Services Insights

The Board of Banking Competition Remedies (BCR) has announced results of the Capability and Innovation Fund (CIF) Pool C grant process, which will see Modulr Finance, Atom Bank, Iwoca and The Currency Cloud Group receive £10m grants to expand and offer improved SME lending and payment services. Each organisation undertook an... read more

The announcement of the closure of FIS’s acquisition of Worldpay last week is part of a continual expansion strategy into new markets and opportunities, according to Alison Wilkes, head of banking and payments, Europe at FIS. “Where we see opportunities to grow our solution set and our reach for our customers – that’s key... read more

Starting a hedge fund these days isn’t just about raising capital and running trades. Today’s regulatory environment, alongside investor scrutiny, means hedge funds need to have reliable and independent partners that will support them in setting up and running their operations. This is especially important for institutional fundraising,... read more

Chances are, in the course of the life of your investment firm, there will come a time to take a hard look at whether your investment system still suits your needs. In many cases, if you’re already asking yourself this question, the answer will be “no” — so you’ll need to make a switch. There are some surefire ways to... read more

A recent study found that 4.4% of the UK population were gig economy workers between 2017 and 2018. This explains the emergence of so many gig economy platforms, eager to serve a consumer’s every need. But not all gig economy platforms that are launched succeed.  Although the gig economy model has successfully disrupted some markets... read more

An increasing number of fintech initiatives and sandboxes is complicating attempts by fintech startups to reach key bank contacts, according to Fabian Vandenreydt, executive chairman at B-Hive. “There is a multiplicity of initiatives, sandboxes at all levels and a lot of innovation hubs in all directions. Every country has its... read more

Three quarters of businesses are not ready for Europe’s second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), a bobsguide poll conducted during a webinar last week demonstrates. Respondents said they were either not ready (3.6%), getting ready (28.6%), or weren’t sure (42.9%).  During the webinar, Roger Lester, fraud market expert at... read more

Marco Lessacher appointed CEO at Alphabet International Alphabet International has appointed Marco Lessacher as chief executive officer, effective July 1. Lessacher succeedsNobert van den Eijnden, who was at the helm since 2009. Previously, Lessacher held various roles at BMW Financial Services and Alphabet Germany. Prior to... read more

Extreme remote banking – a term encompassing the provision of banking services to extremely remote, rural communities – should be a key focus for every UK retail bank right now. Why? There are potential ramifications of new legislation on banks as well as ethical reasons for banks maintaining access to financial services for small... read more