It’s Fintech Friday and we’ve got the latest payments and fintech news from key markets around the world. A new WorldPay report says UK e-commerce will be worth 
more than $268 billion by 2021, making it the third largest e-commerce market in the world. The decline of payments cards is not surprising given the high penetration of mobile payments technology and fintech companies in the UK.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon recently called bitcoin a “fraud“and buyers of the cryptocurrency “stupid.” However, that hasn’t stopped his firm from buying the global fintech payments company WePay, whose CEO Bill Clerico says he is “bullish on bitcoin.” Business and bitcoin do make strange bedfellows.
Japan may have embraced bitcoin but some analysts say it’s due to a lack of investment in fintech at this early stage of its development. IBM continues to utilize blockchain technology as it grows its global banking business built on blockchain and its IBM Watson artificial intelligence.
Practical E-commerce looks at fintech and how it has moved so quickly to challenge traditional financial businesses by focusing on the small business sector. Finally, robots are helping EquBot LLC trade ETFs with the help of IBM Watson’s huge data crunching capacity.
Cards the losers as mobile and e-commerce take off – Worldpay
In its annual Global Payments Report, Worldpay found that UK e-commerce will be worth £203bn (US$268bn) by 2021, putting the country behind only China and the USA in terms of the value of e-commerce transactions. This represents a sustained CAGR of 9.7 per cent in a market that already enjoys near-universal smartphone and internet penetration. Via finextra.com
JPMorgan Buys Bitcoin-Bullish WePay in ‘Rare’ Fintech Move
Unpredictable global banking giant JPMorgan has bought up payment network WePay in a “rare” fintech acquisition. The move is aimed at JPMorgan’s four million business customers which it wants to be able to accept payments “faster,” Bloomberg reports. The bank has made headlines several times over the past month after its CEO Jamie Dimon called Bitcoin a “fraud,” only to U-turn on his comments. WePay has hinted at a markedly different stance, CEO Bill Clerico saying he was “bullish on Bitcoin” as far back as 2014. Via Cointelegraph.com
IBM taps blockchain to ease cross-border payments
Starting early next year, IBM said it plans to invite numerous banks worldwide to join the network and help it expand. Blockchain ledgering currently may be thought of as a technology having more impact in the financial sector, though notably in retail, Walmart has worked with IBM and others to support use of blockchain for tracing accountability in complex food supply transaction for their international grocery efforts. To be clear, the use of blockchain in retail is still pretty limited. Via retaildive.com
Japan’s Embrace of Bitcoin Masks Lack of Fintech Investment
Japan’s Financial Services Agency allows Bitcoin to be used to pay for goods and services in the country as part of an effort to foster a growing Fintech industry despite a glaring lack of any significant investment. The country last month issued 11 licenses to companies enabling them to operate as legal cryptocurrency exchanges. Previously no license was needed, with some seeing the new measures as unnecessary compliance issues which hinder smaller startups from competing in this environment. Via bitcoinist.com
How Does Fintech Affect E-commerce?
Fintech has moved beyond banking to the insurance, real estate, and healthcare industries. It has affected loan-making and business fundraising. Crowdfunding, e-wallets, and mobile payments are examples of fintech applications. Crypto-currencies such as bitcoin are another example of fintech. Fintech companies are typically focused on SMBs and start-ups by providing credit and non-traditional financing arrangements. Online loan providers and equity crowdfunding platforms use fintech to provide funding to businesses often ignored by traditional lenders. Via practicalecommerce.com
New ETF has robots pick investments
The actively managed fund chooses stocks based on a set of rules created by EquBot LLC that uses artificial intelligence to analyze up to 10 years of data on thousands of stocks, including market sentiment, regulatory filings, news articles and social media posts. It ranks each company based on the forecasts that each will profit from current economic conditions and world events. Index-tracking ETFs have grown popular for letting investors trade entire markets as easily as a single stock, with no research necessary. Via Reuters
Fintech Friday Mobile
You can catch the second part of our fintech Friday mobile news here. And don’t forget to subscribe at the top of the page to get your own edition of PaymentsNEXT in your inbox weekday mornings.
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