In terms of what’s in, here’s a list of a few which might be of interest (you can find the rest on the FCA’s website):
Billon
An e-money platform based on distributed ledger technology that facilitates the secure transfer and holding of funds using a phone-based app.
BitX
A cross-border money transfer service powered by digital currencies/blockchain technology.
Bud
An online platform and app that allows users to manage their financial products, with personalised insights, on a single dashboard. Bud’s marketplace introduces relevant services that users can interact with through application programming interface integrations.
Citizens Advice Bureau
A semi-automated advice tool that allows debt advisers and clients to compare the key features of available debt solutions.
Epiphyte
A payments service provider that aims to provide cross-border payments using blockchain technology.
Lloyds Banking Group
An approach that aims to improve the experience for branch customers, which is aligned with the online and over the phone experience.
Nextday Property
An internet-based property company that will provide an interest free loan for a guaranteed amount to customers if they are unable to sell their property within 90 days.
Oval
An app that helps users to build up savings by putting aside small amounts of money. These savings can then be used to pay off existing loans early. Oval will be working with Oakam, a consumer credit firm, and a number of their customers during the test period.
SETL
A smart-card enabled retail payment system based on their OpenCSD distributed ledger.
Tradle
An app and web-based service that creates personal or commercial identity and verifiable documents on a distributed ledger. In partnership with Aviva, it will provide a system for automated customer authentication.
Swave
A micro-savings app that provides an across-account view; enables a round-up service every time a user spends money and calculates an affordable savings amount based on the user’s spending behaviour.
So what do you know? No robos, no new investing services, one aggregator and one micro-payments system which look remarkably like Sammedia’s Moneyinfo and Moneybox in turn, and a bunch of blockchain stuff that – let’s be honest – none of us understands.
It’s also noticeable that there are some big names on the list. The Citizens Advice Bureau gets on with a debt advice solution that would never be allowed in Trumpland, and Lloyds and Aviva sneak on, although the latter is via Tradle, which actually looks really cool.
This is all by way of saying that, to my mind at least, the first wave of what we thought of as innovators in investing are now passing their shelf life. Platforms are a part of the landscape, but are clearly the next to be disrupted. Too many CRM and back office providers are looking to integrate up and down the technology world – for example, by providing client reporting suites, capital gains tax tools and the ability to fire trades through to a custodian or provider – for it to be just a fad.
