Finextra Research: Latest fintech news, analysis, interviews, features and opinion by industry experts

How AI can address climate change and nature-related risk in fintech

This is an excerpt from 'The Future of ESGTech 2024' report. As the world plummets further into climate disaster and ecological crisis, every organisation has an obligation to actively work towards becoming more a sustainable and ethical institution. Within the financial services sector, corporations have an influence on how sustainability is being...

12 October 2023 /sustainable

Sustainability results, not publicity, matter most – Standard Chartered exec

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

Sustainability results, not publicity, matter most – Standard Chartered exec

Michael Spiegel is Standard Chartered Bank’s global head of transaction banking. He’s deeply involved in the London-based institution’s sustainability efforts and its customer-facing sustainable finance program development and management. In an interview during the 2023 SIBOS global conference in Toronto, the Singapore-based Spiegel shared his tho...

11 October 2023 /Sibos

How can we accelerate the delivery of clean and affordable energy?

Níamh Curran Senior Reporter at Finextra

How can we accelerate the delivery of clean and affordable energy?

This is an excerpt from 'The Future of ESGTech 2024' report. Our global economy has been “driven and shaped by oil, gas, and coal” for over 100 years. Fossil fuels powered the industrial revolution and formed the global financial ecosystem into what it is, but this has to change. Over 80% of the world's energy consumption comes from fossil fuels, w...

11 October 2023 /sustainable

Environmental frameworks shaping a decade of change for sustainable finance

Paige McNamee Senior Reporter at Finextra

Environmental frameworks shaping a decade of change for sustainable finance

This is an excerpt from 'The Future of ESGTech 2024' report. Over the last decade, there has been a growing awareness of the financial risks posed by environmental factors. This led to the creation of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) in 2015 and the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) in 2021. T...

10 October 2023 /sustainable

Why climate transition planning is gaining attention from smaller banks and clients

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

Why climate transition planning is gaining attention from smaller banks and clients

Amid lots of talk about everything big corporations and their financial partners are doing (or not doing) to confront climate change challenges, it’s important to dissect and explore the facts and fables involved. One way to do this is by comparing bank and corporate marketing claims against their actual environmental and social accomplishments - ...

10 October 2023 /sustainable

World Mental Health Day: Financial services are a universal human right

Madhvi Mavadiya Head of Content at Finextra

World Mental Health Day: Financial services are a universal human right

This year, the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH), the founder of World Mental Health Day, is recognising its 75th anniversary and this year’s official theme, ‘Mental Health is a Universal Human Right.’ Poor mental health can have a substantial impact on how an individual manages their money, and as the charity Mind explains, worrying abou...

09 October 2023 /startups

Why this tech CMO wants accountability for sustainability

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

Why this tech CMO wants accountability for sustainability

What do you get when you cross a determined elementary school kid in Greece with inspiration to grow her mind - provided by a curmudgeonly Harvard law professor strongly challenging his students on TV? Eventually, a leader in the sustainability community, as chief marketing officer of Temenos. In 2021, the Switzerland-based firm received “Bronze Cl...

06 October 2023 /Sibos

75% of UK workers have an unhealthy relationship with work

Aoibhinn Mc Bride Content Editor at Jobbio

75% of UK workers have an unhealthy relationship with work

There is no disputing that the post-pandemic popularity of remote working options has helped ease the work-life balance conundrum, but it has not solved it entirely. In fact, the vast majority (75%) of UK workers still have an unhealthy relationship with work and the issue is so persistent, 83% would be willing to take a pay cut to guarantee a hap...

06 October 2023 /people

Why top banks must become sustainability leaders not laggards

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

Why top banks must become sustainability leaders not laggards

Sustainable and Finance are not supposed to be disconnected concepts for most banks and their corporate customers these days. However, financial institutions have had varying levels of success putting the two words together and in action in relationships and lending practices with their business clients. This is important, because, as stated in a ...

05 October 2023 /sustainable

Data protection watchdog seeks constraints on EU open finance plans

Andreas Carney Partner at Pinsent Masons

Data protection watchdog seeks constraints on EU open finance plans

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has urged EU law makers to adopt tighter restrictions on the type of ‘customer data’ that is proposed to come within new data sharing schemes for the financial services sector, as well as how such data can be accessed. The EDPS is an independent European supervisory authority mandated to monitor and e...

05 October 2023 /regulation

How to solve the needs of the unbanked and underbanked

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

How to solve the needs of the unbanked and underbanked

With all the talk about big deals, powerful partnerships, and other trending topics in the world of international banking, it was a change to see some emphasis at the SIBOS 2023 conference on inclusive financial services. In a three-part forum, this ‘Spotlight’ session called ‘Empowerment for the financially excluded’ included presentations by exec...

04 October 2023 /Sibos

ISO 20022’s top benefits and challenges for corporate customers

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

ISO 20022’s top benefits and challenges for corporate customers

ISO20022 was a hot topic throughout the SIBOS 2023 global conference. We circled back with a key speaker, David Rego, global head of payments for Standard Chartered Bank, from one of the several panel sessions on the subject during the week’s events. Asking for a roundup of the top benefits - and challenges - he believes would come to corporate cas...

03 October 2023 /Sibos

Long reads