Time to “Prove It”; Impact Investors in Amsterdam Challenged to Speak with their Portfolios
Key Takeaway: Panelists at the Global Impact Investing Network Investor Forum in Amsterdam challenge investors to change portfolios to reflect urgent global needs
Green Bonds, Gaining Traction in U.S. as Acceptance Spreads, May Hit Records in 2019
Key Takeaway: Green bond issuance hit a record $66.6 billion in the second quarter, and global issuance seems headed toward a historic high this year of $200 billion or more. The trend...
Amid Noise, Fintech Emerged as Bright Spot at U.N. General Assembly
Beyond gloomy headlines about a scolding 16-year old activist to leaders acknowledging failure to make meaningful progress on climate change, you may have missed the fintech report published during the United Nations General Assembly last month.
The report, titled...
Green Accounting: Financial Statements May Get New Life as Environmental-Sustainability Tool
The latest tool in the global push toward environmental sustainability may be an enhanced financial statement.
Researchers at Harvard Business School suggest that business leaders need a quantifiable way to assess the impact that their companies have on the...
Britain’s Revolut Digital Bank Expanding Worldwide in Deal With Visa
Revolut, the British digital bank shaking up the industry, is going global in a big way: in a deal with payments giant Visa Inc., it’s tripling its total employees and expanding to 24 new markets.
Revolut said the agreement,...
Stablecoin Companies Prep for Mainstream as Big Banks, Facebook Launch Digital Currencies
Key Takeaway: As big banks like Wells Fargo, JPMorgan offer stablecoin cryptocurrencies, and Facebook and Walmart reportedly plan theirs, smaller providers are plotting how to stand out in the rapidly evolving sector.
U.S. Finance Intelligence Chief Warns That ‘Nothing Is Unhackable’
Hackers trying to take control of bank and credit card accounts are on the rise, and are now among the biggest challenges for U.S. financial authorities, a top U.S. Treasury Department official said recently.
So-called account takeovers and are...
King Gold, Relied Upon by Asia’s Unbanked, May Get Challenge from Bitcoin
Gold is still king in some less developed parts of the Asia-Pacific region. Khmers, Malaysians, Thais and others still use it to bypass financial institutions that have been tainted by widespread banking malpractice.
Maybe not for long, as bitcoin...
Can These Fintech Startups Help Millennials Left Behind By Traditional Banks?
Millennials without credit scores, freelancers and low-income people with no experience in handling finances aren’t the usual groups that the banking industry targets. But three fintech startups believe they can cater to these underserved customers in ways that have a broad social...
London Moves to Top Spot in Fintech Deals, But San Fran Still Hauls in Most Money
Key Takeaway: It should come as little surprise that the City of London is a magnet for fintech, though it may be challenging for the capital to repeat this feat next year,...
Impact Investing Has Opportunity, Research Deficit, Study Says; Others Say Concerns Overblown
The premise of impact investing is simple: Investors deploy capital in ways that return a profit, and simultaneously make the world a healthier place. Put that way, it’s hard to see why impact investing isn’t part of everyone’s portfolio.
Warren Demands Private Equity Firms Detail For-Profit College Investments
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren is demanding private equity firms including KKR & Co. and Apollo Global turn over details of their investments in colleges, as P.E. firms find themselves increasingly in Congress’s crosshairs.
Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat running for...
Germany Ramps Up Libra Opposition as Banks Develop Competing “Stablecoins”
In the latest round of setbacks for Facebook’s planned Libra cryptocurrency, Germany ramped up its rhetoric against the electronic money today and Wells Fargo announced a blockchain plan that may be a competitor.
In Germany, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz...
SOCAP19 Celebrates the Power of “Valuable Strangers” in Impact Investing
This content was produced in partnership with SOCAP.
Addressing the world’s greatest challenges requires collaboration, but many conferences in the impact investing arena tend to silo conversations to specific types of investors or operators.
Social Capital...
Jack Ma Not Going Quietly After Leaving Alibaba Leadership
Jack Ma’s last day as Alibaba’s top executive was on Tuesday, but he’s hardly going quietly into the night. Nor is Ma relinquishing control of the company he started 20 years ago in an apartment and built into China’s largest.
U.K.’s Revolut Halts Effort to Expand Digital Bank into Luxembourg
British digital bank Revolut withdrew its application for an e-banking license in Luxembourg, after a member of the country’s parliament questioned whether the company was complying with fintech regulations.
The Telegraph reported that Laurent Mosar, an MP for the...
Accion’s Venture Lab Announces $33 Million Fund to Expand Inclusive Fintech Investment
Kenyan shopkeepers, Chinese farmers and U.S. migrant workers are all vital parts of the global economy. The formal economy, though, has mostly left them behind.
According to the most recent edition of the World Bank’s Global Findex, 1.7 billion...
Federal Monopoly in Student Debt Holds Back Private Investors
The U.S. government’s monopoly on student loans may be one reason why startups innovating in the space haven’t seen a higher level of investment.
An estimated 45 million Americans hold educational debt, and many of them struggle to repay...
ThoughtSpot, Aiming for More Fact-Driven World, Raises Funds and Boosts Headcount
Seven years ago, a Googler and a software platform founder started a company called ThoughtSpot, aiming to disrupt the way companies use data. Since then, it’s grown to about 500 people, increasing by 60% since last year.
ThoughtSpot provides...
UBS Raises $225 Million for KKR Fund, As Institutions Add to Social Impact Investments
UBS raised $225 million from private clients for KKR’s Global Impact fund, the latest example of major financial institutions responding to demand for more social impact investing opportunities.
The UBS fundraising is part of its five-year plan to commit...
Telegram’s GRAM Cryptocurrency Debut Will Raise User Interest and Regulator Scrutiny
Move over Libra: Messenger app Telegram may be set to steal Facebook’s thunder with the debut of its own long-awaited cryptocurrency by the end of October.
The launch of the coin, dubbed GRAM, shows the ambitions of its libertarian,...
Global Tax Chiefs Increase Crypto Enforcement Efforts to Nail Tax Cheats
In a sure sign that cryptocurrency is close to becoming mainstream, governments around the world are stepping up efforts to make sure they get their cut of the action.The tax enforcement agencies of the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and the Netherlands --...
Kiva’s Blockchain Technology Brings Financial Services to Sierra Leone’s Unbanked
Microloan nonprofit Kiva has teamed with the government of Sierra Leone to help bring financial services to the 80% of the country’s residents who don’t have access to traditional banks.Using Kiva’s biometric blockchain technology, an individual’s thumbprint is linked to a central...
How Millennials’ Values Are Already Impacting Investing Around the World
This content is brought to you in partnership with Savvy Investor
Two significant shifts are reshaping the private funds and investment industry today. Millennials and Generation Z consumers, their values and how these values impact the way they approach...
U.S. Fears Terrorist Bitcoin Misuse While Arab Americans Decry Discrimination
While the U.S. Treasury Department expressed concern that terrorist financiers could misuse digital currencies, including Libra and Bitcoin, anti-discrimination advocates say that crypto currencies are not funding terrorist activities, but rather have been adopted to bypass discriminatory practices by financial institutions.
UBS ETF Focused on ESG Investing Sets Record in Europe
A UBS exchange-traded fund focused on ESG investing became the first in Europe to exceed €1 billion ($1.1 billion) in assets, showing that socially responsible financial strategies are growing in popularity.The UBS ETF (LU) MSCI World Socially Responsible UCITS ETF fund tracks...
ESG Investing Is Not Just for Millennials: New Study Shows Boomers, Gen Xers Catching Up
While millennials may be the generation most associated with social impact investing, other groups are showing strong interest, according to a new study from Allianz Life Insurance.
Sure, it’s still millennials who are participating in ESG investing at a...
Einstein’s Banker Ladenburg Backs Millennial ESG Tool
The bank that once took deposits from Albert Einstein is keeping its offerings fresh by investing in a two-year old firm pitching social impact investments to millennials.
Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services, whose lineage stretches back 143 years, is giving...
Fingerprints, Passwords Left Exposed Online By Flaw In Company Database
A trove of fingerprints, passwords and facial recognition data, supposedly protected, were found exposed and accessible online because the database of a company that provides secure access to warehouses and offices was flawed.
The exposed data included fingerprints belonging...
U.K. Casts Eye on Future As it Eyes Blockchain for Welfare Payments
With an eye toward boosting security and efficiency, as well as toward managing an aging population, U.K. officials are considering Blockchain technology for social security and welfare payments.
They also want to make sure the checks get there on...
- Advertisement -