For this week, we have gathered the latest voices in the fintech industry for the topic of free market and ESG investing, Digital Service Tax solution, data-driven changes for startups, chatbot for the insurance sector, and the compliance system for banking. Happy reading and have a good start of the week!
Free Markets And ESG Investing Won’t Fix The Climate Crisis, Says Former Blackrock Sustainability Chief (Forbes)
Jason Bisoff, writer at Forbes, had a chance to interview Tariq Fancy, Global Chief Investment Office for Sustainable Investing at BlackRock, to explore his views of ESG investing, climate change, financial regulation. Fancy highlighted that if a business has a higher ESG score then the business’s shareholder returns are also better because return-linking ESG is the proxy for saying that more responsible companies profit more. Read more
‘Je ne regrette rien,’ says France’s defiant digital minister, but a multilateral Digital Services Tax solution is the only way forward (Diginomica)
Stuart Lauchlan, writer at Diginomica, underlines that having an agreement on a global Digital Services Tax model is going to be a big ask, but outbreaks of unilateral policy making ultimately help no-one. In the debate at the World Economic Forum Global Technology Governance Summit, a panel of experts have drawn a conclusion that a multilateral global solution to the vexed issue of Digital Services Tax (DST) is the only workable option, not unilateral national initiatives that add burden to businesses operating internationally. Read more
Low Interest Rates Threaten Banks — But Not the Way You Think (BankDirector.com)
Emily McCormick, vice president of research for Bank Director, emphasized that the blame on income inequality for the widening wealth gap, which sees the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer, and the middle class slowly disappearing, leading to an existential threat to most financial institutions. Banks which introduced ultra-low rates have failed to stimulate growth. They made most Americans even worse off because trillions of dollars in savings were sacrificed in favor of ever higher stock markets. Read more
Buy Now Pay Later – how to select the right technology (Finextra)
Tim Simon, CEO at Madiston, revealed that there will be a requirement to monitor and measure the business coming through from each retailer or sponsor so the technology chosen should be capable of segmenting and rolling-up these partners as per clients’ wish to be analysed. In that context, the POS BNPL (Point of Sale, Buy Now Pay Later) system will also need to operate with full audit trails, providing evidence of treating customers fairly (TCF) through automated compliant systems and banking-level security such as dual approvals. Read more
How impact-driven startups are using data to drive change (Sifted)
The authors at Sifted advised startups to spot problems, like school drop-outs or falsified articles, when it comes to global social issues like improving access to education or stopping fake news. Furthermore, the government and the public often contribute to their success stories. Thus, it is important to prove to them that startups are doing some social good. Thanks to the wealth of data, companies are able to process information, triage content and make intervention. Read more
Why Chatbot for Insurance Agents are Imperative in This Day and Age (DataFloq)
Aakrit Vaish, writer at DataFloq, points out that AI-automation will play an important role in the insurance sector for the benefit of cost savings and practical assistance. With the help of a chatbot, insurance agents can invest their time and effort entirely on more crucial and high-value work, such as handling more complex customer queries from prospects, and working on retaining clients. However, the way forward is not an ‘AI vs. humans’ paradigm, but rather finding ways to ensure that AI and insurance agents play a complement to each other’s capabilities. Read more
How can technology be used to Reduce AML, anti-bribery and corruption incidents within financial institutions? (Fintech Global)
Godon MacKeown, Head of Product at Ideagen, shared his insights on the matter of money laundering, bribery and corruption within financial institutions. He stated that if a firm wants to ensure they are well safeguarded, it is by leveraging technology to implement an operational risk management process, with appropriate structures and oversight. The work should be done by cloud technology, which enables data analytics to build dashboards that pick up on trends and offer real-time visibility of emerging problems Read more
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