InsureTech Rules

FINTECH ARTICLES OF THE WEEK 12/11/2016

FinTech’s insurance sector came to the fore this week. This Google Trends chart and series of tweets tell the story of InsureTech’s growth in 2016.

cordray-barefoot

Blockchain still rules the year, as this week’s article links show, but InsureTech is getting its due.

Top 100 blockchain insiders

Using an algorithm based on social media influence, Klout scores and other factors, Richtopia has compiled a list of the top blockchain leaders, which gets updated every Monday. See the full breakdown here.

Beware of retail banking’s present becoming asset management’s future

If asset managers want to remain competitive, they’ll need to pay attention to consumer trends in retail banking. According to Vered Zimmerman’s piece for Copylab, asset managers must offer ways for customers to invest in what they care about, resolve their customers’ problems, and think of regulators as partners.

Customers don’t prefer chatbots over humans yet—but they will, says survey

Findings from Aspect’s 2016 Consumer Experience Index say that customers are split nearly 50-50 on whether they’d prefer to use a chatbot or artificial intelligence assistant to fix customer service issues, Bank Innovation reported. Part of that split could come from the perception that AI tools aren’t as effective, said Tim Dreyer, spokesperson for Aspect Software.

Robo-advisers: not just for millennials anymore?

Robo-advising companies like Betterment and Wealthfront offer boomers the chance to get the best returns for their money without the high fees associated with human asset managers, and they have more cash to work with than millennials. Still, the artificial intelligence behind the technology is not capable of serving all of each customer’s’ needs yet, writes Richard Eisenberg for Forbes.

The future of money

The increased usage of smartphones in India has contributed to the influx in startups like Freecharge Payment Technologies and OneMobikwik that are looking to help country go cashless. But even with the government push to go cashless, India has a long way to go before it can get rid of cash, according to Leslie D’Monte of LiveMint.