Snippings

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One is information: new tools to collect and analyse data on customers, for example for determining creditworthiness. Another is communication: new approaches to customer relationships and the distribution of financial products

From What is Really New in Fintech – IMF Blog:

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Fintech resolves the dilemma by tapping various nonfinancial data: the type of browser and hardware used to access the internet, the history of online searches and purchases. Recent research documents that, once powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, these alternative data sources are often superior than traditional credit assessment methods, and can advance financial inclusion, by, for example, enabling more credit to informal workers and households and firms in rural areas.

From What is Really New in Fintech – IMF Blog:

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Platforms like Amazon, Facebook or Alibaba incorporate more and more financial services into their ecosystems, enabling the rise of new specialized providers that compete with banks in payments, asset management, and financial information provision.

From What is Really New in Fintech – IMF Blog:

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According to data from the International Data Corporation (per MarketWatch), global gaming revenue is expected to be around $197.7 billion by the end of the year.

From Games Are Now Making More Than Movies And Sports Combined – GameSpot:

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We deliver finance to small businesses – simply and clearly. Our customers use us to access the funds they need in advance and pay us when they get paid* – with payments taken via an agreed % of their customers’ credit and debit card takings.

From Business Cash Advance | £2.5k to £300k | Liberis Finance:

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Payments are connected to the transactions of a firm

From Liberis Lands $93 Million For SME Financing | PYMNTS.com:

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Only 5% of bitcoin sent to unhosted wallets came from risky services or an illicit source.

From Chainalysis Blog | What You Need to Know About Treasury’s 72-page NPRM for Transactions with Unhosted Wallets and Certain Foreign Jurisdictions:

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Three points stand out. First, there are a few countries that both trade heavily with China and make intensive use of the RMB. Second, most observations are below the 45-degree line: for most countries RMB is underused relative to China trade. Third, many countries are clustered at zero RMB usage.

From Jump-starting an international currency – Bank Underground:

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As I said in my book, economic theory does not explain why banks provide payment services at scale. Here’s what Charles Calomiris, Chief Economist and Senior Deputy Comptroller for Economics, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said about this at the CATO Institute conference.

“it requires some rather complicated and specialized economic modeling assumptions to explain why banks sometimes choose to bundle lending and payments services within one intermediary. Those assumptions do not always hold, which explains why bundling is not always a good idea.”

Perhaps digital currency is about more than payments, perhaps it’s an opportunity to rethink the system. And you don’t have to be a Bitcoin cult fanatic to believe this might be a good idea.

 

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Platforms like Amazon, Facebook or Alibaba incorporate more and more financial services into their ecosystems, enabling the rise of new specialized providers that compete with banks in payments, asset management, and financial information provision.

From What is Really New in Fintech – IMF Blog:

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Indeed, as The Economist magazine noted recently, the real risk of CBDCs to the financial system is they will ask the question as to whether banks need to exist at all.

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The UK is not alone in seeing a spike in fraud. More than 10,000 cases of potential fraud related to the pandemic are being investigated in Germany. While in the US, the agency that manages Covid-related loans found “strong indicators of widespread potential fraud”.

From ‘A giant bonfire of taxpayers’ money’: fraud and the UK pandemic loan scheme | Financial Times:

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The first president of the FRBNY, Benjamin Strong, had an explicit goal of making the dollar an international currency. He succeeded, with the dollar widely used by the 1920s and becoming the dominant currency by the end of World War II. Through many policies, he helped create a liquid secondary market in New York for dollar-denominated trade acceptances, the credits used to fund international trade.

From Jump-starting an international currency – Bank Underground:

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Lab registry

Lab app

Travel app

 

 

Technically, the app is being built in accordance with Self-Sovereign Identity* (SSI) principles

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IATA’s One ID initiative was endorsed by a resolution at its 75th Annual General Meeting in 2019 to securely facilitate travel processes with a single identity token. It is the base for the IATA Contactless Travel App for identity verification that will also manage the test and vaccination certificates.

From IAG working with IATA on its new Travel Pass – Business Traveller:

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This creates a Type 1 digital travel credential (a verified digital identify**) in line with ICAO standards.

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The IATA Travel Pass is scheduled for release early in the first quarter of 2021 for Android and for iPhone. For iPhone it will use the “Secure Enclave” features of Apple devices and a similar security encryption technology for Android.

From IATA unveils key design elements of its digital health pass:

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IATA has also stated that no central database or data repository is storing the information, ensuring the highest standards for data privacy. IATA Travel Pass is also built on the highest standards of data protection laws, including General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR).

The second priority is using global standards recognised by governments to ensure verified identity and test/vaccine information.

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Under the International Health Regulations, this is managed by the “yellow card” or International Certificate of Vaccination and Prophylaxis. The World Health Organization (WHO) is developing digital standards that will make these vastly more secure and will dramatically reduce fraud. When ready, the IATA Travel Pass will be able to accommodate such new global standards.

 

From IATA – IATA Unveils Key Design Elements of IATA Travel Pass:

 

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Media update IAG Pilot 1Q21

 

Alexandre de Juniac

IATA’s Director General and CEO

Nick Careen