bobsguide

It's with great pleasure that we announce the 2020 bobsguide Awards. Given the levels of fluidity in markets and the increased rate of innovation required of the fintech community last year, the judges delayed many of the assessments as late as possible. Here, we have a comprehensive list of those organisations that...

Regulators issued fresh warnings on investing in cryptocurrencies after Bitcoin skyrocketed to a new all-time high last week. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) cautioned consumers about the high risks involved in investing in cryptocurrencies. “Investing in cryptoassets, or investments and lending linked to them,...

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) latest charges against Ripple Labs Inc shows the regulator’s ambition to further supervise ongoing developments in the crypto space. But while increased regulation is expected following cryptocurrencies’ recent developments, the SEC’s latest move is an attempt to curb...

It is set to be a transformative year for payments say those in the industry. The pandemic will continue to have a huge impact, particularly in digital payments and open banking. While digital payments have grown over the past few years, they became an essential, as merchants and consumers reacted to the crisis. According to Visa, 77...

The rise of anti-money laundering (AML) related fines over the past few years shows regulators are homed in on tackling the problem, but current supervisory regimes lack efficiency when it comes to tackling the amount of fraud, according to market participants. “Banks spend billions on their compliance plan, and then they get fined on...

Starling Bank’s latest partnership is a “completely different vertical for us”, says Gareth Towler the bank’s marketplace product analyst. The challenger bank recently added PayPal’s iZettle to its Business Marketplace as part of its new strategy for deeper integrations. “From a marketplace perspective,...

As the fintech sector grows almost exponentially, so commensurately do the risks. The pandemic has created new threats, mainly through home working, but others have been mounting steadily for years such as Brexit, tougher regulation, cyber attacks and relentless competition in a sector that is by its nature turbulent.   The most immediate...

Challenger banks are still an “afterthought” in financial services regulation ten years after the first one appeared, according to a report on Diversity of Banking Institutions. “Conditions for start-ups in the UK are good but it is difficult for them to scale in a way where they can challenge established institutions,”...

Germany’s supervisory authority BaFin has said that market participants should take all precautions necessary for a possible hard Brexit. Last week, the Bank of England said that the UK is “well prepared for serious economic shocks” in the event of a No Deal Brexit but warned that disruption to financial services could arise....

Thanks to beefed-up, post-financial crisis reserves and generous government support, the European banking industry has proved resilient so far throughout the pandemic-triggered economic wreckage. But a bout of consolidation probably lies ahead, in part because of competition from fintech for lower-cost digital distribution channels. ...