Digital Bank – Monzo & Revolut
In recent times several changes have taken place in the financial service segment. Individuals seem to depend more and more on technology which has been progressing by leaps and bound with the passage of time. Technology is being utilized in making decisions with regard to financial services. The method of spending and earning funds has taken a drastic change in the present scenario. With the entry of digital technology, every bank seems to consist of an app to support the payment and handling of the accounts.The latest digital banks like Monzo and Revolut are said to be quite effective in getting an overview of one’s finance details without the need of waiting in queue for the same. According to Hugo Cornejo, head of design for Monzo commented that there are one million customers in the UK with current accounts. One spends money in a store and the customer receives a notification- it’s not rocket science’. Presently several traditional banks tend to depend on legacy technology infrastructure in order to assist the prevailing bank accounts. However the same is undergoing a change at a slow pace.
Digital Companies – Financial Services
Though the individual may be well acquainted with monetary issues, financial documents and terminology can seem to get quite complicating. All the hard work for the customers is automatically taken care of by startups such as Revolut by rounding up purchased to the nearest pound and saving through its built-in feature. Chad West, CMO of Revolut, commented that `it gives convenience to the customer which is something you don’t really see from traditional banks.
Digital companies also tend to move financial services into a convenient space. Revolut provides travel together with phone insurance and commission-free trading. Monzo, on the other hand, classifies in assisting the individual by helping them to maintain a budget and also give an insight into the quick review of the major spending details.
Challenger Banks
People’s trust in financial service had been shaken during the financial crisis years back. This has been one of the motives why challenger banks had to step in and take over several of the customers. Imran Gulamhuseinwala, head of Open Banking LTD, which is a government, backed non-profit entity, facilitates data sharing between the incumbent banks for the sake of the customers. He further added that they were building trust and security for any consumer and open banking is opting in and not opt-out. For the financial services, these are of more significance and challenger banks have been catering in providing their customers with total control together with more independence than incumbents.
Cryptocurrencies
It would be very negligent in estimating the future of finance without mentioning cryptocurrencies. Earlier this year, being an unconventional topic a few years ago, they had come into mainstream financial services.Though the publicity had died down and its valuation had dipped, there is plenty of knowledge to be gained with regards to business. This would relate to how the new currencies have been utilized and the prospect of enhancing it further. Cryptocurrencies can be a possibility in digitizing prevailing arrangements in the development of the economies mainly deprived as strong as a traditional financial service infrastructure.
CEO Elizabeth Rosiello, of Bitpesa, a blockchain-based start-up which tends to make the transfer of currency between frontiers markets in Africans countries and around the globe much easier stated that they have been utilizing a disruptive model with a layer of technology together with some start-up grit to shape on this informal economy. She added that they have digitized a model that was already in existence.
Blockchain Utilised- Not Best Model
Cathy Mulligan, the head of the Imperial College Centre for Cryptocurrency Research, in the meantime commented that though blockchain could be utilised, it would not be the best model. At times, developing and implementing blockchain could be considerably costly than merely utilising a database.The Central at Imperial is in its initial stage though it has been functioning for several years and is operative with numerous commercial as well as administrative partners in helping elucidating cryptocurrencies. A professor at the London School of Economics, who has been specializing in the Chinese economy, Keyu Jin, stated that one of the reasons for success on Chinese business was that they had not been burdened by tradition. She commented that `renovating something is more difficult than starting from scratch.
If a company does not have the burden of tradition, it is easier for them to update. When the capability for the customers to purchase cryptocurrency was launched by Revolut, the same was possible with a click of a button, a thing which the other financial institutes were not capable of doing. Chad West, CMO at Revolut stated that `it’s not good enough that banks are reactive. The finance world should be seen as innovators, along the lines of what Amazon and Tesla were doing.
Insight on the following Startups-
Coconut was the winner of Wired Smarter Money Start-up. The app had been designed for freelancers and independent workers. Its purpose was in elucidating the complexities of accounting and assisting people in receiving their payment in time. Some of it is dependent on automation like a real-time forecasts of the prospects of what would be the tax bill considering the prevailing cash flow.It notifies customers on the expenses and reminders to take images of their receipts. Present Coconut provides only a free basic model though plans to launch a `Grow’ mode at a price of £4.95 per month. This enables users to manage VAT, send invoices and share payments together with histories on spending with an accountant, in-app.
Canopy
Canopy tends to function as a platform linking property-owners with people leasing their property. It also assists tenants in building a credit history. Instead of going through an expensive process over and over again, tenants follow a process of RentPassport which is shared with the property owners according to their needs.Fluidlyutilises
Fluidlyutilises past data together with machine learning processes. It also has the capability of estimating the future cash flow for small businesses and freelancing people. Moreover, it can also assist with calculating and follow up on late accounts statements.Flux
Flux has the tendency of an option to `liberate receipt data’. It is associated with banks such as Barclays and Monzo wherein one can automatically trace the complete purchase history via one’s bank account.Oval Money app is for consumers who do have much insight on financial procedures and assists them in tracking their savings and expenses mechanically
