This analysis & opinion piece dives into the advice about small-business credit cards, public market for fintech companies, Google’s e-commerce strategies, economic inclusivity by digital currencies, changes in policy regarding privacy, benefits driven by RegTech and the post-pandemic strategies for companies in terms of technological needs. Enjoy the selected materials.

Google has long way to go to becoming anti-Amazon of e-commerce (BusinessTimes)

This analysis highlights how Google achieved little success by copying Amazon’s playbook to become the shopping hub of the Internet. After Google’s many attempts during its two-decade quest to compete with Amazon, Google has only US$295 billion that passed through Amazon’s third-party marketplace in 2020. The amount of goods people buy on Google is still small by comparison - probably around US$1 billion. Read more

Cautionary Advice About Small-Business Credit Cards (Next Avenue)

Gerri Detweiler, Credit Card Expert, advised that businesses should look into which kind of controls the issuer provides if they plan to let one or more employees use their small business cards. Three recommendations given by the author are: understanding the motivation, grasping how the card could affect personal credit, and thinking about who will use the cards. Read more

The Public Markets Are Sizzling Hot - Here’s Why Stripe Is Skipping The Party (Forbes)

Jeff Kauflin, writer at Forbes, explained why Stripe is staying private while the stock market has gone wild for newly public fintech companies. The reason is that there will be more work for the company to go public, for example, having to report quarterly financial results. Stripe will continue to raise money because it shows interest in expanding through acquisitions. Another reason to raise the money is that the company can nearly triple valuation in three years, which shows exceptional progression. Read more

PayPal CEO Dan Schulman: Why digital currencies will make the economy more inclusive (Fortune)

Dan Schulman, writer at Fortune, emphasized that the adoption of digital currencies would expand accessibility, particularly for those who are underrepresented and have lower incomes. The evidence was shown by stimulus payments in the US during the pandemic which were late and failed to reach millions of unbanked Americans. Many of consumers were low income and were burdened with check-cashing and processing fees and charges. Digital wallets and currencies can help fill this critical gap, and ensure that people can get direct access to the money they need instantaneously. Read more

Google Says It’s Committed to Privacy. What It Isn’t Saying Should Worry You (Business Watch Network)

Jason Aten, writer at Business Watch Network, identified Google’s problem of privacy in accessing personal information of billions of people using its service everyday. However, Google has said it is committed to no longer tracking users across the web using unique identifiers. That comes after the announcement that the company will stop supporting third-party cookie tracking in Chrome. Read more

How Can Firms Use RegTech to Their Advantage? (Finextra)

Angela Good, Content Partner and Social Media Manager at Waymark Tech, explores the benefits of digital transformation and the adoption of RegTech to drive return on investment. The values that RegTech solutions bring to companies include expense savings, efficiency and time saving, operational risk reduction, and data optimization. Read more

Financial services are internet-reliant, so how do you prevent downtime? (Fintech Futures)

Atony Finn, president of EMEA North at ThousandEyes, highlighted that after the pandemic, organisations will enter recovery strategies and re-assess their technology needs. As a result, we’ll see three different employee personas manifest. These will include fixed, flexi and field workers – those who return to the office, those who continue to work remote and then those who adopt a hybrid working model. With this in mind, financial services firms will need to rethink what IT systems that they likely scrambled to put in place at the beginning of the pandemic. Read more

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