Snippings

xxx

“More recently, we have seen the rise of digital wealth managers or ‘robo-advisers’ which make investing more accessible to ordinary people. Dashboards need to be seen in this context, moving in the same direction as other financial services to bring these benefits to all and make planning for your retirement as easy as possible. Most of this is a matter of plumbing: sorting out the infrastructure between the different parts of the industry and moving away from manual and paper-based processes.”

From Grand ambitions for open pensions dashboards face a challenging reality..

xxx

xxx

We own a small business, revenue circa $10k per month. You know the type of business where cash-flow is king. We receive a number of small daily deposits direct from customers who pay online via credit card. If you ever wondered how those cash back and reward cards are funded, let me tell you, it’s from businesses like ours. We pay a small percentage when you pay with a regular card, but when you pay with a reward card, or cash back card, we pay sometimes as much as double in fees.

But you knew that right?

We do not price our services based on fees, and we are not punitive by charging back those fees to everyone, even people who don’t use reward cards.

From CHASE Backwards Banking – Life, Technology and more….

xxx

xxx

In 2018, Andrew Schober was digitally mugged for approximately $1 million worth of bitcoin. After several years of working with investigators, Schober says he’s confident he has located two young men in the United Kingdom responsible for using a clever piece of digital clipboard-stealing malware to siphon his crypto holdings. Schober is now suing each of their parents in a civil case that seeks to extract what their children would not return voluntarily.

From Man Robbed of 16 Bitcoin Sues Young Thieves’ Parents – Krebs on Security.

xxx

xxx

Making matters worse for traditional banks and credit unions, several fintech firms are expanding beyond offering only checking accounts, including payment services, lending, and small business accounts.

Loyalty at Risk:

As financial options increase, existing relationships are getting fractured, putting loyalty and the lifetime value of customers at risk.

And then there are the big tech firms. Google, PayPal, Apple and other tech giants are delving deeper into financial services. And these competitors dwarf even the biggest fintech neobanks.

From Banking Share of Wallet Threatened By Hidden Attrition.

xxx

 

Most traditional banks and credit unions might not even be aware of the fragmenting of relationships caused by non-traditional competition. This is because most institutions simply monitor lost accounts, as opposed to changes in activity, balances and other indicators of lost share of wallet.

 

Churn is a lagging indicator.

xxx

Most Salvadorans disagree with the government’s decision to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, with many unaware of how to use the digital currency and distrustful of the project, a poll by the Central American University (UCA) showed on Thursday.

At least 67.9% of 1,281 people surveyed said they disagree or strongly disagree with the use of bitcoin as a legal tender, said the poll by UCA, a Jesuit university based in El Salvador. Just over 32% of people said they agree on some level.

The study was issued days before the government is due to formalize the cryptocurrency as legal tender in El Salvador on Sept. 7, a plan announced by President Nayib Bukele in June.

UCA’s poll, carried out in August, also showed that 9 out of 10 people did not have a clear understanding of bitcoin, and 8 out of 10 said they had little or no confidence in its use.

From Majority of Salvadorans do not want bitcoin, poll shows | Reuters.

xxx

IRS pretending to be supplier of counterfeit goods from China

For instance, on Aug. 12, 2020, Joseph converted approximately $12,000 in cash to Bitcoin for an undercover agent who Joseph believed to be a seller of counterfeit “Gucci” products sourced from China.

From Fitchburg man charged with money laundering and illegal money transmission for converting cash to Bitcoin | Internal Revenue Service.

xxx

xxx

In a search warrant reviewed by Forbes, the undercover IRS agent went by the name of “Mr. Coins” on LocalCryptos.com, a platform exchanging cryptocurrency for dollars and other fiat currencies. Mr. Coins’ profile, still live at the time of publication, had 100% positive feedback after shifting up to $200,000 in digital money.

But his biggest success may have been to take down an alleged dark web drug dealer, tricking him into sending more than $180,000 in cash to the IRS in exchange for cryptocurrencies, according to the warrant.

From The IRS Goes Undercover As A Bitcoin Trader In $180,000 Sting.

xxx

xxx

FinTech can improve financial inclusion with technology that allows for affordable financial solutions. Anthony Thomas, Chairman of Momo, notes the aim of FinTech is to reach this underserved population with a wider range of services, because “access to payments provides convenience, but access to financial services like credit, investments, and insurance is what truly improves lives.”

From FinTech: A way to improve financial inclusion | South China Morning Post.

xxx

As Rick Huckstep pointed out on LinkedIn, the new law means that citizens’ data will be accessible to Chinese law enforcement but not to foreign law enforcements “without going through an onerous approvals process”.

The new law requires that all data, including user data, broadly defined as “critical information” is to be stored in China.

xxx

BlockFi, a financial services company dedicated to building a bridge between cryptocurrencies and traditional financial services products, today announced that Ellen-Blair Chube has joined its Board of Directors. Ms. Chube replaces the Honorable J. Christopher Giancarlo

From BlockFi Welcomes Ellen-Blair Chube to Board of Directors.

xxx