Curve have teamed with over 50 leading UK retailers, including Marks and Spencer, House of Fraser, Boots, Waterstones and more with the launch of Curve Rewards, rewarding Curve users with up to 5% back on their spending at participating retailers.

So one of my 2017 forecasts is coming true already: it is the year that blockchain moves out of proofs of concept and work and into the mainstream.  Two great examples broke out this week from skunk works to media.

The first I spotted was the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group using bitcoin for various means, one of which is to record digital gold with the Royal Mint.

Toward the end of 2016, ESMA published guidelines for transaction reporting under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and Regulation(MiFIR).

Deloitte, which works with 90 percent of the largest financial institutions across its audit, tax, consulting and advisory businesses globally, has announced it has opened a client-focused blockchain lab in New York’s Wall Street district.

Asia: where energy meets innovation

The Philippines and its neighbouring countries are among the most exciting ATM markets in the world. Banks are expanding their networks rapidly and are in a position to take advantage of the wide range of innovative solutions that today’s digital ecosystem has to offer. Low levels of banking penetration means that the opportunities to reach new customers are huge.

Local and international banks share ideas and perspectives

Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, has teamed up with Easy, the largest transport app solution in Latin America, available in 12 countries, to greatly improve the quality of mobile services in Brazil. More than 150,000 taxi drivers in Brazil will use Gemalto's CE Quality of Experience (QoE) solution to collect Key Performance Indicators from mobile devices as they travel throughout 24 major cities.

 Munnypot, a new service offering clear, affordable online financial advice to all is live from today.

Munnypot’s founders aim to help close Britain’s financial advice gap, which affects 16 million people¹, by making high quality advice available to everyone.

Munnypot is an online savings and investment service giving anyone straightforward automated financial advice in a language they can understand, at a fraction of the cost of most financial advisers. The service requires a minimum investment of £25 per month and/or a £250 single investment amount.