SET Training is a member of the Citadel Advantage Group

SET Training (Stanley Epstein Training) is member of the Citadel Advantage Group. 

Check this space for my regular weekly news posts on "Stanley's Musings" - click HERE for instant access. 

Current news on Banking, Fintech, Blockchain, Crypto, Financial Services and Technology issues as well as Training Courses may now be found on Stanley Epstein Training - Banking and Fintech News

What would happen to Financial Services if we put engineers in charge?

On this episode of Fintech Insider expert host David M. Brear is joined by some great guests to ask: "What would happen to financial services if we put the engineers in charge?" 

The whole fintech industry is built on top of complex tech stacks, constructed and maintained by engineers. Their value has never been in doubt, but where they sit in the business structure changes from company to company. 

We've put together a panel of experts to discuss how the role of engineers has changed in financial services, the challenges they have to contend with and what the future of financial services would look like if we put the engineers in charge.

Fintech Trends That Will Change Banking

As banking ecosystem continue to evolve, there are several emerging themes that will play significant roles in the transformation of both new and traditional financial services businesses. These trends should provide the foundation for strategic planning and for the prioritizing of investments in the near term.

Over the past decade, fintech firms have leveraged technology, innovative cultures and access to data and advanced analytics to transform the banking ecosystem. While the success of individual fintech firms varied widely, the solutions have impacted payments, infrastructure, distribution, access to financial services and components of sustainability.

Read the full story on The Financial Brand. Click HERE to access.

What are fintechs? - Decoding: Banks - Episode 8

From 11:FS. It's not just a buzzword. Fintechs have changed the landscape of financial services forever but how did they get here and what threat do they pose to traditional banks?

How does banking regulation work? - Decoding: Banks - Episode 6

From 11:FS. Regulation is essential. It stops banks from going bust or behaving badly. But how does it work? What are the different types of regulation? Will we ever see a global regulator?

Why is identity important in financial services? - Decoding: Banks - Episode 5

From 11:FS. There are one billion people globally who can't prove their identity. That's a big problem for accessing financial services. Banks need to know your identity for a number of reasons. It helps them to combat money laundering, which they spend £28.7bn on every year. So you know they're not messing around. But why else? What is KYC? And does financial services have an identity problem?

How to Build Blockchain Financial Services Applications

Are you a start-up founder or an enterprise leader with plans to launch a financial services application? You might be wondering whether, and indeed, how to use blockchain for this.

Industry observers highlight the steady growth of blockchain in the financial services market.

A Markets and Markets report states that the FinTech blockchain market will grow from $0.23 billion in 2017 to $6.2882 billion by 2023. The report projects a CAGR of 75.9% during the 2018-2023 period.

You are no doubt wondering how to build blockchain financial services applications?  Find out how, HERE.

 

Fintech is only 1% finished

Fintech is only 1% finished. But what do we mean by that? 

Simon Taylor, Head of Ventures at 11:FS takes us through the landscape of financial technology in this Lightboard edition of 11:FS Explores. When you take a look at the customer numbers that financial services brands are serving in any particular segment, it’s apparent that the majority of UK Fintech brands currently operate within areas that have high customer numbers, but low value-per-customer. 

For example, areas with high customer numbers such as retail are being served by market-leaders such as Monzo, Starling, and Revolut. Retail is one of the most over-served markets by digital banking providers at the moment - but considering 12 million UK customers have a digital bank and the majority aren’t moving their salary into it, there is still a lot of work to be done, and that shows it. But the biggest edge in recent times is the massive changes to the supplier landscape - from onboarding and KYC, to payments, to Banking as a Service. 

Prospective fintech companies now have the chance to assess the opportunity space for their proposition and to get a full view of the suppliers available to them. With such a robust supplier landscape emerging - it means that any company can be a fintech company. The market has blown wide open.

Resistance to Peer to Peer Payments is Waning

Resistance to Peer to Peer Payments is Waning:

• Resistance to P2P services is waning, as many of the reasons for not using these services appear to be losing popularity.
• The largest overall reason in 2018, “I don’t have a reason to use P2P”, has declined from 47% to 36% in 2020.
• In 2019, 42% of consumers “prefer to use cash” than P2P services. Not surprisingly in a pandemic environment, that sentiment dipped to 30% in 2020.
• From 2018 to 2020, 8% of consumers reported they “don’t know how to use these services.”
• P2P services are increasingly being used to share costs with others, pay bills and pay for things in-stores.
• In 2020, 23% of consumers used P2P to split a bill, up from 17% in 2018 and 2019.
• For the last 3 years, one in five P2P consumers used the service to buy a gift.

Recovery post-pandemic - Brett King's views

Futurist, Brett King speaks to Finextra about Covid-19's impact on the industry and the lessons learned up to today, where FIs will move to next, what the future of business looks like post-pandemic.

FinTech for Non-IT Professionals (a 2-day course)

Technology is changing finance

From start-ups all around the world, entrepreneurs are applying their creativity and technical ingenuity all along the financial services value chain.

This wave of innovation promises a FinTech revolution that will change financial services for ever. For consumers and business alike there is the promise of vastly improved financial services.

Consumers will get more choices and keener pricing. Small and medium sized businesses will gain access to new forms and lines of credit. Banks productivity will increase, transaction costs will come down, operational resilience will be better.

All this will lead to a more resilient financial system with greater diversity, redundancy and depth.

Most importantly financial services will become more inclusive, while people will become better connected, more informed and increasingly empowered.

If you want to keep up-to-date in the fast changing FinTech scenario you need to understand what it is all about. And if you are a non-IT professional you need this information presented in clear non-technical terms.

This two day unique training course offers a comprehensive introduction to FinTech for Non-IT Professionals, what FinTech is all about and how it is changing financial, banking and commercial systems and the world.

Bricks & mortar don't matter anymore

During the course we will explore FinTech components in terms of a wide range of issues, which include;

• Individual innovation clusters within each function.
• An analysis of the current state of business models and processes.
• Examining key innovations in terms of their characteristics and the implications of their use.
• Look at some current examples of actual innovations.
• Discuss potential outcomes.
• Where appropriate, we will include a case study.

Who should take this course?

Senior management, executives or directors within the financial services, banking, and insurance sectors, as well as those working in e-commerce, management consulting, or within a tech startup. Specific roles that would benefit include: tech entrepreneurs, senior business directors, managing directors (specifically CIOs and COOs), senior analysts, senior developers, business unit directors, bankers, product managers, senior software or app developers, business development managers, finance professionals, and digital strategists operating in the finance sector.

Teaching Method

This is a highly interactive course comprised of presentations, case studies, multidirectional discussions and comprehensive exercises.

Most importantly it will offer participants, opportunities to plan such work within small working groups, providing practice in the application of the techniques and tools generating active participation.

Learning Objectives

Learn all about Bitcoin

• Discover the full scope of FinTech.
• Explore the key FinTech development & implementation issues.
• Recognize the access issues for consumers and businesses.
• Discover how operational costs can be reduced and efficiency increased.
• Explore data sharing and transparency in the light of data security and protection needs.
• Explore actual case studies.

For training session details or to arrange In-House training sessions please e-mail us at courses@citadeladvantage.com

ComplianceOnline Banking Summit 2016 - New York 27/28 October

Banking and financial services play a vital role in today’s globalized economy. The banking industry is the most heavily regulated and the regulators are demanding a far greater level of insight and awareness about the risks banks manage, and the effectiveness of the controls they have in place to reduce or mitigate these risks. This banking summit will discuss numerous banking regulations and will feature key topics including risk innovation, modelling and simulation.

The banking industry is more often the target for cybercrimes including financial fraud, identity theft, data manipulation, and persistent hacking attacks on payment systems and other critical information systems and communication channels. This BFSI summit brings together banking security professionals, regulators, banking specialists, risk managers, asset managers and supervisors to debate the threats to data security to the global financial services industry.

The panel discussions, debates, workshops and exhibitions will also throw light on the direction the industry will take in the future – making it all the more important for today’s banking professionals to actively take part in this Summit.

For more DETAILS and REGISTRATIONS CLICK HERE>>

Payments Industry, We Have a Problem...

From The Financial Brand –

“Despite an increasing level of awareness of mobile payment options, usage at point-of-sale retail locations remains low. To stimulate mobile payment use, financial marketers should test discounts and rewards while improving the consumer experience.”

Read more>>