And we’re kicking off the week with new details on fintech, licenses, crypto, electronic currency, banking retail and more. Dive into the latest fintech insights and have a great start of the week!
PSD2 APIs: what the EBA Opinion on obstacles really means (Tink)
The EBA has shared its thoughts on the obstacles facing licensed third-party providers using PSD2 APIs. With this publication, the EBA hopes to cure some of the biggest headaches, and establish a foundation that enables open banking to thrive across Europe. This is Tink’s summary of the most significant implications. The European Banking Authority (EBA) Opinion on obstacles follows repeated requests for clarification from Tink and other fintechs, but also banks and the national financial authorities. The document reflects on how banks should design their dedicated interfaces (PSD2 APIs), to allow licensed third-party providers (TPPs) to access checking account information and initiate payments. Read more.
Battle for crypto supremacy like tortoise and hare fable, says Hyphe CEO (FintechFutures)
Everyone smart knows stricter regulation is on the way sooner rather than later,” says Dolf Diederichsen, CEO of Amsterdam-based fintech Hyphe. With regulation comes legitimacy, and that clears the way for traditional financial institutions to offer digital currencies to their clients. But many of them risk coming too late to the party, Diederichsen warns. Read more.
The electronic Hong Kong Dollar (e-HKD): one more CBDC project in Hong Kong. (MacauBusiness)
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) first mentioned its plan to explore a digital currency (electronic Hong Kong Dollar or e-HKD) as part of its Fintech 2025 strategy unveiled in June. Following this, on October 4, the HKMA released a technical whitepaper on its retail central bank digital currency (CBDC), titled “e-HKD: A technical perspective”. As per the press release issued by the HKMA that day, part from the continued and expanded collaborative effort with peer central banks on the cross-border application of wholesale CBDC, the HKMA has started a study on the prospect of issuing retail CBDC in Hong Kong, the e-HKD, covering both technical and policy considerations, and aims to come up with an initial view by the middle of next year. Read more.
India’s Banking Revolution Has Started Without the Banks (Bloomberg)
Traditional financial organizations are falling down on the job while fintech is efficient but hemmed in by old rules. No deposit-taking institution in the world is trusted more by savers and enjoys bigger cachet with investors than HDFC Bank Ltd. What this plenitude has done to India’s most valuable lender is make it so lethargic — literally, with its digital services suffering repeated tech outages — that it had to be banned from issuing new credit cards for eight months. But a regulatory slap on the wrist is no durable solution. Bank licenses are permits to make money out of thin air. The prospect of sharing the privilege with a new breed of digital rivals will be more effective at keeping HDFC Bank and other traditional financiers on their toes. Read more.
How fintech is driving the new age of retail agility (FintechFutures)
Colin Neil, managing director at Adyen, thinks that fintech industry has been disrupting traditional industries for several years now, and one of the biggest has been retail. The way in which consumers buy and retailers sell their products has changed dramatically thanks to the available resources of fintech businesses. The pandemic has fuelled the biggest change in the retail experience for the last century. Decade’s worth of innovation and adoption of new technology has taken place in a matter of months. McKinsey has even dubbed it “the Quickening” as ten years’ worth of e-commerce growth took place in just three months in the US alone. Read more.
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