Brian Shaw

Fintech giants Revolut & Monzo want stamp duty on shares ditched to boost London Stock Exchange 🇬🇧 🔵 Calling all investors! Big names in fintech are urging the government to scrap the tax on buying shares to make investing in UK companies more attractive. 🟠 They say this will help make London an even bigger player on the global stock market stage 🟢 This comes as the UK looks to attract more tech firms to list their shares here. Should the government listen? Join the discussion at the Innovate Finance Global Summit this week! #InnovateFinance #GlobalSummit #Fintech #LondonStockExchange #InvestUK #RokaSearch

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With the rise of sophisticated scams, regulators are ramping up protections against APP (Authorised Push Payment) fraud. But what impact will these new measures truly have on financial institutions and customers? I recently had the opportunity to share my thoughts on the topic in RegTech Analyst's latest article: "How Will the New APP Scam Protections Impact APP Fraud?" #Scams #RegTech #Compliance #Muinmos

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Starling Bank Launches In-App Tool to Combat Bank Impersonation Scams. Yet, while #Starling claims this is an industry first, Monzo Bank appears to have had a similar feature for years. This launch also comes shortly after Starling was fined £29 million by the FCA for insufficient financial screening controls. Bank impersonation scams cost the UK nearly £80 million last year. Starling Bank’s new in-app tool addresses this with real-time call status indicators that: → Confirm if you’re on a genuine call with Starling → Show when the bank last contacted you These alerts appear on the app’s home and payment screens, providing clarity during high-risk transactions. With £1.17 billion stolen in the UK in 2023, and 73% of adults concerned about becoming fraud victims, Starling’s tool aims to boost customer confidence. iSAP Exchange FZCO iSAP Network cloud based Telecommunication

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The minimum commission fee of P20 was set in 1973. This year, SEC approved dropping the minimum fee. Today, DragonFi became the first broker to drop the minimum commission fee. Why make this change? It's simple: we believe in the power of investing as a tool for wealth creation. Every additional percentage point of return can significantly impact one's financial growth over time. By lowering the barriers to entry, we aim to encourage more Filipinos to begin and continue their investment journeys, fostering a culture of investment and financial independence across our nation. Jon Carlo Lim

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The Evolution of Banking-as-A-Service The roots of BaaS can be traced back to the implementation of open banking. Once Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) was introduced in 2015, it was a game-changer for the industry. Although there were a few discussion on BaaS-type business models earlier, PSD2 created an environment for collaboration between incumbents and fintech innovators by mandating banks to share customer data. Since the introduction of PSD2, the space started getting crowded. As seen from the chart below, the number of players entering the market has been steady over the last few years with a slight decrease during COVID. The main hype after introduction of PSD2 was open banking. PSD2 mandated European banks to open their APIs to third-party providers, allowing them to access clients’ data upon request. This in turn empowered clients to have more visibility and ownership of their data. Following this change, new players emerged — Account Information Service Providers (AISP) and Payment Initiation Service Providers (PISP). It meant a lot for banking and finance innovation. For instance, AISPs made account aggregation possible by enabling users to gather all their accounts from different banks in one screen. Likewise, several payment automation options became possible with the help of PISPs. Although being revolutionary, the open banking had clear disadvantages: 📌 Fractioned UX journey for end users. 📌 Low process control from companies integrating solutions. 📌 Benefits were limited to account aggregation, data sharing and categorization, leaving behind profitable products such as lending, foreign exchange, etc. As a result, more complex, scalable and configurable solutions were needed. That’s where Banking-as-a-Service stepped in. In contrast to Open Banking, BaaS enabled “third-parties” to go beyond mere data access and payment initiation. BaaS enabled connection to bank’s products and functionalities. With BaaS, companies could add banking products on top of their core offering, or build a neobank from scratch without becoming a fully licensed banking. The benefits of BaaS were obvious: less regulatory burden, cost savings, and less of a need in building tech infrastructure from scratch. It’s impressive — but there’s still more to the story. 📌 Even though BaaS alleviated the need for extensive investments in licensing and core banking infrastructure, the cost of developing a user interface on top of it and integrating it with internal IT systems remained high. Additionally, for some use cases integrating extra APIs were needed — with each extra connection incurring additional expenses. 📌 In the end, BaaS proved to be a favourable choice for fintech startups that secured substantial venture capital funding, as well as for certain large corporations with surplus funds to allocate towards innovative concepts. Source IncludedVC/ Gasim Khasmammadli #fintech #bankingasaservice #embeddedfinance

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Mate, How does that matter to you and me? Are we going to get any money from it? Is society going to get anything out of it? Will that risk them their banking license? Will that impact their valuation? Will that impact their NPS ( Net Promoter Score)? Will that impact their growth and expansion?

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UK FinTech's not dead. & UK Vs EU investment. Do we need Europe? Invest in junior talent? In H1 of 2024 the UK got over $2 billion investment in fintech. Second globally only the USA. More than the rest of Europe combined, making up 65% of Europe's Fintech deals. While this paints a rosier post-Brexit view than in most other sectors, London is still a global financial centre which will inevitably account for some of this. 42% of UK fintech talent is from abroad, and in a post-brexit world, access to that talent (from EU at least) is more difficult than it was before. 𝐃𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞? With the Trump's proposed isolationist policies at odds with an increasingly global, interdependent economy, this presents opportunities to the UK and Europe. But we need policy which will allow us to make the most of those opportunities to work more closely with our EU neighbours. (55% of our imports are from Europe and 47% of our exports to there too) We need policy and investment in developing our home-grown talent, incentives for companies to hire and develop junior engineers as there are not enough opportunities for people to get into the industry. And we need policy which will allow us to access some of that international talent where needed, while keeping as much of that money taxed in the UK as possible. What policy would you like to see to boost the UK Tech & FinTech spaces? #recruitment #techrecruitment #fintech #brexit #eu

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I have now seen several people theorising that the exploding pagers in the news are because of “Stuxnet 2.0”. Let’s be clear, malicious software such as Stuxnet can make hardware do things it is capable of doing but is not intended to do. So Stuxnet got equipment to cause damage using the equipment functions that already existed in an unplanned and unwanted way. Running Stuxnet on a car cannot make it fly, cars do not have the ability to fly no matter what the software tries to do. On a similar line, pagers do not normally contain explosive material, so software cannot make them explode. Yes, some of us are old enough to remember Commodore PETs that could be made to run too high a clock speed through software and that broke them, but as with the pagers the software did not turn the internals into C5 explosive. For a pager to explode there must be explosive material inside them - and they don’t usually, so someone put some in there. To all those security “experts” who are theorising: This is not a really clever virus like you posted, you are just a really stupid person! Would be really funny if it turns out they bought all the pagers from a web market place, and a certain intelligence organisation got paid by their victims to blow their testicles off (think where a pager would cause injuries based on where people put them!!) Off to write Stuxnet 3, it runs on an old Samsung phone and turns the plastic case into solid diamond. Send me your credit card number and security codes and for $50 I will send you the source code

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Monzo has introduced three new security controls-Known Locations, Trusted Contacts, and Secret QR codes—to protect customers from fraud. These opt-in features require customers to use at least two controls for bank transfers or savings withdrawals above a set limit, adding layers of verification based on location, trusted contacts, or QR codes. Digital financial services have brought remarkable advancements, making payments more convenient, inclusive, and efficient. However, these benefits come with challenges such as security risks, regulatory hurdles, technological barriers, and privacy concerns. The controls introduced by Monzo are straightforward solutions that traditional players can adopt to enhance consumer trust. #dfs #tech #digitaltransformation #innovation #controls #fintech

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Great #FINOS #CDM update from Chris Rayner. Thanks Chris. For anyone who wants to know more about the #FINOS #CDM, ISLA have put some great info out there. If you are a c-suite, product/business head or a technologist - head over to the link below to learn more. https://lnkd.in/ewTH5mCR

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Monzo Bank new fraud prevention features are game-changers. Here's a breakdown: 📍 Known Locations - Only transfer large amounts of money from places you trust. Fraudsters can't access your funds if they aren't near your known locations. 🤝 Trusted Contacts - For large transfers, a trusted friend must approve the transaction. This is especially useful if your phone is stolen or for protecting vulnerable individuals. 🤫 Secret QR Codes - Print a QR code and store it securely. Scan it when needed for additional security. If these options aren't available, the fallback is enhanced KYC (Know Your Customer) verification. 🧠 Thoughts - These features leverage smart devices and user behavior tech. However, user education and experience are crucial. - I love how Monzo announces these innovations to their community. Can you name another large bank that does this effectively? - Big banks often talk about "trust" but rarely innovate with features like these. - I predict it won't be long before other big banks adopt these features. Let's raise the bar in banking security!

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Monzo Bank's FY24 results are in, and they've hit a 𝐦𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭. Diving deep into the numbers reveals three key drivers behind its impressive growth: 1. Customer Expansion 👤 Monzo's customer base grew from 7.4M in FY23 to 9.7M in FY24, including a doubling of business accounts from 200K to 400K. With 46% of new customers acquired through word of mouth, this organic growth highlights strong customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. 2. New Product Innovations 🆕 The launch of products such as tax-free savings ISAs has attracted 1.3M customers. Monzo Flex (a novel credit card/BNPL hybrid), and overdraft facilities offer higher interest rates and greater financial flexibility. A significant 42% rise in card spend—from £33.6B in FY23 to £47.8B in FY24—demonstrates heightened customer engagement and trust, solidifying Monzo as a preferred choice for daily transactions. 3. Enhanced Profitability and Financial Strength 📈 Monzo’s profit before tax hit £15.4M, marking its first full year of profitability. This milestone underscores effective cost management, diversified revenue streams, and scalable operations. With gross revenue surging 2.5x to £880M, Monzo’s successful monetisation strategies and strong market demand are evident. At the same time, customer deposits soared by 88% to £11.2B, reflecting growing customer confidence and reliance on Monzo as a primary banking institution. Future Growth Trajectories: Strategic Focus Areas 🎯 Monzo aims to expand its consumer base to 11M by FY25, leveraging organic growth and innovative marketing strategies. It plans to venture into mortgages and go deeper into business lending, indicating significant headroom for product diversification and revenue enhancement. Moreover, Monzo's strategic entry into Europe, with an Irish HQ, and exploration of the US market, signals an ambitious geographic expansion plan to unlock new growth avenues.  ___________________ 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Supercharge your Fintech IQ with exclusive reports, industry trend breakdowns, and expert analysis on everything shaping the future of finance.  Become a member and steer your business course with actionable intelligence on the winning strategies of leading fintechs - because knowing what's next is the ultimate competitive advantage ➡️: https://lnkd.in/gVfE8Cwg via @WhiteSight #fintech #digitalfinance #digitalbank #profitability #payments #lending #Monzo

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🚨 𝙅𝙐𝙎𝙏 𝙄𝙉: Hundreds of employees of the digital bank Monzo Bank are being given the opportunity to sell part of their stakes in the company as its valuation soars to £𝟰.𝟱𝗯𝗻. Sky News has learnt that Monzo notified staff on Thursday that it was launching a secondary share sale backed by a number of the world's leading technology investors. Sources close to the deal said employees were likely to sell tens of millions of pounds-worth of stock as part of the deal, which is being launched less than three weeks before Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is expected to increase the rate of capital gains tax in her inaugural budget. Monzo, which has more than 10 million customers, has become one of Britain's most successful, and valuable, FinTech companies. It employs more than 3,700 people. Earlier this year, it raised more than £500m by selling newly issued shares to a group of investors led by Capital G, a division of Alphabet-owned Google: https://lnkd.in/dztmvN8F That primary share sale valued the business at £4.1bn. More info: https://lnkd.in/dTMvKNJm Find this helpful? [ 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 ] Anything to add about this subject? [𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁] Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ] 

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𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘇𝗼'𝘀 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗡𝗲𝘄 $𝟱.𝟵𝗕 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Monzo Bank, the UK-based digital bank, has achieved a $5.9 billion valuation through a recent secondary market share sale, allowing employees to benefit from the company's success without needing to go public. 🌱 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀: • Investors such as Singapore’s GIC and StepStone Group have increased their stakes, highlighting strong confidence in Monzo’s future. • Monzo’s recent $190 million raise, part of a larger $425 million Series I, included Alphabet’s CapitalG and GV. • The bank recently reported its first full-year pre-tax profit, with revenues doubling year-over-year. • Serving 20% of UK adults and 6% of UK businesses, Monzo is solidifying its market presence. • Expansion plans are in motion with a focus on Europe and the U.S. as it continues to scale. Monzo's trajectory reflects the growing influence of challenger banks in the global fintech landscape. 🌍💸 Source: https://lnkd.in/ejDQnAYF For more weekly insight and thought-provoking analysis, ensure you get your copy at 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗕𝘆𝘁𝗲𝘀: https://lnkd.in/ev-WMFzG. Make sure you sign up to get your weekly analysis.  #Fintech #Monzo #Growth #ChallengerBanks

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Starling Bank's SaaS platform Engine could generate hundreds of millions of pounds a year for the UK digital bank, propelling it towards a £10 billion valuation, predicts investor Chrysalis. Engine is an API-based, cloud native platform initially built by Starling’s own in-house tech team to run the UK bank. In 2022, Starling began offering Engine to other lenders, promising to help them quickly launch new digital services or to replace legacy systems. The platform has so far only secured two clients, Salt Bank in Romania and AMP Bank in Australia. However, Starling's second largest shareholder, investment trust Chrysalis, is expecting Engine to become a significant source of revenue. The core banking transformation market is heating up. Starling is not the only bank spinning off its technology. It joins other dedicated vendors such as Mambu and Thought Machine as small and medium banks undergo rapid transformation programs. #digital #corebanking #transformation

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🌟 Exciting News! 🌟 We're thrilled to announce that Spyridon Maniotis will be representing Capco at DevOps Pro Europe on May 23rd, where he will tackle the complex interplay between regulatory compliance and DevOps adoption. 🚀 Key Takeaways: - Understand how to turn regulatory challenges into opportunities for accelerating DevOps. - Learn about practical frameworks and real-world examples to enhance your organization’s efficiency. 📆 When: May 23rd 👥Who Should Attend: IT and Compliance Professionals, DevOps Engineers, Business Leaders 👉 Register here: https://okt.to/6MPeVE #DevOps #RegulatoryCompliance #TechInnovation #engineering

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