When crypto-currencies really become widely used, what could it mean for central banks, mobile telecoms companies and reserve currencies?

Nobody knows how many people hold accounts with bitcoin and other crypto-currencies. However, the total is almost certainly no more than several tens of millions, or about 1% of the global population at most.

Financial IT interviews Stéphane Nouy, Managing Director of Moneythor at FinTech Connect Live 2017

ESMA recently issued guidance on the treatment of commodity derivatives traded on third-country venues in the context of the MiFID ll position limit regime. Prior to this is was not clear if commodity derivatives traded on a third-country exchange would be considered economically equivalent OTC (“EEOTC”) contracts and would consequently fall under the position limit regime.

The last year has been a significant 12 months in the short history of cyber security, with headline security breaches such as Uber and a scramble to come up with new approaches, particularly as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation comes into force next May.

2018 will see further developments in this dynamic field that will affect almost every organisation on the planet. Here are some predictions for the next 12 months:  

1. Innovation will help overcome the continuing cyber security talent drought

Financial IT catches up with Atul Saini CEO & CTO of Fiorano at Fintech Connect Live 2017

Many asset managers are wrestling with the decision on whether to keep the order management system (OMS) and execution management system (EMS) as two separate best-of-breed systems, or switch to a single unified platform known as the OEMS.

Buy-side firms have been demanding tighter integration between their order management and execution management systems for years.  Some are looking to consolidate their trading platforms to drive down costs. Others want a single platform to reduce the complexity of trading across multiple asset classes and geographies.

Kestra Private Wealth Services, LLC (Kestra PWS), a registered investment adviser subsidiary of Kestra Financial, Inc., supporting independent advisor teams nationwide, today announced the addition of Modernize Wealth to its advisory platform.

Based in Chandler, Ariz., the professionals at Modernize have been providing wealth management and retirement planning services for over 25 years. The advisory team at Modernize consists of John Hebert, Brandon Hebert, and Jeffrey Hebert.

The world’s relationship with money is changing.

It’s not just that one could go days in most of Scandinavia without seeing, touching or thinking about the local currency. Or that stock markets seem to be reaching new heights while GDPs remain fairly flat. It’s that the way we think about money—about its role in our lives and what it can do for us—is shifting. Radically.

Financial blockchain company Finom AG today announced it has become the first company in the world to increase its stock capital by such an unprecedented level of Ether (ETH) at 7,760 - the second most popular cryptocurrency. Finom's capital stock now comprises 2.5 million Swiss Francs (CHF).