Innovation comes in many forms. It makes the world around us look better, work faster and be more useful for companies, consumers and communities. Biometric technology has been around now for some time, but recent technological developments are driving significant adoption across new use cases, especially in banking & payments.

This year, we were lucky enough to have Sibos hosted in London. But, with all of the biggest names in banking and finance under one roof last week jostling for ‘air time’, what were the cut through messages and ideas that really hit home? Here are my five main takeaways I think are really set to make an impact on the future of finance.

Rationalisation and consolidation of functions 

The first biometric fingerprint credit card issued by a UK bank begins its three-month national trial today. NatWest is piloting cutting-edge, biometric fingerprint technology with 150 customers, in partnership with Mastercard and Gemalto, a Thales Company.

The bank has previously piloted biometric debit cards, but this will be the first-time credit cards have been issued. The biometric credit cards will offer contactless payments using fingerprint verification for transactions up to £100, an increase on the current £30 limit.

Digital consultancy, 4C, has released new research today revealing financial services companies are losing millions of pounds due to manual processing of agreements. The average loss is over £10 million a year, while three in ten (31%) finance companies lose £1 million or more a year.

London-based fintech firm Mode has opened a waiting list for its soon-to-be-launched crypto banking mobile app, designed to make cryptocurrencies, and all their untapped financial benefits, accessible to everyone at the touch of a button.

With its new product, Mode aims to bring down barriers and open up the world of cryptocurrencies to everyone, not just the tech-savvy and the traders. The Mode app will be an easy pathway for everyone else to get immediate access to this revolutionary new asset class.

Business coaching giant, ActionCOACH, has become the latest official partner of the Northern Powerhouse, joining forces to boost the profile of the North as a key place to do business in the UK. ActionCOACH, the world’s largest business coaching firm, currently works with business owners from all over the region, supporting entrepreneurship, business growth, whilst creating employment, wealth and economic vibrancy. The partnership provides the perfect opportunity to take things to the next level.

More than 60 delegates from the UK’s leading banks and other financial organisations have been told that the whole sector can work more closely together in order to stay one step ahead of fraudsters. That was one of the key messages shared at The 5th Annual Conference for Cheque Imaging & Remote Deposit Capture, which was held recently (Thursday 3^rd October) in London.

 Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR), a global Fintech leader and Sisense, a leading platform for analytics builders, announced the incorporation of Sisense’s embedded data analytics into Broadridge’s revenue and expense management application.

Worldline, European leader in the payments and transactional services industry, announces that it has gained one place in the Sustainalytics ranking and became the 4^th out of the 229 companies assessed in the Software and Services industry. For the second year in a row, Sustainalytics has recognised the company’s leadership in sustainability-related matters by giving an overall ESG score of 78/100.

National Bank of Canada (NBC), one of Canada’s six systemically important banks, has successfully implemented and is now live on Murex’s MX.3 Risk and Regulatory Suite. NBC is leveraging the full power of the MX.3 platform for capital markets risk management and to meet its regulatory responsibilities, including compliance with Basel 2.5.

The project was sparked by three key factors:

-          An aging legacy system that was no longer able to keep pace with growing risk and regulatory demands;