Every day we bring you fresh insights about Fintech from an elite group of writers who are just like you – senior executives, entrepreneurs and investors on the frontlines of the global Fintech & Crypto revolution. Once a week Daily Fintech’s Editor summarises these posts so that you get a peek at what you will get by reading the whole article.
Bernard Lunn @LunnBernard is a Fintech deal-maker, investor, entrepreneur and advisor. He is CEO and Editor of Daily Fintech and author of The Blockchain Economy.
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Monday, Ilias Hatzis @iliashatzis, our Greece-based crypto entrepreneur, wrote Every Bank wants to be a Bitcoiner. Do we need Central Bank Digital Currencies?
Bitcoin’s price rebound and the advent of Libra so far this year, has caused many to reconsider and some even to change sides. Debates about Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) are now gathering great attention worldwide. Central banks may have to issue their own digital currencies sooner than expected. A number of central banks, including the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), Bank of Canada (Project Jasper), the ECB, the Bank of Japan (Project Stella) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (Project Ubin), have already run experiments operating DLT-based CBDC.
Editor Note: this is an interesting roundup of CBDC initiatives around the world. A CBDC has the same inflationary characteristics as the underlying Fiat currency. The difference is simply that Exchange is done on Blockchain via Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) not via the Interbank FX market. They are Fiat currencies with a crypto skin. That difference may sound simple and not a big deal, but it has profound implications for the $5 trillion a day FX market and the banks such as Deutsche Bank, UBS, Citigroup and HSBC that dominate the market today.
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Tuesday, Efi Pylarinou @efipm our Swiss-based Fintech Adviser wrote Six diverse picks of Fintech shovels & Fintech stacks
The transformation of Financial services continues and re-bundling (using API based relationships to create a total solution for end users) is one of the trends that is at work. Fintechs are collaborating and creating fuller stacks by bundling several services and growing their businesses.
Editor Note: Efi describes 6 examples of this re-bundling trend from all across the world – Mambu, SolarisBank, Plaid, Fidor Solutions, Moven Enterprise & Habito
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Wednesday, Jessica Ellerm @jessicaellerm our Australia-based Fintech entrepreneur wrote Instant gratification underpins successful fintech – the rise of early wage access providers
The Early Wage Access (EWA) Fintech space include PayActiv, Salary Finance, Even, Daily Pay by ADP. These services improve your cash flow by giving you early access to your salary.
Editor Note: Jessica questions whether EWA is a the cash flow equivalent of an Oxycontin pill, like Merchant Cash Advance or PayDay Lending. She offers a nuanced take, citing some research at Harvard Kennedy School which seems to back EWA claims to be lower cost than traditional payday lending due to direct access an employee’s salary to ensure repayment.
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Thursday, Patrick Kelahan @insuranceeleph1 our US-based Insurtech expert, wrote Just in Time insurance- only what you need, when you need it.
It wasn’t that long ago that production and retail inventories were gauged by the space available in which to store the supplies/goods. Then some smart people determined that in a well-managed, lean operation inventory could be obtained upon instant need, and thus Just in Time (JIT) Inventory principles were developed. Is the time ripe for ‘Insurance in Time’ (IIT) ?
Editor Note: Pat describes the move to real time insurance, parallel with real time moves in other markets such as supply chain, what he calls Insurance in Time (IIT). He looks at 4 services that illustrate this trend: Verifly (US), Dinghy (UK), mailo (DE), and Grab/Grab Financial Group (SG).
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Friday, Arunkumar Krishnakumar @karunk our UK-based Fintech investor, wrote $144 Billion value to Sub Saharan Africa – Mobiles lead Fintech for Good
If you joined the Fintech party only this year, and feel you missed on riding the curve – don’t worry. Sub Saharan Africa is where all the Fintech excitement is at the moment. In 2018, Fintech investments in Africa quadrupled to $357 Million.
Editor Note:: If you missed out on the great deals in China & India, which we have been writing about since Daily Fintech started in 2014, you can ride the First The Rest then the West Mobile money wave in Africa. If, like many, you are inspired by the potential for Fintech to do good as well as make money, you will be excited by Fintech in Africa.
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