Latest Innovation News: Finextra Research

Westpac trials Google Glass app and Apple iBeacon

Westpac has begun trialling a Google Glass app which lets users keep an eye on their balance and outlined plans to install Apple's iBeacon technology in branches.

04 February 2014

News/Innovation

P2P lending shows big upswing in 2013

Figures released by the UK Peer to Peer Finance Association shows the industry in buoyant mood ahead of the introduction of new regulations in April, with P2P lending increasing by 121% during 2013.

03 February 2014

News/Innovation

Loyalty start-up Red Zebra scores SBT Venture Capital investment

London-based loyalty start-up Red Zebra Analytics has raised a seven-figure investment from fintech-focussed SBT Venture Capital.

03 February 2014

News/Innovation

Thomson Reuters adds Twitter and news sentiment analysis to Eikon

Thomson Reuters has added Twitter and news sentiment analysis to its flagship Eikon desktop product to help traders make sense of vast amounts of market moving data.

03 February 2014

News/Innovation

New York gears up for virtual currency 'BitLicenses'

Plans floated by New York regulators to issue 'BitLicenses' specifically tailored to virtual currencies, drew mixed responses from industry players at a hearing this week.

31 January 2014

News/Innovation

Oxford University spin-out targets secure P2P mobile payments

Using security protocols they have been developing for the last 12 years, a group of Oxford University academics are preparing to launch a mobile person-to-person payments app.

31 January 2014

News/Innovation

Mint PFM platform to track bitcoin transactions

Money management app Mint has struck a deal with Coinbase that will let users view their bitcoin transactions alongside more traditional financial accounts.

30 January 2014

News/Innovation

Zopa raises £15 million funding

Peer-to-peer lending platform Zopa has raised £15 million in a funding round led by hedge fund Arrowgrass Capital Partners.

30 January 2014

News/Innovation

Amazon to move into P2P and in-store payments

Amazon is preparing to break out of the confines of its e-commerce site by building a person-to-person payments service and a point-of-sale system based on Kindle tablets for bricks-and mortar retailers.

30 January 2014

News/Innovation

Barclaycard gets down with the kids in Apps for Good challenge

Barclaycard is supporting the launch of two new apps developed by schoolchildren as part of the UK's Apps for Good education initiative.

29 January 2014

News/Innovation

GoCardless raises $7m in series b funding

GoCardless, the UK start-up promising to simplify the way firms set up and accept online direct debits, has raised $7 million in a series b funding round led by Balderton Capital.

28 January 2014

News/Innovation

DeviceFidelity provides NFC sheaths for Isis mobile payments on the iPhone

DeviceFidelity is to provide NFC cases designed to slip over Apple iPhones for use in the telco-backed Isis mobile wallet scheme.

28 January 2014

News/Innovation

Barclays backs 'Web for Everyone' campaign

Barclays has joined forces with Facebook and tech start-up Free:Formers for a year-long campaign to give people the digital skills needed to make the most of the Web.

28 January 2014

Finextra TV/Innovation

Arguments for a smarter mortgage market in the UK

Michael Davison, Banking and Financial Markets, IBM and Kieran Colville, Smarter Workforce,IBM discuss how the UK mortgage industry is poised for growth and how focusing on human capital will enable a more prudent and efficient lending market, with reduced conduct risk and better outcomes for customers.

28 January 2014

News/Innovation

BitInstant CEO charged with money laundering over Silk Road scheme

US prosecutors have charged BitInstant CEO Charlie Shrem and an accomplice with running a scheme to sell over $1 million in bitcoins to users of the underground Silk Road marketplace.

27 January 2014

News/Innovation

Wells Fargo and JPMorgan take contrasting stance on bitcoin

Wells Fargo and JPMorgan have highlighted the contrasting views in US banking circles over the future viability of bitcoin, with the former willing to engage and the latter airily dismissing the digital currency as a passing fad.

24 January 2014

News/Innovation

Umpqua Bank branch named Retail Design Institute store of the year

Bank branches may be going the way of the dodo but one example of this increasingly rare bird drew admiring glances at the Retail Design Institute awards, where Umpqua scooped the store of the year gong for its flagship San Francisco outlet.

24 January 2014

News/Innovation

EC unveils accelerator to give tech start-ups helping hand

The European Commission has enlisted banks, telcos and universities for a new accelerator programme designed to help tech start-ups scale and take on the giants of Silicon Valley.

24 January 2014

News/Innovation

IZettle releases SDK for in-app card payments

IZettle has introduced a software development kit that enables merchants to integrates its card payments service directly into their own mobile apps.

23 January 2014

News/Innovation

Digital currency Ven to be listed on LMAX MTF

FCA-approved multilateral trading facility LMAX has agreed to list Ven, the digital currency created by online community Hub Culture, enabling brokers, banks and institutions to trade the virtual instrument.

23 January 2014