11:FS Research Reports

How are governments and lenders easing the pressure of the coronavirus crisis on small businesses?

How are insurtechs responding to the Covid-19 crisis to support customers and non-customers alike?

Mitigating The Economic Shock From The Covid-19 Virus.

Money is a medium for exchanging value and it only serves its purpose when moved from one hand or place to another. Since its inception over 3,000 years ago, the processes by which money moves have drastically changed.

In this part of the changing global payments landscape series, I will be discussing how providers in the North and South Americas are using technology and changing regulations to reinvent some existing payment options to meet changing consumer behaviour.

This part of the changing global payments landscape series focuses on how providers in the Asia-pacific region are utilising existing technology to offer consumers newer ways to pay. Meanwhile, changes in regulation and consumer expectations are playing a key role in enabling newer market entrants to offer various payment propositions.

In this part of the changing payments landscape series, I will be looking at how providers in Europe have used technology, regulation and changing consumer behaviour to disrupt legacy payments infrastructure.

In this part of the changing global payments series, I am showcasing how technology has enabled digital payments infrastructure for the first time in many parts of the Middle East and Africa region. At the same time, as consumer expectations continue to change, regulation is also starting to kick in to offer a supporting role to some of the newer market entrants and innovations.

Over the last 20 years there have been huge changes in one of the most fundamental processes in society: the way in which value is exchanged, or to put it more simply, payments. These changes have happened globally, exemplified by the widespread emergence of mobile-based payment methods, infrastructure that allows electronic payments to be made in real time, and the decline in importance and usage of cash.

2020 marks the third year of the 11:FS Pulse Awards, which recognise outstanding products, services and brands in the financial services industry. Winner: Tully Runner-up: Ellevest Winner: Plaid Runner-up: TrueLayer Winner: Cuvva Runner-up: Klarna Winner: TransferWise Runner-up: Monese By Tunde Bolaji, UI Designer Winner: Up Runner-up: Honcho

In 2018, UK consumers were more likely to be borrowers than savers for the first time in nearly 30 years as average outgoings surpassed income, according to the Office for National Statistics. This shift towards borrowing more and saving less has mainly been driven by high living costs, slow wage growth and the interest rate – which has been at or near a record low since 2009.

12 years ago there was a crisis in the subprime mortgage market in the US. One year later, investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. These events marked the start of what has become known as the Global Financial Crisis of 2007–8.

The first step towards banking automation came in 1967 following the installation of an ATM in the UK. Over 50 years later, Open Banking arrived, ushering in a new era of digital banking, which ironically is lessening the need for ATMs.

Customers don’t want a bank. Redefine your market using Jobs to be Done thinking. Videos will open in a new browser window

It’s expensive, time-consuming and heavily regulated. It’s an industry that’s seen little change in hundreds of years and populated by those who are mostly resistant to that change. Furthermore, it remains an industry with an image problem – by and large customers don’t believe financial institutions of any type are working in their favour. So why launch a startup in the banking sector?

We say it a lot, because it’s true: digital banking is only 1% finished. We understand all too well that it can be easy to forget. This is an industry that we live and breathe, and is constantly growing and shifting. We see new products and services added to our Pulse platform every week, and explored by Sarah Kocianski in her research reports. Most recently she outlined some of the numerous, exciting, new digital money management (DMM) services which are now on the market.

People are managing their money using digital tools and services. As many as 70% of UK consumers now use a phone app to keep track of their money, according to Yolt. However, there are huge differences in the quality and value of what they are using, and the sheer volume and variety of offerings in this area is ever increasing. I’m going to help make sense of this picture for you, and outline what’s required for a best-in-class digital money manager.

Consider this scenario: you are a user with a task that needs completing via your financial platform of choice, and when you set out to achieve this core task you run into friction which either slows your progress or – worse still – prevents you from completing the task altogether.

Financial institutions (FIs) very rarely offer products and services that are truly tailored to the needs of Small- and Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs). Whether that’s bank accounts, access to credit, suitable payments products, insurance, capital management, or foreign exchange, most “SMB products” are either stripped down versions of corporate products, or overpriced versions of consumer ones.

Onboarding comprises of the processes by which a consumer or business becomes a customer. The term applies to the end-to-end journey, from a customer seeking insight into which product is right for them, through the application process, and onto the issuing of that product and the customer starting to use it.