Back in 2017, the future of the fintech sector and its potential felt truly limitless. Bold claims were bandied about including the theory that the movement would soon supersede the traditional banking sector in terms of popularity. Nowadays, things don’t look as cut and dry. Personally, I’m still a supporter of the fintech sector and feel that there is still vast potential for it to create real change for businesses and consumers, but I’ll also admit that a lot of those early proclamations have now been shown to be quite wide of the mark.

Bybit, the third most visited cryptocurrency exchange in the world, launched its unified margin account for eligible users on July 25, 2022, with a full release to be expected in the near future.

Bybit's unified margin account offers a completely new derivatives trading structure. Users can use all assets under their account as collateral to trade USDT perpetual, USDC perpetual, and USDC options contracts.

Investment platform Further has today announced a new partnership with digital identity provider Yoti, which will streamline the customer onboarding process, making it faster and easier for people to invest in their chosen funds.
 
Under Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules, Further is required to provide appropriate identity evidence for investors when transactions take place. This is to prove that all investors seeking to invest in a fund via Further are who they say they are.
 

Policy Expert, the UK insurtech that provides home and motor insurance to over one million policyholders, has today announced the appointment, subject to regulatory approval, of Kevin Chidwick as Chief Financial Officer, harnessing over three decades of experience from major insurance brands including Admiral and Confused.com.

Tradeteq, a World Economic Forum member, has selected the XDC Network to launch TRADA Tokens, the first ever fully regulated, trade finance-backed fungible security tokens. The move is expected to deliver significant liquidity to the trade finance sector by securitizing a traditionally illiquid asset class on the XDC Network – a public, decentralized blockchain.  

Becoming data-driven is an aspiration for organizations across all industries, and the financial services sector is no different. With data at the heart of their operations, financial institutions can improve everything from regulatory risk and report to providing more personalized services to their customers. However, there is currently a significant barrier standing in the way – of accessing that data.  

The cost of data breaches globally is growing, with the average cost of a data breach in 2021 totalling a staggering $4.24 million, according to the latest IBM report - a 10% increase from the previous year and the largest single-year cost increase in the last seven years. Data leaks also likely accounted for a majority of breaches with the most common attack vector being compromised credentials.

The rapid advancement of technology has made our lives easier in countless ways. Unfortunately, with these advances has come an increase in cybercrime as online fraudsters adapt their strategies to reach new victims.

In the past, criminals used manual processes to scam victims by mailing letters, sending faxes, and making phone calls, but modern tech has put a new spin on old fraud schemes, and today’s fraudsters are using email, messaging platforms and social media to reach targets inexpensively and easily.

OTC Markets Group Inc., operator of regulated markets for 12,000 U.S. and international securities, announced that Invest Securities, a multi-expert investment services provider, has been designated as an OTCQX sponsor.

UK-based multinational banking giant Barclays has reportedly bought into crypto custody firm Copper’s latest raise, concluding long-standing talks with investors in the round which had been delayed since November.