Are banks cynical about the Fintech Revolution?
The early FinTech debate was too often framed as a contest between fast startups and slow banks. The more important question was whether incumbents…
Read article →Earlier Work
The changing
financial system.
Before founding Torinel®, I wrote about the first fintech wave: the relationship between banks and emerging technology companies, the rise of open APIs and the changing economics of financial services. This collection preserves the original articles and conversations that documented those questions.
KEVIN MOSERI / ARCHIVE
Open
Banking
Banking
From APIs
to new business
models
to new business
models
Bank
API
Third-party
providers Platforms Customers
providers Platforms Customers
Selected Earlier Work
The questions that defined the first fintech wave.
Selected analysis and industry conversations tracing the questions that ran through my earlier work — regulation, banking strategy, open infrastructure, financial inclusion and the economics of new financial services.
Why are banks “trying to shapeshift” into technology companies?
Banks were beginning to describe themselves as technology companies with banking licences. The phrase captured an ambition, but it also exposed the harder question:…
Read article →Market Share Truth: Fintechs focus on getting more control
FinTech was widely expected to take market share from banks. By late 2015, however, the more consequential contest was becoming clearer: not simply who…
Read article →Open Bank API Ecosystem As A Firewall Against Fintechs
Open banking was usually presented as a threat to incumbent banks. There was another possibility: an API ecosystem could become the mechanism through which…
Read article →The holy grail for banks is to become the best at ‘fintegration’
The strategic problem for banks was no longer whether FinTech mattered. It was whether they could integrate new technology, products and companies without destroying…
Read article →Why should banks embrace an open API ecosystem?
PSD2 was turning access to bank data from a strategic choice into an infrastructure question. Banks could treat APIs as a compliance burden, or…
Read article →P2P and the Banking Disintermediation
The internet was beginning to do to financial intermediation what it had already done to other markets: reduce search costs, connect supply and demand…
Read article →The fintech landscape 2015 (interview with Kevin Moseri)
Originally published as an interview conducted by Shaun Weston with Kevin Moseri in September 2015. Weston asked Moseri about fintech regulation, bank–fintech collaboration, data…
Read article →Fintech Stakeholders and the heart of Fintech Regulation
It is hard to talk about fintech and regulation without thinking about financial regulators’ mandates and their implications. This raises questions that will form…
Read article →Why I see a bright future in “Robo+Advisor” (and not in the pure-play Robo-Advisor)
In October 2015, I interviewed Spiros Margaris about the future of robo-advisors. At the time, he headed Margaris Advisory and was a senior adviser…
Read article →Swanest is really your surprising road to safe investments
After following Swanest for some time, I finally accepted an invitation to test its beta platform. I had missed the first invitation; the second…
Read article →Pioneering Asian Fintech Growth with SuperCharger Accelerator
I recently had a chance to catch up with Renu Bhatia, co-founder and managing director of SuperCharger, a dedicated fintech accelerator in Hong Kong.Renu…
Read article →Is FinTech really reshaping banking or just repackaging banking?
By 2019, banks had adopted much of the language and interface of FinTech. The harder question was whether the underlying banking model had actually…
Read article →We are entering the age of Distributed Ledger Technology and CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies) in the new 3C Decade
The next phase of digital money will not be defined simply by whether cryptocurrencies survive. It will be defined by who controls the infrastructure…
Read article →The Curated Archive
Original thinking. Original conversations.
A curated record of my essays and interviews on banking competition, open infrastructure, payments, investing and emerging financial systems. The articles reflect the views, technologies and market conditions of their original publication periods.
Is Fintech Innovation now under threat from major Banks?
FinTech investment was accelerating rapidly. In Europe, 2014 had brought a 215% increase in investment, with the UK and Ireland, the Nordic countries, the…
Read article →It’s No Longer The Coming Revolution. FinTech is Already Here!
FinTech was no longer a prediction about the future. The vocabulary surrounding it had already entered everyday financial and technology discussions: APIs, data aggregation,…
Read article →Is the involvement of banks in FinTech a Trojan Horse?
We are starting to see unprecedented increase in capital in search of good ideas and innovation. Europe saw a 215% growth rate in FinTech…
Read article →FinTech 2.0 and the C-Word: Collaboration
Is the secret to startup success collaboration rather than disruption? That question was becoming increasingly relevant as banks began to support startups and experiment…
Read article →Fintech Stakeholders and the heart of Fintech Regulation
It is hard to talk about fintech and regulation without thinking about financial regulators’ mandates and their implications. This raises questions that will form…
Read article →Foolproofing Fintech? The UK government experiment
By 2015, London had established itself as one of Europe’s leading FinTech centres. It combined a global financial centre, a large technology workforce, substantial…
Read article →Bitcoin and The Liability Protection Conversation
Bitcoin—and other virtual currencies such as Litecoin and Ripple—had entered mainstream conversations by July 2015. One issue that had received less attention was liability…
Read article →P2P and the Banking Disintermediation
The internet was beginning to do to financial intermediation what it had already done to other markets: reduce search costs, connect supply and demand…
Read article →Fiat crypto currencies.
Today, all currencies issued by nation states are fiat currencies i.e. currencies that are not backed in value by any commodity like gold. Fiat…
Read article →Alternative Finance and the Wholesale Disruption of Lending
Alternative Finance encompasses a range of diverse models with clear distinctions such as people lending money to each other or to businesses, to people…
Read article →Are banks cynical about the Fintech Revolution?
The early FinTech debate was too often framed as a contest between fast startups and slow banks. The more important question was whether incumbents…
Read article →Banks: Rigid Decision-Making and the Bureaucratic Trap
To keep up, banks have to innovate. But after 2008, much of the banking industry was focused on survival: regulatory change, cost control and…
Read article →Why are banks “trying to shapeshift” into technology companies?
Banks were beginning to describe themselves as technology companies with banking licences. The phrase captured an ambition, but it also exposed the harder question:…
Read article →The fintech landscape 2015 (interview with Kevin Moseri)
Originally published as an interview conducted by Shaun Weston with Kevin Moseri in September 2015. Weston asked Moseri about fintech regulation, bank–fintech collaboration, data…
Read article →So, banking apps are on their way to being redundant after all?
Challenger banks were beginning to rethink what a banking relationship could look like. Secco was particularly interesting because its premise went beyond simply putting…
Read article →Open API standard could empower banks in struggle against fintechs
The standardization that ensues is envisioned to allow the development of third-party apps that are compatible with the systems of all UK banks, and…
Read article →Why I see a bright future in “Robo+Advisor” (and not in the pure-play Robo-Advisor)
In October 2015, I interviewed Spiros Margaris about the future of robo-advisors. At the time, he headed Margaris Advisory and was a senior adviser…
Read article →Market Share Truth: Fintechs focus on getting more control
FinTech was widely expected to take market share from banks. By late 2015, however, the more consequential contest was becoming clearer: not simply who…
Read article →Back to the future (of Mobile Payments & Banking)
Historical thought experiment (24 October 2015): the opening imagines a possible future of banking and payments. It is not a description of present-day technology.Mobile…
Read article →IoT & MasterCard will turn purses into contactless payment devices!
So I’m on my commute back home after a rather eventful day (Tuesdays always seem to be) when I get this MasterCard alert. It…
Read article →API – Can it actually make you start absolutely loving banking?
Just as a follow-up to the Open API initiative conversation in the UK, I decided to see what’s available in Germany. Berlin is known…
Read article →Swanest is really your surprising road to safe investments
After following Swanest for some time, I finally accepted an invitation to test its beta platform. I had missed the first invitation; the second…
Read article →Open Bank API Ecosystem As A Firewall Against Fintechs
Open banking was usually presented as a threat to incumbent banks. There was another possibility: an API ecosystem could become the mechanism through which…
Read article →Open Bank Project API: From an idea to … the coming new banking reality!
If you haven’t heard about the Open Bank Project (OBP), then you haven’t been paying attention to the open bank API standard discussion that’s…
Read article →Fintech and (unregulated) Shadow Banking 2.0
While collaboration is the near-term future of Fintech, should Fintechs be erring on the side of caution?Let’s take a trip down memory lane. Unlike…
Read article →2016 Will Be The Year Of Alternative Finance
The rapid popularity of Alternative Finance is responsible for the major disruption taking place across the whole lending regime.“It’s no longer safe for banks…
Read article →Will Millennials fully embrace mobile payments in 2016?
The survey concluded that despite the increase in alternative payment methods and solutions, Millennials (aged between 18 and 34) do not plan to replace…
Read article →A call to all the Fintech clairvoyants: 2016 Predictions?
This goes out to all you fantastic novice and self-proclaimed Fintech clairvoyants. That’s right! Before we even unwrap our gifts on Friday, let’s gloat…
Read article →#1 factor that will help financial inclusion in 2016
I had been reading John Boitnott’s “8 Ways Financial Technology Will Evolve in 2016” (while taking a break from the Christmas turkey), and one…
Read article →The holy grail for banks is to become the best at ‘fintegration’
The strategic problem for banks was no longer whether FinTech mattered. It was whether they could integrate new technology, products and companies without destroying…
Read article →Is this what banks really mean by going digital?
I couldn’t help but wonder what traditional banks mean by going digital or by a “digital-only” bank account. This week, Canada’s Equitable Bank launched…
Read article →Is everyone now becoming an online lender?
On the onset, alternative lenders were able to compete with commercial banks by providing loans to small business owners much faster than banks. However,…
Read article →Why should banks embrace an open API ecosystem?
PSD2 was turning access to bank data from a strategic choice into an infrastructure question. Banks could treat APIs as a compliance burden, or…
Read article →Fintech: Call To Action On Financial Inclusion
In December 2015, I wrote about the role that financial education could play in expanding financial inclusion in 2016.Call to action for social impact…
Read article →Fintech Startups: Right! I wish I absolutely knew that!
Fintech is in the air! It’s the buzzword of the day. There are thousands of Fintech startups currently operating globally with huge investments. However,…
Read article →PSD2: Focusing on Action with Open APIs
For the last two years, many industry commentators and analysts have been warning that banks are facing a huge disruptive force as new fintech…
Read article →Pioneering Asian Fintech Growth with SuperCharger Accelerator
I recently had a chance to catch up with Renu Bhatia, co-founder and managing director of SuperCharger, a dedicated fintech accelerator in Hong Kong.Renu…
Read article →Is FinTech really reshaping banking or just repackaging banking?
By 2019, banks had adopted much of the language and interface of FinTech. The harder question was whether the underlying banking model had actually…
Read article →Not another mobile banking app in 2020!
We’ve become jaded from testing mobile banking app after mobile banking app. Mobile banking app development has hit a plateau, with most concepts resembling…
Read article →5 Important Financial Inclusion Questions To Ask
1. What is financial inclusion?Financial inclusion is the ability of underrepresented individuals and businesses to access needed, useful and affordable financial services and products…
Read article →Will Amazon Protect succeed in disrupting Insurance in Europe?
No one can dispute the success of Amazon in Europe as a digital retailer, and many insurers have held it in high esteem as…
Read article →We are entering the age of Distributed Ledger Technology and CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies) in the new 3C Decade
The next phase of digital money will not be defined simply by whether cryptocurrencies survive. It will be defined by who controls the infrastructure…
Read article →Showing 5 of 42