Financial Sector Technology (FinTech)

Not so long ago, WorldRemit, a subsidiary of one of those companies with really, really stupid names (in this case Zepz) made a series of announcements. But the 12 year old company seems to be in a less than positive place.

BIG YELLOW (WARNING) FLAG

Something happened this week that raises some serious questions.

And there are no clear answers.

iSignthis is not an Apple device. Nor one of those iMassage services with mobile phone numbers spray painted on walls. It's an interlocking set of companies with iSignthis Limited listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. ASX and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission says it's been naughty. So what? So its customers are financial institutions buying in outsourced regulatory risk and compliance services in relation to e.g. financial crime.

Fintech, Regtech and the risks they present to your business.

Below is a media release from the Monetary Authority of Singapore that says MAS has issued an order requiring Wirecard and associated business units to forthwith cease operations and to return all funds to customers no later than 14th October 2020. The release was issued on Saturday, 30 September. The date of the Order was not published in the release.

Seriously: if there is a way to stuff up, it seems as if FinTech giant PayPal is working hard to implement it. Here's the "Virtual Agent." Remember: this is, at its heart, a tech company.

"Need more help?" says the PayPal page. Another quality control failure....

In or about 2003, I closed our publishing company's account with PayPal because they kept blocking the account. At the time, PayPal wasn't the enormous global powerhouse that it has become. It was, essentially, a bunch of nerds for whom compliance and risk management was a nuisance. When electronic money started to exercise the US government's collective mind, PayPal found that it needed some risk management processes. They didn't do it properly. Then, later, when PayPal expanded into Europe, it migrated our account to its EU operations and put money laundering, etc. risk and compliance in Dublin where they set up systems that were not only rubbish but sent out letters referring to non-existent legislation. But now, a piece of essential third party produced software is pushing us towards at least opening, even if we don't use it, a PayPal account. How hard can it be? Surely they have learned something in...

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, in its daily announcement timed for after everyone except Compliance has set off for Lan Kwai Fong (17:39, this one arrived), has some startling news for all those who are wetting themselves over the future of FinTech. A third of applicants for licences made such a mess of the process that the HKMA has thrown them out.

Mobile payments are exploited by criminals who use services such as AliPay and WePay coupled with QR codes and while the companies behind the services are, well, behind on customer protection, The People's Bank of China, the central bank, is running ahead of regulators in other jurisdictions to find a solution. Their first idea was harsh. Their second is brutal. Can it work?

A report published by FinMark Trust (a charity funded by the UK, the UN and private organisations) seeks to explain the reasons behind the " termination of mobile money services" in South Africa and the likely effects. More positively, the report also identifies "barriers to launching effective mobile financial services (MFS) in South Africa with a specific focus on the regulatory environment required to enable such opportunities. " But, as extracts show, there might be an element of a solution looking for a problem. It all seems a little too much as if someone has decided that mobile financial services are essential. What do you think?

IN an order issued today, the Securities Commission of Malaysia has ordered CopyCash Foundation to cease and desist from all commercial activities, including an ICO planned for tomorrow (10th January 2018)

Kuala Lumpur, 5 January 2018
Media Statement on Initial Coin Offerings

Following a public statement released on 7 September 2017 regarding Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has noticed an increase in activities by new ICOs to solicit investments in crypto-currencies from the public at large, including senior citizens.

The Dubai Financial Services Authority and ASIC yesterday signed a Cooperation Agreement which provides a framework for cooperation to support and understand financial innovation in each jurisdiction.

The UK government is to host a conference on FinTech as part of FinTech Week 2017. Chancellor Phillip Hammond is pleased to say that it's got Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and City Minister Simon Kirby to speak. If that sounds like a non-coup, just think about this: the FinTech bubble is already under strain. It may well have burst by the time the conference takes place in the middle of April.

There's a lot of buzz about Person to Person Payments (sometimes called P2PP) but are they just a fad that don't add much to the old ways?

I hate buzzwords. I hate management-speak. And I really, really hate trends that appear to be one thing when really they are another. And more than all of those combined, I hate marketing-hype bubbles where everyone talks in breathless terms about the means instead of the ends or, even, the process.

So it follows, even though I've been fascinated by technology for decades, I'm irritated by the growth of so-called "fintech."

And I'm watching all the signs of a bubble.