The top three FinTech categories I follow provided insights into three themes marking the evolution of markets and money: The high cost of U.S. payments, especially for low-income people. The development of new software tools that make it easier for retail and institutional investors to reach their financial goals. The ongoing drama unfolding as crypto-finance … [Read more...] about Three FinTech Themes in Payments, Wealth, and Crypto
ESGs: Investing with Impact
Many investors may never have heard the term ESG, but in terms of what it stands for, it’s exactly what an overwhelming number of them are looking for from their portfolios. It’s more than just the latest FinTech trend – in fact, it’s been around for decades, under a variety of names from Socially Responsible Investing in the 90s to a host of others, but behind all the jargon … [Read more...] about ESGs: Investing with Impact
Crypto Regulation: The Empire Strikes Back
The past few weeks in crypto news recall that title of the second movie from the original Star Wars trilogy. U.S. regulators are eyeing crypto regulation for protection and territory. As Bloomberg reports this week, "Crypto faces a reckoning in Washington as U.S. regulators prepare to clamp down on the rapidly growing industry." I won't belabor the point, but will provide a … [Read more...] about Crypto Regulation: The Empire Strikes Back
ESG and the Investment Narrative
ESG continues to be an increasingly important to investors. What it emphasizes can mean a lot of different things to different people, but at its core it’s about investment that looks beyond the bottom line to put money to work on causes near and dear to an investor’s heart. But finding good ESG data to meet increasingly sophisticated client needs is difficult – reporting … [Read more...] about ESG and the Investment Narrative
Remembering 9/11
Today is the 20th anniversary of that tragic event. It resulted in more social, political, and economic change than anything in most of our lifetimes until the pandemic. Including payments, as I wrote about in Is Covid-19 Payments’ 9/11 Moment? The article links to one of the lesser-known changes wrought by the attack. It took the 9/11 crisis to get U.S. federal … [Read more...] about Remembering 9/11
Eyeing Crypto
U.S. regulators are playing catch-up with crypto. The phrase appeared a number of times in this week's media reporting sparked by concerns over the lending of digital assets by cryptocurrency exchanges and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. The Sept. 11 Quartz newsletter, gives the most succinct overview and background of U.S. crypto regulation I found. Senior … [Read more...] about Eyeing Crypto