our friends at P2P Finance News. The gist is that the City watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority, the FCA, should have oversight of crypto operations in the UK. Our feeling is that this may well fall into the category of […]
Mini-bonds are on the way out. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is set to make permanent its ban on the marketing of mini-bonds to retail investors amid concerns over “unexpected and significant consumer loses”. But how unexpected were those losses, really? And what’s a mini-bond anyway? The investors who lost money in the multi-million horror show […]