Accenture research study: “The Future of Fintech and Banking: Digitally disrupted or reimagined?”

On 25 March 2015 Accenture released a research study titled “The Future of Fintech and Banking: Digitally disrupted or reimagined?”

The study confirms that global investment in financial-technology (fintech) ventures tripled from $4.05 billion in 2013 to $12.2 billion in 2014, with Europe being the fastest growing region in the world. The report also confirms that in 2014, fintech investment increased at more than three times the rate of overall venture capital investment. Further confirmed was that the US still captures the lion’s share of fintech investment, Europe experienced the highest growth rate, with an increase of 215% to $1.48 billion in 2014.

The UK and Ireland (UKI) accounted for more than two-fifths (42%) of the European total, as investment in the region rose from $264 million in 2013 to $623 million in 2014. In the rest of Europe, the regions that experienced the most significant levels of investment in 2014 were the Nordic countries ($345 million), the Netherlands ($306 million) and Germany ($82 million).

The massive investment in fintech shows that the digital revolution is well advanced in financial services, and it is both a threat and an opportunity for banks. The report also suggests that many established banks are not well equipped to deal with the digital revolution.

The full report can be downloaded here.

UK Government's Chief Scientific Officer issues report : FinTech Futures - the UK as a World Leader in Financial Technologies

In March 2015, the UK government’s chief scientific officer issued a report “FinTech Futures -The UK as a World Leader in Financial Technologies”.

The report has set out 10 recommendations designed to help achieve UK Chancellor George Osborne's stated aim of turning Britain into the world's fintech capital. During Summer 2014, Mr Osborne vowed to use the government's powers to help make the UK a hub for financial technology innovation and commissioned a report to investigate the enablers and barriers that will shape the UK fintech sector over the next 10 years. The report recommends the creation of a 'fintech advisory group' with representation from government, regulators, trade associations, academia and business. This body would coordinate strategy and provide a neutral forum for dialogue.

The UK government should also create a programme of 'grand challenges' for the fintech industry to tackle, in areas such as machine learning, digital currencies, big data, and mobile payments. Research councils and Innovate UK should be used to support research into fintech areas, helping to ensure academics have access to world-class data sets. Meanwhile fintech modules should be included in relevant degree courses. Another recommendation is the creation of regional hubs to help spread fintech's benefits beyond London. In the March 2015 budget, Mr Osborne took the first step towards this, though the promise to fund an incubator in Leeds. The report also calls for a system to be developed and overseen by financial regulators, that allows new ideas to be piloted, and new technologies to be tested in virtual and real situations. In the budget, Mr Osborne said that the FCA's ‘Project Innovate’ will work with HMT and the Prudential Regulation Authority to investigate the feasibility of developing a regulatory ‘sandbox’ for financial services innovators. Mr Osborne also tasked the FCA and PRA with responding to another of the report's recommendations: the creation of a state-of-the art regulatory reporting and analytics infrastructure, dubbed ‘RegTech’.

The Full report can be downloaded here.

Raconeur.net: Bright Future for UK Fintech

Raconteur.net published a research report “Financial Services Technology 2015” in partnership with the Sunday Times on 8th February 2015.

The report can be downloaded here

Life.SREDA report: Money of the Future results of 2014 and trends for 2015

Life.SREDA released its annual research report on the Fintech sector at the Finnovate Europe Conference, London on 10 February 2015. The report provides an overview of fintech trends and major news during 2014. In addition the report presents an analysis of the important issues that are expected to impact on the fintech sector in 2015. The report includes a short section regarding the development of Fintech sector in Asia.

The report can be downloaded here.

Life.SREDA is a venture capital firm focusing on investments in FinTech mobile and Internet projects. Their strategy is determined by the deep understanding of the rapidly growing FinTech 2.0 industry and the narrow investment focus.

They believe that "The Next Big Thing" is the combination of the past decade’s global trends, such us the Social & Mobile with the innovative and bright FinTech ideas.

Life.SREDA currently operates in the U.S., Western and Eastern European Markets, providing mostly seed and early stage venture funding.

Ernst & Young report: Emerging markets show increasing promise for digital earnings potential with China ranked highest among all emerging countries

While the US has the highest digital earnings potential of any country, emerging markets are rapidly growing, according to a recent study conducted by EY to show which countries offer media and entertainment companies the greatest opportunities for earnings from digital media. The study, Riding the new wave: Are you ready for accelerated digital media adoption?, shows that while mature markets still lead the way, emerging markets, led by China, offer significant digital growth opportunities.

A PDF copy of the EY report can be downloaded here

An EY infographic summarising the report data can be viewed here. 


EY’s Digital Media Attractiveness Index

EY’s Digital Media Attractiveness Index (DiMAx) is a proprietary tool designed to help media and entertainment companies with their international growth strategies by capturing key aspects of digital market maturity, as well as other media and economic factors. It sets out to answer four questions for M&E executives considering growth in international markets related to: market potential; risks and costs associated with entry; timing of entry; and capital allocation. 
 

UKBAA Research Report: A Nation of Angels (2015) - The main findings

In a European context, the UK business angel market is seen as one of the most mature and extensively researched. However, there is a lack of recent systematic evidence on the profile and approach of business angels, their investing activities and notably their impact on the growth and performance of the businesses in which they invest. This report sets out to fill this gap by providing new findings from the largest survey of business angels in the UK and the impact of their investment activities to date. This report, commissioned by the UKBAA in association with the Centre for Entrepreneurs (CFE) and with the support of the BVCA, Deloitte, Barclays and the ESRC, presents the results of the largest study of the investment behaviour and impact of business angels in the UK to date. The study comprised responses from 403 individual angels who responded to the online Nation of Angels survey, detailed follow-up telephone interviews with 42 individual angels who shared more details of their investment behaviour, and an online survey of 28 angel syndicate and network leads across the UK representing 8,000 angels. What is clear from the results of this research is that the UK business angel market is changing.

The Reports can be downloaded here:

Nation of Angels - The Unsung Heroes of Britain's Economy
Nation of Angels - Full Report

The main findings of the study are:

• Rise in Female Angels 
• Angels are more active than ever 
• Investing further from home 
• Angels increasingly invest alongside funding vehicles
• 90% of Angels report using EIS or SEIS Tax Relief Schemes
• Syndicates show preference for an experienced Lead Angel over presence on board
• Increased expectations of returns
• 25% of Angels have invested in Social Impact.  

Source:  http://www.ukbusinessangelsassociation.org.uk/news/nation-angels-2015-main-findings

ECN Review of Crowdfunding Regulation 2014

The second edition of ECN Review of Crowdfunding Regulation 2014 was published in December 2014 by the European Crowdfunding Network. The Report covers the legal frameworks in 30 countries across Europe, the USA, Canada and Israel.
Details of how crowdfunding of all types is treated under national regulation across Europe and beyond can be found in the publication.

A PDF copy of the report can be downloaded here.

The report indicates that we are still far from a single European market for crowdfunding, and could even be further from it a single than last year due to what can only be described as uncoordinated regulatory actions on national levels. ECN believe that they are able to work with its network members and stakeholders to establish guidelines for best practices, but confirms that we need to be realistic about the effect of such guidelines in a highly fragmented European market. ECN therefore ask policy makers and regulators, both on national and European level, and especially the new President of the European Commission and his team and his Commissioners to engage into a constructive discourse. ECN believe that a framework and conditions for success has to be created that will ultimately help entrepreneurs, innovators and our private investors to build a growing economy. The creation of a pan-European capital market will contribute to a better allocation of private funds and, as a consequence, to the development of small and medium sized enterprises which in turn will again lead to increased job creation. Small and medium sized enterprises are the backbone of the European economy and they are the main source for employment and value creation across the continent. With this paper we can only give a small insight in the complexities of European legislation keeping back private capital allocation into entrepreneurship, innovation and job creation. http://www.eurocrowd.org/

Univsity of Cambridge and Nesta present research report “UNDERSTANDING ALTERNATIVE FINANCE - The UK Alternative Finance Industry Report 2014”

The University of Cambridge and Nesta, supported by ACCA and PWC, have undertaken an extensive research , which is the largest study of the UK alternative finance industry as at November 2014.

The research report is title “UNDERSTANDING ALTERNATIVE FINANCE - The UK Alternative Finance Industry Report 2014”.

 

The UK’s alternative finance market – which includes crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending and invoice trading – is set to reach nearly £2 billion by the end of 2014, and is expected to double in 2015, as businesses increasingly seek more efficient ways to raise funding.  Alternative finance covers a variety of new financing models which connect people seeking funds directly with funders, often through online platforms. The majority of these providers have been founded in the last five years. Regulation of parts of the industry was introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in April 2014, and in October the UK Treasury launched a consultation on a proposal for an ISA for peer-to-peer lending.

UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) release a research report titled “Fintech – the UK’s unique environment for growth”

UKTI released a report titled “Fintech – the UK’s unique environment for growth” on 6th August 2014 to coincide with the launch of the new UK Fintech organisation Innovate Finance.

The report looks at the strengths of the UK’s Fintech sector and how overseas companies can benefit from setting up in the UK.

The full report can be viewed or downloaded here.
Fintech in the UK. The UK is a uniquely well-suited location for technology applied to financial services – Fintech. This fast-growing sector covers both: (1) Traditional Fintech (with larger incumbent technology firms supporting the financial services sector), and (2) Emergent Fintech (with small, innovative firms using new technology to bring financial services directly to consumers, often disrupting existing business models).

The UK and Ireland is now the fastest-growing region for Fintech investment (Accenture). Deal volumes here have been growing at 74 percent a year since 2008, compared with 27 percent globally and 13 percent in Silicon Valley. During the same period, the value of Fintech investment increased nearly eightfold, to US$265 million in 2013 – a rate of 51 percent a year, nearly twice the global average (26 percent), and more than twice that of Silicon Valley (23 percent).   The UK’s growing strengths in Fintech are due to: 

New UK Fintech industry body Innovate Finance launched by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the City of London Corporation and the Canary Wharf Group

Innovate Finance http://innovatefinance.com is the new UK industry body established to promote the interests of the UK’s rapidly growing Fintech sector. The launch was held on 6th August 2014, at Level39 http://level39.co. Online reports indicate that 250 people attended the launch.

What is Innovate Finance?
Innovate Finance is an UK industry organisation that will accelerate the UK's leading position in the global financial services sector, by directly supporting the next era of technology-led financial services innovators, whether they be a young start-up or an established industry player.

The organisation aims to be a single access point to the full financial services and technology ecosystem and – through its own innovation programmes and partnerships with other organisations – connects members to policymakers, regulators, investors, customers, educators, talent and key commercial partners (Including FCA Project Innovate, British Business Bank, TechUK and Open University).

The organisation is led by CEO Claire Cockerton, with a Board of Directors that includes Fintech leaders such as Nick Hungerford of Nutmeg, Justin Fitzpatrick of DueDil, and Alastair Lukies of Monitise Plc, who will serve as the organisation’s Non-Executive Chairman.  An Advisory Council of industry experts includes Eric Van der Kleij, Head of Level39 Technology Accelerator and Nadeem Shaikh of Anthemis Group, among others.

UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) has published a report that sets out the strengths of the UK’s fintech sector and the market opportunities for Fintech companies

The UKTI publication titled “Fintech: The UK’s Unique Environment for Growth” gives an overview of why the UK is a unique location for companies specialising in Fintech (Financial Technology).

UKTI publication suggests that the Fintech market in payments, platforms, software and data analytics is worth £20 billion to the UK annually. The research was commissioned by UKTI and carried out by EY (Ernst & Young). EY has for the first time mapped out the opportunities and strengths of the UK’s fintech sector by speaking to existing investors.  The UKTI report can be viewed / downloaded here.

The UKTI report was published to coincide with the launch of new UK Fintech industry trade body. 

Innovate Finance is a new UK industry organisation that aims to accelerate the UK’s leading position in the global financial services sector. It will support young or established technology-led financial services innovators.  

Fintech backdrop

Since 2008, the value of Fintech investment in the UK and Ireland region has increased almost 8 times to US$265 million in 2013. This makes the UK and Ireland the fastest growing regions for fintech investment globally. The UK’s strengths in fintech are due to:

• London’s position as a world leading centre for financial services 
• Edinburgh, Belfast, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Cardiff all have strong financial services sectors 
• good availability of business capital 
• a supportive regulatory structure

Fintech Investment Boom is an Opportunity for New York to Lead in Technology, According to Report by Accenture, Partnership Fund for New York City

A recent report, titled “The Rise of Fintech; New York’s opportunity for tech leadership,” was released for the FinTech Innovation Lab’s fourth annual “Demo Day” event in New York.  The report was made by Accenture in  partnership with the Partnership Fund for New York City.

The report  says that deals and investments in New York’s Fintech venture sector have been growing at twice the rate of Silicon Valley since 2008 and further the trend is accelerating innovation among New York’s global financial institutions.

Global fintech investment tripled between 2008 and 2013 from $928 million to $2.97 billion and is expected to double again to between $6 billion and $8 billion by 2018. The first quarter of 2014 was the most active on record, with $1.7 billion invested globally. Silicon Valley is still by far the world’s biggest recipient of fintech investment, but it is facing growing competition from New York. Banks, capital markets firms and insurers are increasingly aware of the benefit of having a fintech cluster close to home.

The Accenture study can be viewed or downloaded at the following link: http://www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/insight-rise-fintech-new-york.aspx

London is Benefitting from Fintech Investment Boom, according to Accenture Study

Recent research published by Accenture says that London is benefitting most from a global boom in fintech investment and that the London Fintech boom is strong because the City of London has a long tradition of strength in the financial services sector.

The Accenture study is titled: “The Boom in Global Fintech Investment; A new growth opportunity for London”, is based on an analysis of global Fintech investment data from CB Insights.

The Accenture report can be downloaded at the following link:

http://www.accenture.com/Microsites/fsinsights/capital-markets-uk/Documents/Accenture-Global-Boom-in-Fintech-Investment.pdf

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A Research Report on Crowdfunding regulation in Europe issued by European Crowdfunding Network

The European Crowdfunding Network’s report is titled “Review of Crowdfunding Regulation - Interpretations of existing regulation concerning crowdfunding in Europe, North America and Israel”

The report provides in depth cover of the current regulatory approaches to crowdfunding in 29 countries, considering the varying applications of the single market legislation to Crowdfunders across Europe both now and in the foreseeable future. The report also reviews Crowdfunding regulation in North America and Israel.

On 3 October 2013 the European Commission started a public consultation asking for opinions on a (possible) harmonised regulation of Crowdfunding until 31 December 2013.   Crowdfunding is already restricted by national regulatory provisions, but the continuing development of the European single market in financial services has and will continue to ensure that there is a small degree of conformity between those national regimes, even absent any Crowdfunding-specific European regulation. Further it can be anticipated that Crowdfunding could be even more restricted under the future AIFMD regime.  The report can be viewed / downloaded here

Source:  European Crowdfunding Network, Belgium (2013) http://crowdfundingnetwork.org