You Down with DBP? Yeah, You Know Me!

You Down with DBP? Yeah, You Know Me!

Financial service firms have expressed greater interest in digital innovation, but can they make the shift?

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The Chinese (Business) Century

The Chinese (Business) Century

If the Fortune 500 list is any indication, uproar about the coming influence of China is no longer imminent, but solidly here, at least in business.

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The AI Arms Race Heats Up

The AI Arms Race Heats Up

Artificial intelligence has been making its way into many practical business applications over the past several years, both in financial services and beyond. As such, the race to develop and/or acquire AI technology has become heated.

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The Costliest Data Breach Ever

The Costliest Data Breach Ever

The 2017 data breach at Equifax, was one of the largest in history. Now it will go down as the costliest. While this all sounds well and good as a headline, we hope much of this money will go to affected consumers.

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Fintechs Tackle the Retirement Crisis

Fintechs Tackle the Retirement Crisis

The fintech industry has revolutionized and changed many aspects of financial services over the past several years, from lending to student loan refinancing to budgeting to investing. Now there’s a crop of fintechs that have arisen looking to “fix” retirement in America. 

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Real-Time Payments are Running Behind Schedule

Real-Time Payments are Running Behind Schedule

Real-time payments aren’t quite there yet at The Clearing House (TCH), which launched its real-time payments (RTP) network for the U.S. in November 2017. 

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The Secret Demons of Start-Ups

The Secret Demons of Start-Ups

Forming a successful startup, from inception to media-saturated IPO, seems like it would put any entrepreneur on top of the world. But for many, it only brings stress and depression. That’s the takeaway of an interesting WSJ piece that looks at the dark side of start-up life.

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Scouring Social Media for Market Clues

Scouring Social Media for Market Clues

Social media may be the bane of society, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have uses in financial services.

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Crypto Makes Inroads Toward Legitimacy

Crypto Makes Inroads Toward Legitimacy

France’s financial regulator is poised to approve several crypto-related companies and bring them into the regulated financial system, one of the first instances among major world economies. Somehow, we think the battle over regulating cryptocurrencies in the U.S. will be a tad more contentious.

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Satellite of Love

Satellite of Love

We don’t know about you, but we think “Satellite of Love” is undoubtedly one of the highlights of Lou Reed’s post-Velvet Underground solo career. While there’s long been some debate about the meaning of the song, it’s probably clear Reed wasn’t referring to Amazon’s ambitious plan to cover all the globe with internet access via a series of satellites.

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For Banks, Innovate or Die?

For Banks, Innovate or Die?

Banks and traditional financial firms have been hearing how they will soon be made obsolete by the slew of fintech barbarians at the gate to steal their customers. But by and large, customers are still staying with their traditional banking relationships. Still, banks can’t rest on their laurels.

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Real-Time Payments Coming…at Federal-Reserve Speed

Real-Time Payments Coming…at Federal-Reserve Speed

Ten years after the UK launched Faster Payments, the US is partway through the launch of a real-time payments network run by The Clearing House, a private corporation owned by 25 of the largest banks in the country. It will be the first new rails in electronic payments in four decades.

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Do Lending Algorithms Discriminate?

Do Lending Algorithms Discriminate?

It’s a phenomenon receiving growing attention as more people use online lenders: ostensibly digital algorithms should rely solely on numbers when deciding who to approve for loans, whereas human lenders could be subject to bias, both conscious and unconscious.

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Investors Still Love Big Tech

Investors Still Love Big Tech

It’s an understatement to say it hasn’t been the best couple of years for big tech companies. But that, so far, hasn’t affected them in the stock market.

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Tipping Our Hat to the Disrupters and Trailblazers

Tipping Our Hat to the Disrupters and Trailblazers

We were delighted to attend the MassChallenge FinTech Finale last week, where we met up-and-coming firms looking to disrupt the space and change finance for the better.

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