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

Generative AI cannot replace branch banking – Niamh’s hot take of the month

Níamh Curran Senior Reporter at Finextra

Generative AI cannot replace branch banking – Niamh’s hot take of the month

NatWest announced in November 2023 that they were integrating generative AI into their chatbot tool Cora, which saw the launch of Cora+. Generative AI has been one of the hottest topics throughout 2023, and that is only likely to continue into 2024 as companies like OpenAI expand their products and capabilities. The technology offers a lot of ...

13 December 2023 /inclusion /ai

OpenAI: What just happened to the CEO Sam Altman?

Níamh Curran Senior Reporter at Finextra

OpenAI: What just happened to the CEO Sam Altman?

Sam Altman is being reinstated as the CEO of OpenAI after unexpectedly being removed from the position by the board last Friday. OpenAI is responsible for the creation of ChatGPT and recently announced a new product which will allow companies to create custom versions of AI chatbots, which the company has called GPTs, without any coding. However, ...

23 November 2023 /startups /ai

What is a DDoS attack and what impact do they have on financial services?

Níamh Curran Senior Reporter at Finextra

What is a DDoS attack and what impact do they have on financial services?

ChatGPT saw an outage last week which has been blamed on a Distributed Denial-of-Services (DDoS) attack. DDoS attacks are nothing new within the financial cybersecurity world, the first is believed to have occurred in 1999, commonly known as the Mafiaboy attack against the University of Minnesota, but there were similar instances that predate this....

16 November 2023 /crime

Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act: What banks need to know

Níamh Curran Senior Reporter at Finextra

Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act: What banks need to know

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA) received royal assent last week and affects the way financial institutions manage economic crime. The bill is part of the UK Government’s wider economic crime plan, which was detailed earlier this year by MP Suella Braverman. The bill aims to limit the “dirty” money coming into the UK marke...

02 November 2023 /regulation

Deepfake fraud: the rising threat in financial crime

Níamh Curran Senior Reporter at Finextra

Deepfake fraud: the rising threat in financial crime

As it’s Halloween, spooky season is the perfect time to highlight one of the scariest, and arguably creepiest growing developments in financial crime, the deepfake. Deepfakes have dominated national headlines for a while now, often for especially unsavoury reasons, and for their political usage. They have now become a tangible issue within the fi...

31 October 2023 /crime /ai

Future of Fintech in Latin America 2023: Data penetration has room for improvement

Níamh Curran Senior Reporter at Finextra

Future of Fintech in Latin America 2023: Data penetration has room for improvement

This is an excerpt from The Future of Fintech in Latin America 2023 report. Latin American is one of the biggest growth markets for fintech. According to the IMF, digital payments across Latin America grew from $89 billion in 2017 to $215 billion in 2021; the number of digital payment services exceeded 300 million in 2021; and alternative finance ...

19 October 2023 /devops

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

Why do we need quantum-resistant encryption?

Níamh Curran Senior Reporter at Finextra

Why do we need quantum-resistant encryption?

This next edition of our Quantum Series, which highlights the key issues in the developing world of quantum computing, focuses in on quantum-proof encryption. Earlier this year, the White House released a memorandum which laid out a goal for government departments to adopt quantum-resistant encryption to mitigate risks associated with the technol...

29 September 2023 /devops

How to balance surging cyber threats with a tsunami of compliance costs

Níamh Curran Senior Reporter at Finextra

How to balance surging cyber threats with a tsunami of compliance costs

Every year, consumers and businesses alike suffer significant losses as a result of fraud and cybercrime, a large amount of this stemming from criminals taking advantage of an increasingly digital world. This is an extract from The Future of the Global Financial Ecosystem 2024 report, in association with Sibos. Digital fraud rose dramatically in 2...

19 September 2023 /Sibos

Níamh Curran Senior Reporter at Finextra

Fintok: Should your financial brand be on TikTok?

TikTok is projected to have over 955 million active users by 2025. It is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, especially with younger demographics. However, TikTok is often perceived to be quite an unserious platform, mostly used for a few seconds of dancing or comedy, but this is not the case. TikTok is an infective app....

15 September 2023 /retail

Future of Fintech in the Middle East 2023: Access to increased data can enhance customer experience

Níamh Curran Senior Reporter at Finextra

Future of Fintech in the Middle East 2023: Access to increased data can enhance customer experience

This is an excerpt from The Future of Fintech in the Middle East 2023 report. Data plays an important role for the growth of fintech in any region. It can help financial services participants understand their customers’ needs and is used to protect users from bad actors. Access to better data can also improve customer interactions because of incre...

29 August 2023 /devops

Future of Fintech in Africa 2023: Data penetration could be improved with better infrastructure

Níamh Curran Senior Reporter at Finextra

Future of Fintech in Africa 2023: Data penetration could be improved with better infrastructure

This is an excerpt from The Future of Fintech in Africa 2023 report. Africa is maturing as a fintech market. McKinsey predicts that the financial services market in Africa could grow at 10% per annum through 2025 reaching $230 billion in revenues, excluding South Africa. The diagram shows that African fintech growth exceeds that of the global benc...

14 August 2023 /devops

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