Ep. 255. News: Really great at charts

Our hosts, David M. Brear, Sam Maule and Simon Taylor are joined by two great guests: Ahmed Zaidi CTO at Catalyst AI and Kathryn Harris Innovation Lead at Lloyds Banking Group, to talk about all the latest news in fintech. Including:

Starling closes their community. Citing several factors for the move, such as lack of use by most customers, the forum being a distraction for the company from core focus and a vocal minority misunderstanding its purpose. Starling’s post also made reference to banking being a highly regulated environment and forum interaction being restricted by that due to ‘tipping off’ rules. Starling says they remain committed to open conversation with customers and the wider fintech community through other channels such as social media, blog and monthly newsletter. We have a couple of great interviews with Sophie Guibaud, Managing Director for Europe at Fidor and Richard Cook, Online Community Manager from Monzo to get an insight into what communities have provided there.

Digitised sexism. It turns out that women entrepreneurs who seek to finance their ventures using bank financing are increasingly forced to find solutions elsewhere. And compared to men, women entrepreneurs are pushed into desperate and extreme types of financing.

State of concern. New York state’s top banking regulator on Friday sued the federal government to void its decision to award national bank charters to online lenders and payment companies. Maria Vullo, superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services, called the decision by the OCC to let financial technology companies, or fintech firms, obtain charters “lawless, ill-conceived, and destabilizing of financial markets.”

The fintech hub to watch. Alipay and China UMS to set up EU hub in Luxembourg. At the end of a week-long mission led by Minister of Finance Pierre Gramegna to Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai, China’s Ant Financial confirmed the decision of its payment arm – Alipay - to set up its EU hub in Luxembourg. The announcement comes after China UMS, another major Chinese Fintech company, also announced its choice of Luxembourg. During the visit, several cooperation agreements have been signed.

Arizona hits London on a mission to woo UK fintechs. Doug Ducey, the Governor of Arizona, hopes Britain’s best Fintechs can be persuaded to look beyond Silicon Valley when expanding into the US for the first time. Arizona is pitching to British fintechs in the UK this week, offering regulation-free access to the US market and promises of help with office space and talent.

South African fintech JUMO to expand in Asia with Goldman Sachs backing. South Africa-based financial technology firm JUMO plans to expand in high-growth Asian markets after securing the backing of Goldman Sachs. Since 2014, JUMO, which provides credit and savings products to customers and SMBs through mobile, has mainly focused on Africa where the adoption of mobile money has transformed the banking landscape. We have a great interview with 11:FS' own Lesley-Ann Vaughan to get some deeper insight.

Abu Dhabi opens digital sandbox. Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM), the emirate's international financial centre, has further underlined its fintech ambitions with the launch of a digital sandbox. The sandbox is designed to offer banks, fintechs and regulators an open digital marketplace in which to collaborate on the creation, testing and adoption of new products.

Mary Meeker, the legendary internet analyst is leaving Kleiner. Meeker’s by far the most senior woman in VC.
The departure is rooted in different visions for the types of deals they would like to do. But like so many disputes in recent years at Kleiner Perkins, according to those familiar with the situation, there was also persistent friction between the two sides in ways that had little to do with the firm’s core business — over mundane things such as whether to host a holiday party in San Francisco or closer to Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley.

And finally, the 'first' pub in the UK has gone cashless...and it's near Ipswich.

All this and so much more on today's episode of Fintech Insider!

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This week's episode was written and produced by Dhanum Nursigadoo, produced by Laura Watkins and edited by Holly Blaxill.

Special Guests: Ahmed Zaidi, Kathryn Harris, Richard Cook, and Sophie Guibaud.

Links:

• Closing our Community Forum and Continuing the Conversation - Starling Bank
• Research: The Digitization of Banks Disproportionately Hurts Women Entrepreneurs
• New York sues U.S. to stop fintech bank charters | Reuters
• The Fintech Banks Are Coming: Why You Should Care
• Alipay and China UMS to set up EU hub in Luxembourg | Luxembourg for finance
• Arizona Hits London On A Mission To Woo UK Fintechs
• South African fintech JUMO to expand in Asia with Goldman Sachs backing | Reuters
• Abu Dhabi opens digital sandbox
• Mary Meeker, the legendary internet analyst, is leaving Kleiner Perkins - Recode