Of the 10 firms to accept component subdivision inwards Barclays’ 13-week fintech accelerator program inwards London, vii are at nowadays “exploring opportunities” amongst the bank, Finextra reports.
The Barclays Accelerator program, offered inwards partnership amongst the Techstars global networks, includes mentorship too opportunities for fiscal applied scientific discipline startups to access manufacture experts, influencers too potential clients. The program, which volition presently open equally good inwards New York, covers all areas of fintech, from cybersecurity too artificial tidings to wealth management, investment banking, large information too cryptocurrencies.
“At Barclays, we’re embracing the digital revolution, exploring innovations early too hence that nosotros tin aid to shape their evolution too co-create the futurity of fiscal services amongst these startups,” said Barclays’ principal pattern too digital officeholder Derek White. “We’re leading the manufacture amongst novel pioneering technologies, which volition live on paramount to helping us hit our ambition of becoming the ‘Go-To’ bank.”
Some of the fintech startups that signed deals amongst Barclays operate inwards the emerging sector of blockchain-based fintech. Banks are interested inwards blockchain applied scientific discipline for many reasons, only the principal reasons are the speed, depression toll too traceability of transactions.
A recent report co-authored past times Santander Innoventures, the venture uppercase arm of the Castilian bank, estimated that blockchain applied scientific discipline could cut back banks’ infrastructure costs past times upwardly to $20 billion a yr too argued that banks, fiscal institutions too fintech startups should locomote together to undertake a telephone commutation “reboot” of the nub processes, systems too infrastructure of the banking industry.
In March, speaking at the Morgan Stanley European Financials Conference inwards London, Barclays’ CEO Antony Jenkins warned that the “banking sector has non yet felt the ‘full disruptive force’ of applied scientific discipline – only it will.” He elaborated on the growing concern amid fiscal institutions that faster, cheaper payment systems volition kickoff to seduce their consumer too line of piece of occupation organisation customers inwards the coming years.
After the fintech accelerator program, Barclays has signed a bargain amongst Safello, a Swedish fellowship that participated inwards the fintech accelerator plan inwards London, to explore how the blockchain could live on used inwards traditional finance.
Marketing Magazine reports that a Barclays spokeswoman declined to bring out whatever especial at this stage, maxim that the banking concern too Safello are withal inwards confidential talks. But she added that the banking concern was making a “statement of intent” too said Barclays was by too large interested inwards exploring what Bitcoin technologies could create for fiscal services.
“Safello too Barclays volition live on working together on creating a novel payment platform that volition back upwardly bitcoins,” Safello CEO too co-founder Frank Schuil said, equally reported past times NewsBTC. Schuil added that the partnership would laid about amongst a exam of a payment organisation for allowing donations to live on sent to charities using bitcoin. CoinDesk reported that Schuil said the partnership amongst Safello could aid the banking concern laissez passer on an of import demographic.
Founded inwards 2013, Safello laid upwardly out to convey greater compliance too safety to the Bitcoin industry. According to the company’s website, Safello’s user-friendly approach has since attracted tens of thousands of customers throughout Europe amongst an slow trend to become into Bitcoin. Today, Safello supports 32 countries inwards Europe amongst at ane time payments too other payments such equally SEPA, Faster Payments, Bankgiro, Swish too International Wire, too processes tens of millions of SEK, Euro too GBP inwards too out of Bitcoin.
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