This past Saturday, new Open Banking rules that require big banks to share data with vetted third parties, including fintech upstarts, went into effect in the U.K.
Open Banking is more than anything else a reflection of the fact that the world is changing for big banks as regulators look to support fintech innovation.
Crowdfunding has fast become a popular way for entrepreneurs and cash-strapped startups to raise money, but increasingly crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter are being used by big brands as marketing platforms.
The fintech revolution might be a threat to major financial institutions, but it’s creating new ways for startups and growing businesses to raise capital and deepen their relationships with customers.
The latest example of that: BrewDog, Scotland’s largest independent brewery, is using a new crowdfunding law to raise money for its US expansion.
Mondo Bank has a long journey ahead of it as it seeks to become the Facebook or Google of banking as venture capitalist Eileen Burbidge envisions.
But it took the upstart bank just 96 seconds to raise £1m from 1,861 people through a crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube.
Thousands more would-be investors were left out, demonstrating that there’s significant demand on the part of everyday consumers to invest their own money into building the bank of the future.
Crowdsourcing and the sharing economy are driving a huge amount of change and disruption in business at the moment.
Uber and Airbnb are two of the most obvious examples, growing into billion dollar companies on the back of the crowd.
Last week, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) unveiled new rules that will make it possible for private companies to accept investments from everyday investors.
The UK’s innovation agency, NESTA, predicts the UK crowdfunding industry to raise £14bn in 2016. That’s a big number considering the global market was expected to reach $6bn in 2013, up from $2.7bn in 2012.
The growth is being driven by an increase in platforms, rapid adoption of crowdfunding as a finance source by businesses and growing consumer awareness.