Category: Talking fintech

A new interesting report titled ‘Shifting Paradigms’ about alternative finance in Europe has been recently published by the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance (CCAF), in partnership with the University of Agder in Norway, showing that the operating platforms, as well as the market as a whole, have continued with their constant growth and development from the previous years. According to this report, that takes into consideration 2017 as the year of reference, the European online alternative finance market increased a 36% growth year-on-year, reaching €10.44 billion, including the UK, and a 63% increase to €3.37 billion, excluding the UK. Continue reading European Alternative Finance Continues Its Growth

The words “saving” and “investing” are often incorrectly interchangeably used. While both involve setting money aside, the role of a savings account is very different than that of an investment account.

Not sure when to save and when to invest? We’ve got you covered in today’s post. Continue reading How Saving and Investing Are Different (And How to Successfully Do Both)

Fintech incubators and accelerators have been growing quite substantially, both in quantity and in quality, over the past few years. These are the players that play a key role in the development and maturation of the financial technology ecosystem, in a market that’s still very much volatile, to help out startups by offering seed funding, connection to mentors and investors, and in many cases also a place to work that founders can use during the incubation period. We previously published a post focusing on fintech accelerators operating in Europe, now we broaden our horizons by compiling this updated list with the most interesting ones in the whole world. Continue reading 6 Fintech Incubators and Accelerators Worth Checking Out

The growth of new ways of raising funds for a company or to invest in other people’s shiny startups, have been so fast that you may be a bit lost and confused among all those new acronyms and technical terms. Initial Coin Offering (ICO), Security Token Offering (STO) and Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) are all new ways to invest or raise money, using blockchain-based crypto assets. All these things have various peculiarities, along with many opportunities, as well as multiple questions. Here we try to give you the basic information needed to get at least some initial orientation inside all this innovation noise happening in finance. Continue reading Things You Need to Know About ICO, STO and IEO

Life is all about the unexpected, and where the “unexpected” can hit us the hardest is our wallets.

From unexpected medical bills and dental emergencies to unforeseen visits to the vet and trips to visit ailing family members, life can quickly become overwhelmingly expensive. Having an emergency fund to cover yourself, however, can take the stress out of these already stressful situations. Continue reading Taking the Trouble out of Building an Emergency Fund

The fintech market has grown quickly all over the world, with a new annual record recently set when looking at the total number of investments, an abundance of unicorns, new regulations and developments being announced almost every week, as well as hectic activity in terms of M&As and partnerships, both among fintech firms and with financial institutions. In all this vibrant scenery, China’s fintech influence is getting larger each day, not just over the rest of Asia, but also way beyond its borders. Continue reading The Increasing Importance of China in the Fintech Market

The first evidence of banks existing in our world was back around 2000 BC when grain loans were extended to traders and farmers. Since that time the financial industry has come a long way, though many experts are arguing that financial technology or “FinTech” is ushering the fastest and most dramatic changes that the industry has ever seen. Continue reading FinTech Pushing Financial Institutions out of Their Comfort Zones