The Fintech Revolution: Where Things Stand Now
Fintech continues to gain momentum. There is no greater evidence of this than the fact that some $57.9 billion was invested in fintech in?
- Much of this year’s surge has been the result of the finalization of two enormous deals — the purchase by the U.S credit-card processing company Vantiv of Worldpay, its British counterpart, for $10.4 billion in January , and a $14 billion funding round by Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial in June, making Ant, at $150 billion, more valuable than Goldman Sachs ($88 billion) .
- They include, most notably, artificial intelligence/machine learning and digital ledger technology (DLT), as well as cybersecurity and data security.
- Goldman Sach, BNP Paribas and JPMorgan Chase have also been active.
- A trade finance application using technology from the DLT startup R3 was adopted by 11 international banks in August 2017: Bangkok Bank, BBVA, BNP Paribas, HSBC, ING, Intesa Sanpaolo, Mizuho, RBS, Scotiabank, SEB and U.S. Bank.
- One report mentioned a particularly promising startup steeped in blockchain known as Skuchain , which since 2016 has been focusing on the cotton market while working in concert with Commonwealth Bank and Wells Fargo.