Consumer Banking, Small Business Banking

Australia’s neobank Volt goes live and competitor Xinja lands restricted licence

As 2018 rolled to a close, news hit the wire that the second neobank in Australia, Xinja had been awarded a restricted banking licence from the local regulator. Earlier in 2018 Volt had claimed line honours for restricted licence number one.

Both banks are two of the more high profile players in what is swiftly becoming a crowded space. Banking Tech’s ‘who’s who’ of Australian neobanking counts a total of 11 in the space, including Volt and Xinja. Heavy going for a country of only 24.6 million people.

Most banks, Xinja and Volt included, are going after mortgages as part of their go to market strategy. To date only Tyro and Judo are attacking the SME space. And while mortgages is certainly fertile ground, as banks tighten up on lending, neobanks aren’t the only ones to notice this and want in on the action.

This week a report in the Australian Financial Review suggested Australia’s non-bank home lending sector was making very good housing hay under a scorching Australian sun. Thanks to bank pull back and a heady appetite for risk, the shadow lending sector is said to be ‘growing market share among owner-occupiers at four times the rate of their mainstream banking rivals.’ This will be further competition and pressure on the nations fledgling neobanks, as they come to market in 2019.

But they are forging ahead nonetheless, Volt especially. In a blink and you’ll miss it press release that hit newsrooms just before Xmas, Volt reported it had switched on its Temenos core banking platform. There is no question this caps off a rather successful 2018 for the Volt team.

What will 2019 bring Australia’s challenger banks? Most likely acquisition headwinds, as the rubber hits the road post the relatively easy gets – licensing and tech. While both are by no means a feat to be diminished, it figures that in today’s friendly licensing market, a solid and experienced product and compliance team would be hard pressed to fail on both of these fronts. What Volt has proven (and executed on) is that the edge here is indeed your speed.

Can customers be lured away from Australia’s tech savvy major banks, or the increasingly flexible and price competitive shadow lenders? If mortgages are your game, that is going to be the billion dollar question for Australia’s neobanks.

Daily Fintech Advisers provides strategic consulting to organizations with business and investment interests in Fintech. Jessica Ellerm is a thought leader specializing in Small Business and the Gig Economy and is the CEO and Co-Founder of Zuper, a new superannuation startup in Australia.

Fintech Global Tour, women

Cheering women Fintech entrepreneurs

women entreprenurs

Happy New Year!

I am starting with a collage post that is a reminder of the importance of diversity and inclusiveness of women in tech and Fintech.

Lets all take note and applaud the 30 women in the Fintech playlists that I compiled in the 1st quarter of 2018.

The women’s market and Fintech – Jan playlist of 10.

Women and Fintech – Feb playlist of 10.

WE for women entrepreneurs in ETFs in the New Economy.

Lets give another round of applause to more women entrepreneurs:

Women investing in the underbanked despite being underfunded

Brazil’s Moeda- the cooperative network for women entrepreneurs on crypto

And last but not least, to our very own Jessica Ellerm, cofounder of Zuper

Image Source

Efi Pylarinou is the founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory and a Fintech/Blockchain influencer.

Get fresh daily insights from an amazing team of Fintech thought leaders around the world. Ride the Fintech wave by reading us daily in your email.

Bitcoin & Blockchain

Blockchain Weekly Front Page: Bitcoin: A Year in Review… 2019 will be decisive for Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies

bitcoin-predictions-2019.png

Last week our theme was “Coinbase IPO… waiting for the bull”

Our theme for this week is “Bitcoin: A Year in Review… 2019 will be decisive for Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies“

To say that we’re in the midst of change and uncertainty is an understatement. 2018 has been a tough year for cryptocurrencies. This year left a blood trail for cryptocurrency investors. Bitcoin’s value dropped from $19,352 on December 17th, 2017, to $3,862.80 on December 31st, 2018. Ethereum fell from $1,405 on January 10th to $139.83 on December 31st. Other cryptos, like Bitcoin Cash and Ripple, also had big drops in value.

As this year comes to a close, the world of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies looks fragile, volatile, and chaotic.

We tend to look at numbers as a way of quantifying progress and measuring growth. But looking only at the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is a negative and depressing way to measure market growth. It certainly does not give us the entire picture. Progress goes beyond plain numbers and IMHO the reality is completely different.

While the cryptocurrency market has lost 85% of its value in 2018, the number of new users has been growing. Cryptocurrency adoption nearly doubled in 2018, despite the bear market. At the end of 2017, there were 18 million users in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, now there are 35 million users, a 94% increase this year alone.

A new study published by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance paints a completely different picture:

  • The total number of users exceeds 139 million, with at least 35 million that have verified their identities.
  • Service providers are pro-actively adopting measures to comply with regulation, even though they are not explicitly subject to regulations. With 37% maintaining an in-house compliance team and more than half performing KYC/AML checks, these self-regulatory efforts show growing market maturity.
  • The cryptocurrency ecosystem is becoming more connected to traditional finance. Fiat-to-crypto trades are allowed on some exchanges, bank wires dominate both deposits and withdrawals, while many exchanges support a greater number of deposit options than withdrawal options, with 69% maintaining relationships with established traditional payment networks.

While big players are not here yet, they are coming. There are still some missing pieces that are holding them back, especially when it comes to an institutional-grade custodial solution for Bitcoin. But, CME Bitcoin futures average daily volume has been rising all year, almost tripling between the first and third quarter this year. Fidelity’s move into the crypto space with its institutionally focused crypto custody solution is reigniting hope for many.

In January we should see the launch of Bakkt, a cryptocurrency market, backed by the Intercontinental Exchange, Microsoft, and Starbucks. While the launch has been delayed until Jan 24th, 2019, it is widely anticipated and will be a catalyst for major cash inflows to crypto. This December, Facebook finally announced that rumors were true and it was moving into the crypto space with a new stablecoin project.

These are just a few of positive developments, still a lot can go wrong.

All year long, there have been numerous crackdowns throughout the world specifically on ICOs. 2018 marked the beginning of big troubles for Initial Coin Offerings, with regulators like the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission cracking down on ICOs. The SEC nailed a couple crypto projects in the last quarter of this year. It seems that every ICO is at potential risk, and it is likely that most ICOs have performed unregistered securities offerings. But for some with good reason, like Cloud With Me, Tezos, Latium Network and Bitconnect, which was an outright scam. While the term “Ponzi scheme” gets thrown around a lot on the crypto industry, for the most part it is completely unfounded.

Yet, we could see big changes when it comes to ICOs in 2019. As the SEC considers most cryptocurrencies securities, many believe that security tokens will be the next big gold rush. And they have good reason to think so, as tokenized stocks will be backed up by a tangible asset, such as the company’s shares or profits.

Will Bitcoin rise in 2019?

I believe that blockchain and cryptocurrencies are the future. I believe the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will go up this year. But this is only a guess. Investors are still recouping from the losses of 2018’s bear cycle. While Bitcoin has certainly become a mainstream financial instrument, revolutionizing how we think about money, it continues to surprise us with its unstable behavior.

With prices low, the threshold to enter the market is favorable. In a declining market, you can invest in promising alt-coins which should soon release their completed products, and ensure market growth for the future.

Bitcoin has experienced quite the journey since Satoshi Nakamoto published its white paper in 2008 and a lot of things are changing on a global level. A number of jurisdictions have provided more regulatory clarity and I expect this to continue in 2019. This will give even more comfort to retail and institutional investors and help the market grow in 2019, despite the price tumble we saw in 2018. Without a doubt, the coming year is going to be a decisive one for Bitcoin & cryptocurrencies and their long-term future.

For more about the Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing, please click here.

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Ilias Louis Hatzis is the Founder & CEO at Mercato Blockchain Corporation AG. He writes the Blockchain Weekly Front Page each Monday.

Image Source

Ilias Louis Hatzis is the Founder & CEO at Mercato Blockchain Corporation AG. He writes the Blockchain Weekly Front Page each Monday.

bbva, Bitcoin & Blockchain, Blockchain, corporate banking, lending, porsche, Small Business Banking, sme

BBVA and Porsche – Is DIY Corporate lending on Blockchain the future?

Earlier this month, BBVA announced an acquisition term loan offering on Blockchain, where they lent $170 Million to Porsche.

An acquisition loan is a loan given to a company to purchase a specific asset or to be used for purposes that are laid out before the loan is granted.

– Investopedia

The credit line will allow Porsche to expand their retail distribution channels in Europe and Asia. This is yet another feather in the cap for the BBVA, as they set to establish themselves as a front runner in providing innovative financial services.

In executing this credit line facility, BBVA have managed two firsts – first acquisition term loan ever arranged through blockchain technology, and Porsche Holding is also the first non-Spanish borrower using this technology for the negotiation and closing of a corporate loan

For the BBVA, this is by no means their first stab at something adventurous with Blockchain. Earlier to this, they have offered a syndicate loan on Blockchain for $170 Million to Red Electrica. They also offered a line of credit with Repsol for $367 Million. But this is the first time they have extended it to a non-Spanish borrower.

The press release from the BBVA discusses the benefits of using Blockchain in their Corporate lending process. From automating negotiations and minimizing operational risks, to bringing transparency and immutability to the documentation, the technology adds efficiency to the lending process.

“Our aim is to improve clients’ experience by simplifying processes and enhancing the speed of execution”


– Frank Hoefnagels, Head of BBVA CIB in Germany

But BBVA have high ambitions and believe that the technology can help convert corporate lending into a “Do it Yourself” process for their corporate and business clients.

This might yet be another PR stunt, however, if they manage to achieve it, the benefits that framework would add is immense. That can be a blueprint for banks and alternative finance firms to use as a lending operating model for SMEs.

There are firms who have managed to gather a lot of intelligence around lending to SMEs. One of my portfolio firms Funding Xchange is a champion at that. That intelligence acheived through facilitating business loans over the years combined with the process efficiencies and seamlessness that Blockchain could potentially offer would create impact at scale.

It is a year when many crypto dreams have crumbled. But dream we shall, for its the season of hope. And as the New Year dawns, there can be only one way forward – Onwards and Upwards. Happy New Year folks!!

Arunkumar Krishnakumar is a Venture Capital investor at Green Shores Capital focusing on Inclusion and a podcast host.

Get fresh daily insights from an amazing team of Fintech thought leaders around the world. Ride the Fintech wave by reading us daily in your email

2018, amazon, InsurTech, review, top list, travelers, uber

Insurtech Retrospect, a review for 2018

Retrospect

The Theme last week was blockchain still alive in InsurTech.

A late Merry Christmas and an early happy New Year to dear readers of DailyFintech!

At the end of the year, we bring you the theme for this week: Insurtech Retrospect, a review for 2018. This is a tough year for investors and startups. The shadow of trade conflict between US & China and economic volatility have grave effects on business. How is InsurTech coping with that?

For more about the Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing, please click here.

Incumbents embracing InsurTech is a common theme in our posts. This time, it’s about customer engagement.

Story 1: Digital Insurance’s top 10 stories of the year

Extract, read more on Digital Insurance:

“What a wild year for insurance — or insurtech — or whatever you want to call it! 2018 will surely be remembered as a banner year for the industry’s transformation agenda. Carriers big and small, across lines of business, rolled out all sorts of next-generation technologies with the aim of getting the best ever-exclusive customer experience. And money flowed into insurtech, with more than 15 investment rounds of more than $40 million dollars going to some leading startups.”

Lots of stories happened in InsurTech community in USA this year. You can see Uber and Amazon are mentioned, and old school incumbents like Travelers embracing digitalization as well.

Story 2: Top 100 Insurtech: Quarter four update

Extract, read more on Insurance Post:

“It’s time for the final 2018 update on the Insurtech 100, the global index compiled for Post by Tällt Ventures. Here founder and CEO Matt Connolly rounds up the latest investment and partnership news.”

You can find most of the financing records of the year of InsurTech startups in this article, as well as partnerships, product launches, expansions, even personnel changes.

Story 3: Quarterly InsurTech Briefing Q3 2018

Extract, read more on Willis Towers Watson:

“In this edition of the Quarterly InsurTech Briefing, we look at event-based, or “parametric,” insurance offerings and ask ourselves whether event-driven cover is just a niche product or a Trojan horse that can simplify and fundamentally change the industry.”

Wills Towers’ 46-page quarterly briefing includes an industry theme for 2018Q3, startup profiles, transaction spotlight, thought leaderships and data center.

InsurTech has delivered a relatively better performance in 2018 than other sectors in technology and Internet industry. At least that’s the case in China. When economy goes down, people are more inclined to put money in insurance.

Zarc Gin is an analyst for Warp Speed Fintech, a Fintech, especially InsurTech-focused Venture Capital based in China.

Check out our advisory services(how we pay for this free original research).

To schedule an hour of Zarc’s time for CHF380 please click here to send an email.

paypal, Small Business Banking, square

Could Square be the first global small business bank?

Late last week we learned Square was back for round two of its banking licence application. The company was reported to be reapplying for the license, after withdrawing its initial application earlier this year.

While the bank will be Utah based, it isn’t hard to imagine the U.S. company as having global small business banking ambitions. Today its payments and merchant ecosystem is available in Canada, Australia, Japan and the U.K. These are all jurisdictions that have struggled to produce good small business banking alternatives during the fintech boom, despite many offering ‘neobank type’ licenses.

Square has had a pretty good run over the past two quarters, after slower growth in the preceding three. In the 2018 third quarter the company saw net revenue grow 51% YoY to $882 Million, on Gross Payment Volume of $22.5 Billion. While the company is still a relative minnow alongside competitor PayPal (by way of comparison, the payments giant pulled in revenue of $3.68 billion for Q3 on $143 billion in total payment volume) Square is no doubt banking on a license to help it further encroach on PayPal’s market share. It would also position it to further solidify its objective to own the lion’s share of commerce requirements for small businesses.

Square also has a hand in the crypto jar, with $43 million of Q3 revenue attributed to bitcoin. In August of this year the company was awarded a patent for its crypto payment network, and reports suggest adding bitcoin to its Cash App back in January helped Square make a dent in PayPal’s Venmo during 2018.

PayPal started from a consumer first strategy, and then pushed through into the SME space. Square on the other hand has played a reverse strategy. And while Square could have been seen as a acquisition target for PayPal up until a year or two ago, the banking license play now feels like a solidly competitive move on the chessboard. If Square can deliver on SaaS banking for SMEs, rather than the hodge podge of services and pricing that exists today amongst the incumbents, then it may have a real killer advantage. It will need it, because PayPal has deep pockets, and can instigate a price war it can almost certainly win.

Certainly one to watch in the SME banking space in 2019.

Daily Fintech Advisers provides strategic consulting to organizations with business and investment interests in Fintech. Jessica Ellerm is a thought leader specializing in Small Business and the Gig Economy and is the CEO and Co-Founder of Zuper, a new superannuation startup in Australia.

Uncategorized

Blockchain my heart – Q4 of 2018

timestamp

Time Stamp this past October! It was a decade since the Halloween white paper titled ““Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” was sent to a mailing list of the few select cryptographers.

#AndTheIronyIs that the Nakamoto groundbreaking technology is being championed by banks as a way to radically improve the financial system. #AndTheIronyIs that this out of the UBS Blockchain site.

#AndTheIronyIs that Wall Street is working hard on structuring new derivative products (a business they know all to well) for crypto assets. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs were the first to clear the Bitcoin futures for CBOE and CME. MorganStanley now plans to offer a Bitcoin swap trading product.

#AndTheIronyIs that my top October Tweet by all metrics was Screen Shot 2018-12-21 at 7.20.17 AM.png

At the Swiss Women Blockchain breakfast panel discussion, I shared my passion for Blockchain use cases in Financial inclusion. This is the reason I worked with Arun Krishnamkumar to launch a thematic podcast series on this exact topic. Listen to guests from Wala project in Africa, Stellar protocol, the Agentic Group in NY and more.

In Europe there is no consensus on the definition of a Security. Europe has MIFID, without a standard definition of a Security. The European Parliament supported the Blockchain Resolution, which presents regulatory principles that are Technology neutral, Business-model neutral, and pro-Innovation. The main principle behind the Blockchain Resolution is Disintermediation Economics that build Trust. Read details In the EU Blockchain Resolution we Trust.

This quarter I participated in three Blockchain conferences and several blockchain meetups. My talk in Athens at Decentralized is online:  “Unlocking value in Fintech: The Blockchain deity at work”.

Noteworthy news from my clients:

– EquibitGroup, a P2P capital markets infrastructure, moved its headquarters from Toronto Canada, to Zug and was already listed as an upcoming challenger in the Swiss Crypto ecosystem of 400 companies (report presented at the CryptoSummit).

– Desico, a fully compliant way to issue a Security token out of Lithuania, successfully raised 1million from the crowd through a Revenue Sharing Note (with an ISIN number allocated by Nasdaq CSD: LTM 000010008).

– LCX, the early stage institutional grade exchange out of Liechtenstein, launched the Blockchain LCX event series. Dr. Zhang and Don Tapscott were two distinguished guests that gave talks and I had the pleasure to moderate a discussion thereafter. Watch here.

Efi Pylarinou is the founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory and a Fintech/Blockchain influencer.

Get fresh daily insights from an amazing team of Fintech thought leaders around the world. Ride the Fintech wave by reading us daily in your email.

Bitcoin & Blockchain

Blockchain Weekly Front Page: Coinbase IPO… waiting for the bull.

coinbase

Last week our theme was “Basis shuts down. Will regulation kill crypto?”

Our theme for this week is “Basis shuts down. Will regulation kill crypto?“

In a recent interview on CNBC, when Asiff Hirji, President and COO of Coinbase, was asked about Bitcoin’s price surge during the holiday season, he said that “it’s not surprising that Bitcoin has bounced back.” He also said, that “the company is a long way from an IPO and is currently focused only on building a great business.”

While we’ve all heard the rumors of Coinbase’s upcoming IPO, its evident that the company won’t IPO until it sees, from it’s proprietary data, that bear market is over.

In 2017, Coinbase crossed $1 billion mark, when Bitcoin hit $20,000. In October 2018, it was valued around $8 billion. What’s even more impressive is that the company expects  to meet its target $1.3 billion in revenue.

Screen Shot 2018-12-24 at 3.44.30 AM.png

Company document obtained by Bloomberg

For now, Coinbase has been on a strategic march, launching new services, expanding into new horizons and showing no signs of stopping. Coinbase’s CEO thinks that the total number of people in crypto will reach one billion within the next five years.

Coinbase is certainly preparing for it.

Today, Coinbase is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of users, with 25 million registered users and $7 million worth of cryptocurrencies traded on the platform every single day.

According to the November 2018 research report from the Blockchain Transparency Institute, Coinbase led the pack with 422,000 daily active users, with Binance trailing in second place with 313,000 daily active users. OKEx and Huobi barely made it over 100,000 daily active users, with 105,000 and 101,000 respectively.

A couple of weeks ago, Coinbase announced that it will potentially support 30 new crypto assets in the near future, stating on their blog: “We are continuing to explore the addition of new assets, and will be working with local banks and regulators to add them in as many jurisdictions as possible.”

Recently Coinbase launched its OTC trading desk for institutional customers and added free PayPal withdrawal for its users. Coinbase also announced the expansion of its trading platform to new markets in a move to aggressively push the market forward in the coming year. It has expanded to Lithuania, Iceland, Andorra, Gibraltar, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Earlier this year, Coinbase partnered with Barclays Bank, the first agreement between a leading U.K bank and a cryptocurrency exchange. Coinbase acquired Paradex, a non-custodial trading site built on the 0x decentralized protocol.

Coinbase is the king of the digital currency jungle. Coinbase was the first U.S. cryptocurrency startup, to become a “unicorn” and to generate $1 billion in annual revenue. With 25 million customers, its comparable with brokerages like Charles Schwab. The press is buzzing about its potential IPO. For now, the cryptocurrency market is much lower from where it was in 2017. Lots of investors got burned, making them more cautious. When Coinbase decides to IPO and creates huge returns for VC investors, it will give investors a chance to interact with the digital currency market, through a public company.

For more about the Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing, please click here.

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Ilias Louis Hatzis is the Founder & CEO at Mercato Blockchain Corporation AG. He writes the Blockchain Weekly Front Page each Monday.

brexit, ireland, Uncategorized

The No-deal Brexit Shock and Fintech, who is the winner?

“Its going to be a No-deal Brexit.”

“No-deal could be damage control”

“May might have left it too late.”

“It could be a managed explosion”


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And the headlines keep coming. There is some serious soul searching that the country and its leaders need to do after/if this saga comes to an end. An interesting article in The Guardian articulates with pictures, the catastrophe that is waiting to happen if a deal wasn’t reached.

While the nation’s and the region’s future, along with the livelihoods of people are at stake, today we focus on what it means to Fintech.

There was a time, not too long ago, when I felt that pragmatism would prevail through the Brexit deal making process. If that had indeed happened, London could have very well maintained its lead as the Global Fintech Hub. Yet again, mankind has proven to be less rational than I hoped.

I felt there were several factors that helped the City of London maintain its lead in Fintech.

  • A matured and a fundamentally strong Financial Services industry
  • A strong in-flow of skills from UK and Europe
  • The English language
  • Time Zone
  • A innovation friendly regulatory regime, thanks to the FCA

With the Brexit plans in motion, there was a stress test exercise conducted across UK’s high street banks and the scenario involved key three risk factors,

  1. 4.7% decline in UK GDP,
  2. 33% fall in house prices and
  3. 27% decline in the value of pound sterling

No surprises there, banks passed the stress tests. So the incumbents are prepared. However, as a precautionary measure many high street banks, asset managers and Fintechs have set up shop in Ireland. Thanks to Brexit, Ireland now has over 400 Financial Services firms, and over 100 firms queued up for regulatory approvals to use Ireland as their location to passport services to Europe.

Just looking at the above factors, Ireland shares many of the regional and language benefits that London benefits from. And with an attractive corporation tax of 12.5%, its going to be challenging UK’s might in attracting top Fintech entrepreneurs.

All the above factors are working in Ireland’s favour and it has most of the key ingredients to attract Fintechs if a No-Deal Brexit happened. Top FS players setting shop, a conducive environment for entrepreneurs, regional and language advantage.

The UK’s FCA is clearly struggling to cope with the uncertainties that the political landscape is throwing at them, there is a lack of clarity on how several regulatory aspects will be treated post Brexit – with a deal or no-deal.

From payments to passporting, from transaction reporting to fund management, the regulatory guideline is

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON, and stay tuned for more updates.

With the EU and UK fighting hard, and with the uncertainty this has caused in the business landscape, Ireland may well be the winner, when it comes to Fintech.

Arunkumar Krishnakumar is a Venture Capital investor at Green Shores Capital focusing on Inclusion and a podcast host.

Get fresh daily insights from an amazing team of Fintech thought leaders around the world. Ride the Fintech wave by reading us daily in your email

alibaba, ant financial, australia, Blockchain, InsurTech, state farm

Insurtech Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing – Blockchain not dead in insurance

Blockchain insurance

The Theme last week was Incumbents on customer engagement.

The Theme this week is Blockchain not dead in insurance. Blockchain, or cryptocurrency is dead for many investors, but it is still a promising future for insurance.

For more about the Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing, please click here.

Incumbents embracing InsurTech is a common theme in our posts. This time, it’s about customer engagement.

 

Story 1: Ant’s Alipay uses blockchain to process health insurance claims in seconds

Extract, read more on Ledger Insights:

“Alipay is processing health insurance claims within seconds using a blockchain system, state-owned Securities Daily reported yesterday.

Alipay runs a free health insurance product as part of its rewards system. When users pay offline with AliPay, they earn bonus points towards the health insurance product. The plan is run with one of China’s largest life insurers Taikang Insurance. Within a month of launching in April 2017, 13 million people had signed up for the rewards program which amounts to 11% of Taikang’s online users, according to Asean Today.”

Ant Financial is the Fintech arm of Alibaba and is known for its exploration spirits. They tried to launch a mutual insurance project in October this year, but was compromised due to a rumored and undisclosed conflict of interest. One fails, keeps going with another. They certainly still have faith in blockchain.

 

Story 2: State Farm turns to blockchain for subrogation

Extract, read more on Digital Insurance:

“State Farm is working on a blockchain application to assist in subrogation, leveraging open-source software and in partnership with at least one other insurer.

The company’s goal is to establish whether blockchain technology can make subrogation more efficient, in particular by preventing repetitive transfers of funds back and forth between insurers.”

Subrogation is a relatively new field for applications of InsurTech and State Farm is getting a first-mover advantage.

 

Story 3: Australia: National Transport Insurance Partners on Blockchain for Food Safety Trial

Extract, read more on Cointelegraph:

“Australia’s National Transport Insurance (NTI) has announced it will trial a blockchain system to improve supply chain integrity for beef exports abroad. The trial was reported by local transport industry magazine Fully Loaded ATN on Dec. 10.

NTI will reportedly be partnering with BeefLedger, an Australian “integrated provenance, blockchain security and payments platform,” which combines blockchain with Internet of Things (IoT) technology to bolster product credentials across the supply chain.”

Both NTI and BeefLedger are not well known in the InsurTech community. And the alleged application is not insurance-centered. However, it’s a trial involving trans-border business, origin tracing and liability monitoring. It can be enlightening for insurance, if it pans out.

2018 is a very bad year for blockchain enthusiasts, but on the bright side, we might have entered post-bubble era just like the early 2000s. With less hype, expectation and more commitment, blockchain can still find its appropriate values.

Image Source

Zarc Gin is an analyst for Warp Speed Fintech, a Fintech, especially InsurTech-focused Venture Capital based in China.

Check out our advisory services(how we pay for this free original research).

To schedule an hour of Zarc’s time for CHF380 please click here to send an email.