Jamie Crawley - Community Author: Finextra Research

Starling is profitable. What’s next for other UK challenger banks?

Profitability is no longer a distant dream for challenger banks after Starling Bank tipped into the black late last year. How will this affect the mindset of the digital banking landscape and what do other players need to do to compete and survive? At Money 2020 in October last year, Sergei Galperin, JP Morgan’s European head of fintech investment...

28 January 2021 /retail

The Bitcoin bull run: is it different this time?

Jamie Crawley

The Bitcoin bull run: is it different this time?

Bitcoin is the in the midst of a bull run which has seen it shatter its previous all-time high of December 2017. The cryptocurrency broke through the $20,000 barrier at the end of November and continued to rise through December and into the New Year, eventually hitting a peak of $41,500 on 8th January. A reminder of the inherent volatility of cryp...

21 January 2021 /crypto

The Power Within: How do financial services businesses unlock the skills needed to compete?

Jamie Crawley

The Power Within: How do financial services businesses unlock the skills needed to compete?

Addressing skills shortages is a constant challenge for tech leaders at financial services organisations, as the required capabilities evolve to meet developing digital transformational strategies and new fintech competitors. Finextra speaks to Sean Farrington of tech workforce development company, Pluralsight, and spokespeople from major financia...

05 January 2021 /people

The never-ending sustainability questions banks must ask themselves

Jamie Crawley

The never-ending sustainability questions banks must ask themselves

Financial institutions face an array of conflicts and conditions in determining the environmental and social impact of investments and assets and how to report them for regulatory or corporate purposes. Environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) frameworks are underpinned by the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are in...

21 December 2020 /sustainable

KYC Utilities - is technology the answer?

Jamie Crawley

KYC Utilities - is technology the answer?

KYC utilities will expedite onboarding and other processes, helping to improve user experience and operational efficiency, but the legal nuance to KYC means that technology may not be a panacea. Fines punishing financial services firms for non-compliance with know your customer (KYC), anti-money laundering (AML) and sanctions regulations have total...

17 December 2020 /predictions

Jamie Crawley

Are CBDCs a question without an answer?

The Singapore Fintech Festival takes place next week with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) one of the hot topics on the agenda. Questions should raise be raised about what role such currencies would in fact play in financial systems. Singapore would appear to be an ideal market for the use of a CBDC, with its dense population, universal int...

02 December 2020 /crypto

ISO 20022 holds key to fintech innovation and competition in years to come

Jamie Crawley

ISO 20022 holds key to fintech innovation and competition in years to come

As banks and other financial institutions migrate to ISO 20022 in the years ahead, many of the ongoing conversations of ‘old vs new’, ‘big’ vs ‘small’ and ‘incumbent’ vs ‘innovator’ in financial technology may be built around this new standardisation of language and messaging for payments data. Preparation for and adaption to ISO 20022 has been a ...

29 October 2020 /payments

Busting the myths around sustainable investing: part 3

Jamie Crawley

Busting the myths around sustainable investing: part 3

Several assertions are made about sustainable investing – how reliable returns are, how complicated it is, how viable it is in a challenging economic environment and so on. Richard Peers, founder of Responsible Risk and Finextra Research contributing editor, has been discussing these claims with industry experts, to tackle some of the oft-heard com...

28 September 2020 /sustainable

Busting the myths around sustainable investing: part 2

Jamie Crawley

Busting the myths around sustainable investing: part 2

Several assertions are made about sustainable investing – how reliable returns are, how complicated it is, how viable it is in a challenging economic environment and so on. Richard Peers, founder of Responsible Risk and Finextra Research contributing editor, has been discussing these claims with industry experts, to tackle some of the oft-heard com...

21 September 2020 /sustainable

Busting the myths around sustainable investing: Part 1

Jamie Crawley

Busting the myths around sustainable investing: Part 1

Several assertions are made about sustainable investing – how reliable returns are, how complicated it is, how viable it is in a challenging economic environment and so on. Richard Peers, founder of Responsible Risk and Finextra Research contributing editor, has been discussing these claims with industry experts, to tackle some of the oft-heard com...

14 September 2020 /sustainable

Expectation, standardisation and automation: Seizing the initiative in real-time payments

Jamie Crawley

Expectation, standardisation and automation: Seizing the initiative in real-time payments

Real-time payments are likely to not only expedite the movement of money, but also heighten the expectations of consumers and corporates. Financial institutions need to address other aspects of the payments system to ensure that instant payments are supported by improved user experience throughout the cycle. The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to have...

31 July 2020 /payments

What is Celo and could it succeed where Libra won’t?

Jamie Crawley

What is Celo and could it succeed where Libra won’t?

Celo promises to be a stablecoin to rival Libra. While unlikely to be regarded with the same distrust as Facebook’s much-maligned digital currency, Celo will still have its share of challenges relating to regulation and scale. The announcement that Facebook was leading the development of a digital currency in June 2019 was met with fierce pushback ...

25 May 2020 /crypto

Long reads