Issue #267 - Does a crisis inevitably lead to innovation ?

As The Economist recently noted, one of the most obvious consequences of the current Covid-19 pandemic will be “the infusion of data-enabled services into ever more aspects of life.”

Company set monthly record for net new active accounts in April

Switzerland’s major incumbents have made sizeable investments in their digital propositions in recent years meaning the newcomers must offer something different in order to stand out.

The future of money will be defined by African markets, where cryptocurrency awareness and usage surged dramatically over the past year.

Monzo, N26, Revolut and even Barclays face tough local competition after going state-side

Digital banks, also known as neobanks or challenger banks, are on the rise. Last October, I looked into the UK market and found the top digital banks had grown new users 209%. The US market for digital banks is significantly smaller than that of the UK, but we’ve started to see the big players from the UK cross the Atlantic to try their hand.

Japan plans to relax investment rules to make it easier for banks to take stakes in fintech firms, hoping to spur the lending sector to drop its outdated business model and embrace new technologies crucial to future growth.

Rattled by unemployment numbers and wracked by the economic fallout of Covid-19, people everywhere are forced to re-evaluate how they will make and save money.

The financial services industry is known for century-old institutions with rules and policies that are often outdated, yet preserved by regulations. Whether we are talking about banking, insurance or investment services, transformation is often slow and outside competition is met with significant resistance.