Brexit

Market
news &
commentary
Bite size news from
the financial services
and commodities
technology markets
FINTECH/DISRUPTIVE
TECHNOLOGY
A RECENT SURVEY by Innovate Finance (a members
association for fintech) conducted a recent poll of
its members discussing the impact of Brexit. 48%
of firms said they were considering relocating jobs
or focusing their expansion plans outside of the UK.
However, other market commentary paints a much
rosier picture with many speculating that short-term
at least they will be minimal impact. They argue that
London has an irreplaceable strategic position being
the door between Europe and the USA, a world class
infrastructure and will remain the city of choice for
fintech investment.
FOLLOWING BREXIT UNCERTAINTY, Fintech firms are still
unsure of what the future holds. Azimo, a London
based online money transfer business is weighing
up whether to move its HQ to Europe as it is worried
Brexit will threatens Britain’s position as the hub
of fintech. Fintech firms currently rely on the EU’s
‘passporting’ system allowing them to sell services
across Europe whilst only being registered and
regulated in Britain, thus making it much cheaper
than setting up in separate member states. Following
Brexit, it is uncertain whether Britain will keep its
passporting powers meaning Azimo and similar
companies are looking at moving to countries such
as Germany. The future for fintech in Britain following
Brexit remains unclear with Azimo co-founder and
Chief Executive Michael Kent saying "To become
a fintech hub, you need people, capital and the
regulatory environment. Unfortunately, Brexit puts a
question mark next to all of those."
FINTECH ORGANISATIONS are anxious that Brexit could
make it much more expensive and complex for them
to attract, engage and retain the right talent. Many
of these companies employ talented developers from
countries like Portugal and Poland.
SOME ORGANISATIONS within the fintech space struck
a more positive note, suggesting that the decision to
leave the EU will enable the UK government to pitch
itself as a competitive alternative to Europe having
an appealing tax regime and light-touch regulations.
THERE ARE A NUMBER OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES which are
changing the way in which we work and also putting
a number of the old hands at risk. These FinTech
start-ups are able to easily replicate a service
which a bank or existing company provides but at a
fraction of the cost (and sometimes with a little less
regulatory red tape!).
Klarna – a Swedish start up built to challenge
the behemoth that is Paypal. Klarna is trying to
differentiate itself from the household name by
allowing users to pay without having to register,
Following Brexit
uncertainty, Fintech firms
are still unsure of what
the future holds
simplifying and speeding up the process. They can
simply enter their email address or post code and
choose when they want to pay within a 14 day period.
Currencycloud – a cross border business
to business payments processing company.
Currencycloud positions itself as a competitor to
the banks, able to undercut the banks on pricing.
Founded only in 2012, it now processes over $15
billion a year and has over 125 customers.
Nutmeg – an online wealth management platform. A
newer concept able to get into the pocket of millions
of smart phone users and effectively bringing wealth
management to the masses. It is soon to introduce
an automated investment advisor so that it keeps
ahead of the game.
eToro – another new concept which has proved
wildly popular. eToro is in essence a hybrid between
an online trading platform and an internet forum, it
allows you to trade, talk and follow your favourite
traders and even copy their trading trends.
HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO ANCOA who won the award
of Best Market Surveillance Product 2016!
Anoca are a fantastic business with some really
great professionals working to create this world
class business. Market surveillance is a really
important topic in all trading organisations and
finding a partner like Ancoa who can guide a
business through is truly priceless.
BOTTOMLINE TECHNOLOGIES have expanded their
product range with Bottomline Universal Aggregator.
This new offering will allow UK banks, government
and corporates easy access to global payment
systems, including Faster Payments, Paym and
SWIFT. This is a unique offering, supporting the most
common types of payments for multiple payment
services with an easy plug-in setup connecting
straight to the array of services globally.
MORE AND MORE COMPANIES are looking to move into
Blockchain and we are even starting to see some
consultancies pop up like Blockchain Lab.
IBM have plans for a cloud blockchain service which
is based on LinuxONE. The service is currently in
beta and is the latest announcement of many as
the company seeks to become a major player in
Blockchain Technologies.
THERE IS A GREAT NEED IN THE MARKET for Trade
Surveillance and we are constantly hearing of new
and exciting technology breaking through or the
development of current platforms.
WHEN ATTENDING MEETINGS we always like to hear
about the varying companies that are competing
with each other and why they can add value to the
business. These businesses aren’t just buying on
prices and so they shouldn’t but its how one system
can link to another.
THE HOT NAMES IN THE MARKET AT PRESENT are: Ancoa,
Scila and B-Next
FinTech! The Future? How Tech will transform
the Financial Sector
Banks and Financial Participants are speeding up
the pace of innovation in FinTech – stated Luca
Raffellini, Director of Business and Financial Services
at Frost & Sullivan. Addressing the Global Community
of Growth, Innovation and Leadership (GIL Europe)
conference, recently held in London. Raffellini shared
his thoughts on the current state of the UK’s FinTech
scene and its future development. During his keynote
speech, the director wished to break the long held
belief that the term exclusively covered VC Capital
Backed start-ups. Startups are part of the FinTech
environment, he said. ‘’When we talk about FinTech
we are also referring to financial technology in more
general terms,” “The large established corporations,
are not standing still, there is an impetus for
them to react,” said Raffanelli, adding that a lot
of capabilities in banking were being poured into
artificial intelligence and bitcoin’s underlying
technology, blockchain .
DIVERSIFICATION IS INCREASINGLY PLAYING A SIGNIFICANT
ROLE in how companies, large and small, are
behaving. For example, you can shop on your Amazon
account and choose to pay up-front for a MacBook or
pay in monthly instalments. Bank loans could become
extinct and unknown to the younger generation. This
is a new White Space, which is being underserved by
traditional players.
KENYA for example has one of the most successful
mobile payments systems in the world, not the UK or
the USA.
REGULATION: several years ago, many FinTech
companies hoped and wanted to operate without
GLOBAL LEADERS IN FINANCIAL SERVICES AND COMMODITIES TECHNOLOGY RECRUITMENT
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