AI & Technology

Article for teckies: SEC approves sale of first consumer tokens to reward online activity

After cracking down on ICOs, the SEC just approved the first two RegA+ tokens that offer an alternative way for anyone to gain a financial stake in a company, even unaccredited investors.

Regulation A+ is an initial public offering (IPO) alternative geared towards startups in need of early funding. Regulation A+ funding was launched in 2012 under the “Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act.” While Regulation A+ has more lenient disclosure obligations than as with an IPO, it has two … [Read more...] about Article for teckies: SEC approves sale of first consumer tokens to reward online activity

Fintech startup offers automatic switching to best rates – to guard against ‘loyalty penalty’

The practice of penalising customers for being loyal is coming under major attack in the UK, where utilities, mobile phone companies and insurance firms have been particularly culpable. Financial services are not without fault either and last month a ‘super complaint’ was lodged by Citizens Advice to the Competition and Markets Authority which estimated savings customers had lost out on more than £800 million since September 2018.

The CMA claims that as with other sectors, … [Read more...] about Fintech startup offers automatic switching to best rates – to guard against ‘loyalty penalty’

PSD2 enabling new loyalty offerings

The pressure is on to find a loyalty proposition for payment cards that is better than the existing models and PSD2 is helping.

One company hoovering up retailers is startup Joko which has as investors Partech, Axeleo Capital, Lafayette Plug and Play, plus some financial services angels and which has just raised 1.6 million euros in a funding round. What it says it will do is develop a “simple and universal loyalty program integrated into credit or debit cards.”

The … [Read more...]

Plaid enters UK selling bank data to fintechs

Financial services have always lagged behind other sectors (particularly retail and airlines) in their ability to access and use customer data.

So a recent announcement that US-based fintech Plaid is entering the the UK market to offer to fintechs access to the consumer-account data held by established banks and other big players is likely to raise some eyebrows.

Plaid has built up a very comfortable business in the US selling software to customers who tend to be … [Read more...] about Plaid enters UK selling bank data to fintechs

Understanding emotions – moment by moment

Every decision we make is driven by emotion, but until now, measuring human emotion in real time has been impossible. However, according to new research from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM), it is now possible to successfully track, moment to moment how someone really feels.

Esther Eijlers, Dr Maarten Boksem and Professor Ale Smidts have developed a new method to measure and track emotions in the brain using electroencephalography (EEG).

Esther … [Read more...]

Banks turning to fintech for customer solutions

Banks partnering for the experience

Strengthening online security revealed to be a priority for almost two-thirds of banks

More than three-quarters (84%) of banks are considering new fintech partnerships in 2019 in a bid to improve customer experience and a real-time response.

Kyle Ferguson, CEO Fraedom

The research, commissioned by fintech provider Fraedom, also found that other factors inspiring banks to partner with fintechs are better cash … [Read more...] about Banks turning to fintech for customer solutions

Patent for tracking time

“By monetizing time with blockchain, DDSS creates a new type of value system to recognize true loyalty through immutable measurement.”

Dragonchain has received a USPTO patent for a blockchain loyalty system which tracks and monetises time.

The product described in the filing corresponds to the application filed in November 2018 entitled ‘Security Systems and Methods based on Cryptographic Utility Token Inventory Tenure‘. In this, Dragonchain proposed a new value … [Read more...] about Patent for tracking time

Have more sex, urges Jack Ma, to employees working 9 hour days

Monitoring possible effects of Alibaba's global ambition

Jack Ma, founder and chairman of online marketplace Alibaba, has been even more controversial than usual recently. At a group wedding celebration of 102 employee couples attended by 10,000 workers, he sparked criticism for advising his newlywed employees to have sex six times in six days.

Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba and probably the world's riches man

This is a play on his controversial company motto and work … [Read more...] about Have more sex, urges Jack Ma, to employees working 9 hour days

Yandex offers 10% cash back by cross selling services

Two Russian banks first partners

Yandex, which describes itself as a technology company that builds intelligent products and services powered by machine learning, has partnered with two of Russia’s leading banks on a payment card with a powerful reward offering.

Alfa-Bank and Tinkoff Bank will be the first to partner with Yandex, and Yandex Taxi will be the first service to be offered with a 10% cash back reward. There are 15 Yandex services, and these will be offered at … [Read more...] about Yandex offers 10% cash back by cross selling services

Google Pay linking to reward imports

Link to Gmail will pull in reward benefits

Google Pay is testing linking to Gmail to automatically import loyalty cards, tickets and reward points.

According to technologist Jane Manchun Wong the feature first came to light back in February. Wong, says she like to spend her free time reverse engineering popular apps such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Airbnb and Pinterest to discover unreleased features and security vulnerabilities.She searches for new featureshidden in … [Read more...] about Google Pay linking to reward imports