• World
  • Columnist
  • Commodities
  • WORLD BUSINESS & ECONOMY
  • Executive Knowledge Series
  • Finance
  • Manufacturing
  • Markets
  • Risk & Governance
  • Small Business
  • Technology, Media & Innovation
  • Comments
  • Business AM WebTV
  • Login

Businessamlive
  • FRONTPAGE
  • FINANCE
    • AllAsset ManagementAuditBankingBondBudgetCapital MarketsC&I LeasingCurrencyDealDebt marketForexFund RaisingFundingGovernmentHedge FundsInsuranceInvestmentInvestorInvestor ServicesMergers & AcquistionsMoney marketTreasury BillsMortgagePensionsPersonal financePonziQuantitative EasingshareTaxationTSAWealth Management
      Companies

      Total Nigeria, Mixta, Valency, list new CPs on FMDQ platform to enhance financial markets development

      15 hrs

      Finance

      Amidst N32.22trn public debt, analysts say Nigeria’s external debt service manageable

      20 hrs

      Finance

      Stringent regulations, business environment forced Stanbic IBTC out of BDC business

      January 15, 2021

      Finance

      Cautious equities trading see gains in Flour Mills, Mobil, Wapco push market cap to ₦21.09trn

      January 15, 2021

  • MARKETS
  • ECONOMY
    • AllAfricaAgricAirportsAmericaAsiaAustraliaBreakthroughDealEuropeForeign InvestmentsforexGlobal marketGovernanceIMFMiddle EastNECANigeriaOutlookRich listSouth AfricaSport BusinessTradeU.KWest AfricaWorld Economic forum
      Commodities

      LME contemplates permanent shutdown of historic trading ring

      3 hrs

      WORLD BUSINESS & ECONOMY

      China’s economy grows 2.3%, with potentials to overtake U.S. beyond expectations

      16 hrs

      WORLD BUSINESS & ECONOMY

      Uber leads with 30% as 10 biggest startup layoffs in 2020 reach 25,000

      17 hrs

      Companies

      TIPP Oil, German lubricant maker, targets 2021 Nigeria launch with eco-friendly scheme  

      17 hrs

  • COMMODITIES
  • ENERGY
    • AllConferenceElectricityOil and GasPowerRenewable
      Companies

      TIPP Oil, German lubricant maker, targets 2021 Nigeria launch with eco-friendly scheme  

      17 hrs

      Frontpage

      Nigeria aims for cost efficiency, safety, value in oil sector with centre of excellence

      18 hrs

      Frontpage

      Sustainable energy: Minister estimates solution to cost Nigeria $4bn in annual spend

      20 hrs

      Frontpage

      NNPC receives $120.49m crude oil receipt in September  

      January 18, 2021

  • TECHNOLOGY
  • MANUFACTURING
  • ANALYSIS
    • Analyst Insight

      CBN meeting and NSE in focus

      January 18, 2021

      Analyst Insight

      Once again, fiscal stimulus takes centre stage

      January 18, 2021

      Analyst Insight

      Organisations must learn from the WhatsApp story  

      January 18, 2021

      Analyst Insight

      Data privacy maturity model in organisations

      January 11, 2021

business a.m. EDITORIAL

Banking and financial technology

June 20, 20171.2K views0 comments

From London comes the news that Barclays has been charged with fraud on foot of a 2008 capital raising from Qatar that allowed the bank to avoid a government bailout at the height of the global financial crisis. Four former executives, including then-chief executive John Varley, are also being charged. The deals with Qatar were the fruits, it is alleged, of a conspiracy to commit fraud and the provision of unlawful financial assistance: a $3 billion loan facility made available to Qatar through side-deals made during the emergency £7.3bn cash calls. According to the BBC, the five-year investigation by the Serious Fraud Office means that “former top executives at Barclays will be the first senior managers to face criminal charges over their activities during the financial crisis nearly a decade ago”.

There will be one less independent challenger bank in Britain, following yesterday’s decision by the board of Shawbrook Bank to recommend that remaining shareholders accept the final offer of private equity firm Marlin Bidco (owned by RBS spin-off Pollen Street and BC Partners). This signalled the reversal of an earlier rejection, with the bank having held that the original offer undervalued the challenger, which specialises in lending to small businesses struggling to find lending through traditional channels. City AM writes that “the takeover coincided oddly with news released by Shawbrook yesterday that it plans to double its workforce over the next four years, taking on the services of recruitment outsourcer Cielo”.

This day last week we noted the filing of an application by SoFi (Social Finance) for an industrial bank charter in the American state of Utah with a view to setting up SoFi Bank. SoFi, which originally specialised in unsecured student refinancing, also launched a wealth management product last month. In keeping with its fintech origins, the bank will be online-only, lacking deposit-taking ATMs or branches. However accounts will come with a credit card and FDIC insurance. Now the Independent Community Bankers of America are voicing their opposition to this incursion, arguing that the tech firm is using a “loophole” to avoid the full regulatory burdens of operating a bank: a lawyer for the group told the Financial Times that “we want these fintech companies to be subject to the same kind of regulations as banks are.”

Such skirmishes are all part of the larger entanglement of banking and fintech that is currently underway on both sides of the Atlantic — and playing out in very different ways. As your correspondent writes in this month’s edition of Lafferty Global Intelligence, “retail banking as it is largely practiced in 2017 is like the compact disc era in music: digitalism on the terms dictated by the incumbent. This can only last so long. The long-term resolution of the banking plus fintech equation will mean to the banking industry much as Spotify and Napster meant to the music industry: consumer expectation and savvy will zoom upwards. The result will be that, when it comes to the mass market, intuitive and powerful platforms will be a basic requirement.”

Read Also:

  • How Technology Threatens Mental Health – Especially if You’re Inauthentic
  • Positioning Nigeria’s agriculture as financial stronghold for AfCFTA
  • Only 20% of UK financial services professionals believe firms possess…
  • Fallacy, ambiguity in Finance Act (2020) with respect to FIRS, financial…
  • Total Nigeria, Mixta, Valency, list new CPs on FMDQ platform to enhance…
Share on Facebook Tweet Email
PreviousComparative analysis of Nigerian public debt
NextUpdate: Etisalat Nigeria moves to effect name change, restructuring of shareholding as debt talks fail

Leave a comment

- Cancel reply

MARKET DATA

Market Videos

Recent Posts

  • Access Bank unfolds ambitious expansion into Africa, global markets leveraging HoldCo structure
  • Selloffs in BuaCem, Access, UBA push Nigeria bourse under waters
  • Shippers Association predicts shortfall in cargo imports as covid-19 bites harder
  • LME contemplates permanent shutdown of historic trading ring
  • Custodian Life earns ‘A’ rating with stable outlook from GCR

World

Africa

Buhari, Okonjo-Iweala congratulate Adesina over reelection as AfDB President

Europe

EU businesses to cut investments in 2020, says EIB report

America

U.S. increases cost of visa application for Nigerians

Africa

Thatcher-Loving Nigeria Candidate Plans to Overhaul Economy

Africa

AfDB scales up industrialization pace on the continent, delivers improved business access to finance, skills, energy

Frontpage posts

0

Nigeria spent N900 billion on petrol imports in Q3

Frontpage November 28, 2018

1
2

Nigerians should expect petrol price increase, says Rewane

Frontpage May 15, 2019

3

Analysts seek urgent action in Buhari’s new beginning

Frontpage August 22, 2019

4

MTN, AGF tax dispute case to be heard on Jan 30, 31 2020

Frontpage October 30, 2019

5

Kaduna to domesticate FG’s social interventions as el-Rufai presents 2021 budget

Frontpage October 6, 2020

SUPPORT

  • Photo Gallery
  • Help Centre
  • About Us
  • Accessibility

LEGAL & PRIVACY

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Copyright

SERVICES

  • Conferences & Events
  • Analysts Research
  • Advertising Rate
  • Ebooks

TOOLS

  • Portfolio
  • Newsletters
  • News feed
  • Currency Converter

SUBSCRIBE

Join us to get latest updates on business related news.

[mc4wp_form id="3076"]
  • ABOUT US
  • CONTACT US
  • CAREERS
  • TERMS & CONDITIONS
  • PRIVACY POLICY
Copyright 2017. All rights reserved. BusinessAMLive. A Businessnewscorp Member Company.