Commenting on UK GDP data for April, Rupert Thompson, Chief Investment Officer at Kingswood, said: “UK GDP posted a large gain in April for the second month running, growing 2.3% m/m in line with expectations. This left GDP up a massive 27.6% up from its low point last April but still down 3.7% on its pre-pandemic level in February 2020. Today’s data confirm a rapid recovery in the UK is well underway and will fuel hopes that the economy will in a few months’ time have recovered all of its pandemic-related losses.”

Commenting on UK GDP and sterling’s potential to reach levels not seen since early 2018, Jesús Cabra Guisasola, Associate at Validus Risk Management, said: “The UK economy grew 2.3% in April (Vs 2.4% estimated), which confirms the British economy is firmly recovering after contracting the most since 1709 last year. There are no doubts that the UK has been one of the countries coming out in a better position from the pandemic after the success of its vaccination program.

“However, there are reasons to be cautious as coronavirus cases continue rising, with the delta variant spreading rapidly. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his government are now facing the dilemma of moving the country to the final stage of the reopening on the 21st of June. Moreover, the BoE will need to decide when the best moment is to start tightening its monetary policy as some members like Andy Haldane already voted to scale back the stimulus program during the last meeting.

“Nevertheless, there is optimism surrounding sterling in the coming months and any delay on the reopening would have a minimal impact on the recovery. Hence, we could see GBPUSD closer to the 1.45-mark, a level not seen since early 2018.”

Analysts of the European investment platform Robo.cash predict that in the next year or two a small number of new lending platforms will enter the P2P-market. Moreover, most of them will probably be part of financial groups and will offer more favorable conditions in order to compete with older players.

Robo.cash researchers have analyzed data from P2PMarketData.com and found that about 80% of the entire European consumer and business lending market belong to 10 P2P-platforms, which indicates a high market concentration. Such a situation is characterized by the fact that “large players” maintain their positions, and significant structural changes in the market are not possible. Notably, the platforms that occupy the main positions are mostly mixed, that is, they work both with business and with consumers. Thus, they create a competitive advantage by diversifying their supply.

However, the P2P-market is undergoing changes in the ratio of market shares from large players to smaller ones. The sphere of P2P investments is becoming more demanding on the quality of the offered products and therefore, more promising for the development of platforms with smaller shares. Interestingly, the number of platforms working within financial groups has increased. In the face of growing uncertainty, launching a platform as a part of the group might reduce the risks when entering a new market. 

If we assess the situation from a far-off perspective, we can see that the concentration of freshly launched platforms reached its peak in 2013-2016. During these years, about 60% of all currently existing platforms entered the European market. From 2017 to the present, the emergence of new platforms has slowed down. 

“Future development of the European P2P-lending market will be primarily driven by existing platforms rather than new players. Market concentration will continue to weaken gradually as the corona crisis made many P2P-platforms with small market shares competitive enough to be able to change their positions in the market” - comment the analysts at Robo.cash.

Commenting on UK GDP rising 2.3% in April, Douglas Grant, Director of Conister, part of AIM listed Manx Financial Group, said: “The monthly rise in UK GDP follows the recent positive trend of economic data, falling in line with what we’d expect as restrictions are lifted and the economy nears fully reopening. As the lifeblood of the UK economy, agile and resilient SMEs have no doubt contributed to this growth in output as they adapt to the post-pandemic economy. However, we must remember that the UK’s SME debt burden is ballooning, and we are in serious danger of seeing a relentless flow of weak zombie-like companies falling off a loan default cliff. It is imperative that we avoid compounding this cycle by focussing solely on supporting sectors and businesses that are strong and nimble enough to adapt to the new economy and therefore continue contributing to its growth.

"We believe the introduction of the recovery loan scheme (RLS) will certainly help. We are pleased to see the Government look beyond the initial triage phase and instead identify, prioritise and protect our most resilient business sectors that can meaningfully contribute to the new economy.

"At Conister we have delivered upon all of our initial objectives. We have lent our full CBILS and BBLS allocation and have applications which we hope can be accredited under the RLS. We will focus on lending this to robust business sectors that we believe will thrive in the future. Conister will continue to do all it can, working alongside the Government and traditional lenders, to support British businesses."

FinecoBank today announces that UK customers will have access to a new suite of funds by Wellington Management via its investing platform.

Wellington Management is one of the largest global asset managers offering investment solutions spanning across the global equity, fixed income, multi-asset and alternatives.

The latest addition to Fineco’s investment platform follows a string of recent fund announcements made this year including AXA IM, Candriam and Ninety One.

Paolo Di Grazia, Deputy General Manager, Fineco: “Following the recent news that more than 70% of Fineco clients hold active current accounts on brokerage, we are determined to continue expanding our investment offerings. We are very pleased to have partnered with Wellington Management and to offer our UK customers access to their selection of quality funds through our competitively priced investment platform.”

Matthew Knight, Head of UK distribution, Wellington Management: “At Wellington Management, we strive to combine the resources of a large, global asset manager with the boutique feel of an independent, privately held partnership. We look forward to working with Fineco to offer their UK clients our innovative investment solutions.”

About FinecoBank

Launched in 2017 in UK, FinecoBank, the multi-currency bank and one of the most important FinTech banks in Europe, has built an integrated business model proposing customers its One-Stop-Solution: it offers from a single account banking, trading and investment services through innovative transactional platforms developed with proprietary technologies. Fineco represents a new way of banking, a smart way to invest money.

Fineco’s mission is to simplify customers’ lives when dealing with financial services and has developed a very powerful yet user-friendly platform. Learn more about us on finecobank.co.uk.

Temenos, the banking software company, announces the winners of the 2021 Temenos Changemaker Awards for customers, presented at the annual flagship event, the Temenos Community Forum (TCF). The event brought together 50 industry speakers and 10,000 business leaders and technologists from around the world to reinvent and shape the future of banking. These awards, announced every year during TCF, recognize Temenos clients like Changemaker of the Year PayPal, for their contribution to their communities, innovation, and commitment to make banking better, together with Temenos. 

Max Chuard, Chief Executive Officer, Temenos, said: “Temenos serves over 3,000 financial institutions around the world – financial institutions who share our passion for making banking better for the 1.2 billion people that rely on our software for their daily banking needs. Our customers are changemakers – leaders, disruptors, pioneers, and risk-takers who believe in changing the landscape of banking by leveraging the power of technology. I am delighted to recognize PayPal, CWB, Varo Bank, Itaú, Bank Albilad and Virgin Money Australia, for their work with Temenos to make banking better, together.”

Changemaker Award for Banking Experience

SMEs make up 95% of businesses in many countries, and yet they are consistently underserved by banks around the world. CWB has pioneered with Temenos to break the boundaries of SME banking with Temenos Virtual COO. Combining Temenos’ innovation and CWB’s in-depth understanding of the needs of business owners, the two have collaborated to bring the first Explainable AI-driven solution for SMEs to market, putting business owners in control of their financial destiny. For collaborating with Temenos to unlock the value for both SMEs and the financial institutions that serve them, and cementing its position as the trusted advisor for business owners in Canada, Temenos recognizes CWB with the Changemaker Award for banking experience. 

Changemaker Award for Innovation

In 2020, Varo became the first consumer fintech in the US to be granted a national bank charter. Leveraging Temenos SaaS, the neobank provides innovative digital banking services aimed at 180 million Americans who are underserved by the traditional financial system. For challenging the status quo, for leveraging digital technology to lower its cost to serve to 25% of a traditional bank running legacy technology and passing that efficiency dividend through to its customers, and for making banking better for millions, Varo receives the Changemaker Award for Innovation.

Changemaker Award for Cloud Pioneer

Itaú Unibanco is a global tier 1 bank leveraging Temenos to power its banking operations on a single wealth management platform. In 2020, the bank announced that it will deploy Temenos front-to-back technology on the cloud  to deliver state-of-the-art omnichannel mobile and digital banking applications to international private banking clients. The move allows Itaú to reduce time to market, generate efficiency and make its business better prepared for the exponential evolution of technological cycles. For leveraging The Temenos Banking Cloud to launch a new, truly universal digital wealth platform, Itaú receives the Changemaker Award for Cloud Pioneer.

Changemaker Award for Customer Engagement

This award goes to Bank Albilad for achieving spectacular growth and becoming a leading bank in Saudi Arabia. Driven by their relentless focus on customer engagement, and the rapid launch of new products using Temenos Transact, the bank doubled its capital. Innovation is key to the success of Bank Albilad, leveraging channels, networks and expertise to deliver sustainable growth. Bank Albilad continues to focus on developing streamlined services, value-added offerings, personalized customer journeys and expert advice to make banking better.

Every year Temenos recognizes one person for their contribution to their banking industry and the Temenos community. This year the Visionary Leadership Award goes to Chris Sozou at Virgin Money Australia for his work on the market launch of the challenger bank.

Visionary Leadership Award

Virgin Money Australia was designed with a clear ambition to simplify banking and help customers achieve their financial goals. Chris Sozou GM Platforms, Partnerships & Analytics is an inspirational leader, and has partnered with Temenos in his work across implementation and go-live to ensure a smooth market launch. Chris brings a wealth of financial services experience that has been instrumental in the successful implementation of Virgin Money Australia’s digital bank. For his role as a true leader, Temenos recognizes Chris Sozou with the Visionary Leadership Award.