Technology is transforming almost every area imaginable, but education and recruitment are surprisingly yet to be disrupted, and consider themselves to be relatively early in the adoption of technologies. These technological developments, combined with data analytics and job-specific simulations are at the forefront of driving this disruption, particularly in the financial sector. Below Finance Monthly hears from William de Lucy, CEO of Amplify, who delves into the drive behind technology development in the recruitment departments of finance teams worldwide.
Businesses are now delivering targeted training for companies throughout the fintech ecosystem, providing them with new, innovative ways to enhance the learning environment for prospects, resulting in a higher calibre pool of talent for the client.
It would appear that despite a certain level of volatility existing in the financial sector, leading financial institutions are still chomping at the bit to secure the best candidates, demonstrating the overall buoyancy of the market. Much like certain aspects of the financial ecosystem that is witnessing a transformational shift away from manual, human-oriented tasks, the level of automation and simulation in financial recruitment can reap huge rewards for leading institutions.
Evolution of technology and data allowing real world simulation
Technology and data expectations have never been higher, due to the major advancements in technology that have driven this change. Not only has technology significantly increased the amount of data being generated, but it has also provided affordable and efficient ways to collect and store this data so that organisations can leverage data-driven strategies to innovate, compete, and obtain value from information. With technology upending workflow and processes, tasks that were once handled with paper money, bulky computers and human interaction are now being completed entirely on digital interfaces.
Data analytics have come a long way in recent years. From e-commerce businesses tracking who visits their websites and what pages they visit, technology has moved to the collection of huge amounts of data about consumers and their behaviours. This has led to a huge paradigm shift from focus on products, to focus on consumers and what they want and value. Financial services institutions that use big data to drive their decisions will win the competitive race in the long run.
Education with the implementation of technology
Technology has previously been seen as a disruptive influence in the classroom, however this perception is slowly changing. With apps that change how we shop, eat and communicate, technology is moving at a fast pace, and society is having to adapt alongside it. Education with the help of technology has opened up a world of opportunities for students. From collaboration through the use of emails to easy sharing of information - technology is and will continue to alter the education sector into the future.
Students are now looking at the value they receive for their investment. They want to know how this experience will help to secure a place in their chosen careers, rather than the academic ambitions that their professor may have harboured when they were a student. Technologies can give students the same on-the-job training experiences delivered to clients, which enables them to directly connect with such institutions when they perform.
The simulations of real-life work roles give students a broad experience across the entire industry, from any area including investment bank market-making and sales-trading to portfolio and risk management. The objectives are for students to learn through ‘doing’, allowing them to enhance their academic skills and to better prepare them for their future workplace and their best suited role.
Technology and recruitment within the finance and education sectors
A recent LinkedIn study of 12 global investment banks has found that analysts and associates who left their positions in 2015 had stayed in their roles for an average of 17 months. This compares to a 26 month average in 2005. Furthermore, the study also revealed that some banks are incurring significant costs that are associated with replacing employees who leave.
Bridging the gap between what students are taught in theory, to what happens on a day-to-day basis in an office environment, proved difficult before the implementation of certain technologies. Technology has enabled the disruption of traditional recruitment paths of many major financial institutions which often recruit from only a select few universities and use rigid, automated processes. Along with this, companies are now able to broaden their search and identify talent that may not have been uncovered previously. A candidate could have a distinct ability to perform a specific function outside of their pure academic achievements, which allows for a more diverse workforce and greater overall performance and output.
Technology these days, can give businesses the ability to measure so many different data points over a long period of time. For example, technology platforms can measure how well a potential sales trader, or broker uses voice versus typed communication and how well they can use that communication to leverage client relationships. With this actively taking place over a full-day, or a series of days, it can help to provide corporate partners with graduates who possess soft skills that are required in client facing roles. This can often be hard to find from an initial CV review or telephone interview.
Along with this, technology allows businesses to gather innovative approaches to enhance and revolutionise graduate recruitment, this helps firms find the right candidate for the right role, without having to sift through thousands of CV’s or rely on behavioural data that has been collected from a short game or questions unassociated with the role in question. Due to the innovative approach that technology has enabled, candidates can gain a practical understanding of what their day-to-day role would actually involve, which helps them identify in depth the specific role they can see themselves committing to long-term.
It’s evident that technology is and will continue to revolve and bridge the gap between what students are taught in theory, to what happens in a day-to-day office environment. It has broadened the playing field and identified talents that may never have been uncovered previously. This can lead to businesses becoming more diverse in their workforce and have a greater overall performance and output for their company.
This week Finance Monthly benefits from expert insight into the financial world, with a close look at the development of fintechs and the increasing need for these to come together for the sake of progress. Here Ian Stone, CEO of Vuealta, describes some of the challenges ahead, and the solutions that are already possible.
Between 2010 and 2015, the financial services industry changed drastically. In just those five years, four of today’s most successful fintech companies were launched; namely Stripe, Revolut, Starling Bank and Monzo. These launches all had one thing in common; putting the customer at the centre of the operation, untied to legacy or history. Fast forward and the fintech industry is coming of age, with the UK’s fintech sector alone attracting £1.34 billion of venture capital funding in 2017, and new companies launching into market every day.
Scaling up
This success means that the challenge these companies now face is one of scale. To keep moving forward, they need to be able to expand and scale up quickly and easily to support their growing customer bases. They need to do this at the same time as maintaining the flawless, fully-digitised customer service that they have become synonymous for. No easy feat.
How they play this growth period is therefore vital. They need to be fast in making decisions and flexible enough to adapt to the constant changes that are now part and parcel of today’s market. That means arming themselves with the tools and information that will help them achieve that.
A new age of planning
The key is in the planning. As digital companies, fintechs already benefit from high levels of flexibility and adaptability. These traits must also be reflected in how they approach their business planning if they stand a chance of still being relevant five years down the road. A recent survey by Ernst & Young revealed that a third of UK fintech companies believe that they’re likely to IPO in that timeframe – a clear demonstration of the rewards that can be reaped from staying successful. What will set the successes apart from the failures is connectivity. A more connected company with a more connected approach to how it plans will be more successful.
Realising a connected approach to planning
By connecting their people, processes and data, fintech companies will be able to more accurately forecast their revenue, costs and liquidity on a monthly if not weekly or daily basis. They’ll be able to model and digest significant variations in activity and resources, as well as changes in operating models and growth scenarios.
Holding information in different siloes makes it almost impossible for a business to have an accurate view of where money is being spent, meaning the value of forecasts are limited. For those looking to scale up their operations, both from a size and geography point of view, these forecast insights are invaluable. Expansion is an expensive business, so using the company’s data, connecting it and breaking down those silos to make more informed, accurate decisions will help ensure that they don’t burn through valuable capital.
It will also help them stay nimble. This is a period of significant change, with new regulations, political fluctuations affecting currency rates, access to skills and trade deals, amongst other things. The future is unclear so staying nimble means having a clear view and plan for what multiple futures could look like. By having a holistic view of how the entire business is performing and then using that data to forecast where it is likely to be in one, three, ten years’ time, the future becomes much more predictable and achievable. Suddenly, a fintech company can start making decisions now that before may have seemed too risky.
When implemented properly at both a technological and an organisational level, connected planning provides an intuitive map of how decisions ripple through an entire organisation. That is only possible with a real-time overview of the business and the ability to quickly understand the impact of any market changes. This is a critical point for fintech companies.
The competition is growing and although the larger banks will never be able to match new fintechs in terms of agility, they have experience, big customer bases and money on their side. Taking a more connected approach to how fintechs plan will be key to success. Only with a clear view of how the business is performing and scenarios for when that performance is jeopardised, will these companies cement their place in the future of finance.
A study from Dun & Bradstreet recently revealed that while finance leaders remain tasked with business profitability, their remit has expanded to include the sharing of data across the organisation and management of risk.
The Risk Revolution found the top challenge for finance leaders today is monitoring risks within a business’ customer, supplier, or partner base (38%). The second biggest concern for finance leaders was found to be forecasting or predicting risk, while the third was growing profitability.
When it comes to managing risk, data is an invaluable insight for businesses. However, according to the study, 60% of finance leaders said that their data currently exists in organisational silos, with over half reporting difficulty sharing, linking and using data to drive their risk management strategies and are unable therefore to effectively harness the data to mitigate and manage business risk.
Commenting on the report, Tim Vine, Head of European Trade Credit at Dun & Bradstreet said: “A changing business environment, coupled with political and economic uncertainty, is making it increasingly challenging for finance leaders to manage risk effectively. Data-driven tools can uncover valuable insights to inform strategic decisions and drive business performance, but our report shows that adoption of these tools is still relatively low. Finance leaders who are able to leverage data can help their organisation navigate uncertainties in the market, manage risks and grow profitability.”
(Source: Dun & Bradstreet)
Artificial intelligence (AI) is infiltrating all industries, meaning a transformation in the way we live our day-to-day lives – and the way we work – is inevitable. But this is nothing to be afraid of and we should embrace AI to improve the way we work.
According to Adobe, 15 % of companies currently use AI, with 31 % expected to adopt it over the next 12 months. This significant technological disruption is set to affect everyone in some form, and many are worried that AI will displace our jobs and make humans irrelevant.
However, Reed Accountancy & Finance research found that almost half (47 %) of finance professionals asked are enthusiastic about AI in the workplace and are willing to embrace new technology. This shows there is a lot of enthusiasm about all the ways AI can improve our everyday activities. With this in mind, here are five reasons why we shouldn’t be panicking about the introduction of AI into the workplace.
- There is strength in humanity
Research from Deloitte shows that 61 % of companies are now actively designing jobs around robotics. However, it is expected that, in the coming years, the skills and traits that make us human and enable us to interact effectively will become increasingly important for employment and career advancement. While machines and AI will be capable of performing many routine tasks, human cognitive skills will still be sought after, so businesses will still need to target candidates with these talents. The introduction of AI will also free up time for creative thinking and judgement work – areas in which humans are naturally superior. AI can design solutions to complex societal issues, but only humans can implement them, as well as display empathy and compassion in a way machines never can.
- Enhanced productivity
A study by Accenture has revealed that AI could increase productivity by 40 %, and profitability by 38 %. This is in addition to our own research which found a third (32 %) of finance professionals believe AI will improve productivity and efficiency by having the capabilities to report and summarise accounts taking away the menial tasks – understandably, businesses are interested. This means employees are free to concentrate their efforts on more stimulating, forward thinking work, making companies using AI very attractive. It can also help with recruitment, where AI can source, rank and arrange interviews with candidates. More accurate forecasting, predicting maintenance and repairs, personalisation, optimising manufacturing and replenishing stock automatically are all areas in which AI can also help companies become more efficient working within their budgets.
- Attracting Generation Z
By 2030, it’s estimated that Generation Z will represent 75 % of the workforce, meaning innovative methods of appealing to this group must be a priority for all organisations. One way to do this is by promoting the use of AI in the workplace, as this generation appreciates the value that technology brings. The use of AI-driven foundational technologies, such as blockchain, may also help companies that are based on this technology present themselves as the more fashionable, innovative places to work.
- Saying farewell to unconscious bias
Unconscious bias has long been an issue in recruitment, and for those responsible for recruitment in an organisation. Some tech start-ups are already using AI to perform initial interviews, along with facial recognition software to detect body language and emotion cues when screening candidates, in order to eliminate the unconscious bias that is so often found in the human decision-making process. In fact, according to KPMG, 60 % of HR departments are planning to adopt cognitive automation in the next five years with the aim of making recruitment a bias-free procedure.
- New skills, new jobs
McKinsey research has found that, if AI is adopted by 2030, eight to nine % of labour demand will be in new types of jobs that didn’t exist before. History would suggest that, after a large technological disruption in society, over time, labour markets would adjust in the favour of workers. However, the skills and capabilities required for any job will shift, with the need for more social and emotional skills, such as logical reasoning and creativity, making candidates with these skills in heavy demand.
Navigating the unchartered territory of artificial intelligence can be daunting, but there is no need for businesses or candidates to panic. If used in the right way, AI can be incredibly helpful and vastly improve the effectiveness and efficiency of not just many organisations, but our everyday working lives.
Few would argue that artificial intelligence (AI) is making a considerable impact on many elements of Financial Services (FS), it’s computing power and automation helping to improve the overall customer experience and to extract incredible insight from big data held by FS companies. Below Dr. Dorian Selz, Co-Founder and CEO of Squirro, delves into a discussion about the keys augmented intelligence may carry in driving the future of FS.
As with many emerging technologies it was slow to hit the business mainstream, but that too is changing. Squirro recently conducted research into tier one banks’ use of AI, and it revealed that 83% have evaluated AI and more than two-thirds are already using it.
But for some people in finance, the words ‘artificial intelligence’ can signify fear just as much as they can opportunity. For all the potential of AI, there is a perception that jobs might be threatened as machines take over roles previously carried out by humans.
The idea that AI might facilitate a wholesale replacement of humans is fanciful at best. But perhaps it is time to talk about augmented intelligence instead, a technology intended to enhance human intelligence and one that is central to the future success of the financial services sector.
A human / machine collaboration
If artificial intelligence is the creation of intelligent machines that work and react like humans, augmented intelligence is essentially people and machines working together. This is a partnership that will see the augmentation and extension of human decision making, addressing specific challenges within FS and helping to deliver new and smarter services to customers that will encourage loyalty and improve the bottom line.
Improving the personal touch – much of FS – particularly corporate FS such as investment banking and real estate - is still heavily based on personal relationships. Account handlers speak to their clients and are expected to know about that client’s industry and be able to present them with strong opportunities for investment and growth.
That’s no a small undertaking, but augmented intelligence makes it much more straight forward. Augmented intelligence-based platforms are powerful at gathering data (both structured and unstructured) from across disparate and siloed systems and presenting that data in a form that gives account handlers a complete 360-degree view of each and every customer.
Because it can factor it so many disparate sources of data, users are then incredibly well-informed on what is happening in an industry that will affect that client, and what the opportunities are. They can retain the personal touch that is still so important in FS, but can now do so more informed than ever when speaking to clients
Deeper insight – the insight delivered by augmented intelligence is far deeper than what has previously been available to FS organisations. Because it is capable of managing and analysing so much data, the insight extracted from that data and then presented to the user is deeper and greater than anything previously possible.
Impact on the bottom line – the data insight generated by augmented intelligence can help FS firms greatly with their lead generation, not only identifying opportunities for clients but recommending the best product or solution for them.
Augmented intelligence solutions will look at data on competitors, partners and markets and identify catalysts that provide additional upsell or cross-sell opportunities to existing clients, and fresh approaches to prospective clients. In a competitive FS world, this is of the highest value.
The past decade has been a challenging one for FS organisations, with stiff competition from agile startups offering new and more effective services and a superior overall experience. Yet the emergence of augmented intelligence is a lifeline for the industry. It enables greater customer understanding and means FS providers can re-establish their market position, and augmented intelligence will be a key technology in FS for years to come.
More than a third (38%) of IT decision-makers across the UK financial sector believe it has become more difficult over the past five years to find staff with the right skills and experience. Over a third (34%) believe the problem is going to worsen in the coming five years. This is according to a survey across a range of financial and banking sector organisations, including retail and investment banking, asset management, hedge funds and clearing houses.
The survey, commissioned by software vendor InterSystems found a shortage across a variety of roles. Almost a fifth (18%) of respondents cited a lack of data scientists followed by 17% who revealed a shortage in security consultant/specialists, while 16% referenced application developers and 12% mentioned financial analysts.
“IT skills shortages are clearly a major concern for banking and financial services firms across the UK and this is only likely to escalate in the future,” says Graeme Dillane, financial services manager, InterSystems. “Skills shortages are a barrier to innovation in the banking and financial services sector. And as firms upgrade their legacy systems and look to innovate to meet the latest wave of regulations, that represents an increasingly serious concern.”
When survey recipients were asked to name the key qualities that technology can bring to help mitigate the negative affect of skills shortages within businesses today, 44% of respondents said: ‘simplicity of use’, 42% cited ‘ease of implementation’ and 36% ‘high-performance’.
The study also found that skills shortages are one of the biggest barriers preventing innovation as cited by 35% of the study, behind only cost (41%) while compliance was referenced by 31%.
“These findings match with our experience in talking to customers and prospects across the sector,” added Dillane. “IT employees with the skills that banks and financial services companies are looking for are in short supply. Knowledge transfer is therefore increasingly key alongside solutions which combine ease of development; simplicity of use; high-performance and intuitive workflow transfer.”
(Source: InterSystems)
Financial terminology is continually thrown around as we navigate through the different stages of our lives. The need to entirely acknowledge and comprehend what some financial terms mean becomes most apparent when making difficult financial decisions such as how best to climb onto the property ladder and selecting the best saving account or investment product that could provide the greatest return in the future.
With words and phrases in areas such as banking, savings, investments, pensions and mortgages more than likely to feature heavily in an individual’s handling of their personal finances – the expectation would be for them to have a firm grasp of common and recognisable financial jargon. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case, as 31% of Brits have shockingly admitted to signing a financial contract without knowing some or all the terminology according to research by Norton Finance.
Interested in financial competency, Reboot Online Digital Marketing Agency analysed findings from YouGov, who surveyed 1,916 British adults to see how confident they were with the meaning of a range of financial words and phrases.
Reboot Online found that ‘savings account’ is the financial term that most Brits are confident about at 92%. Thereafter, 78% claim to be assured by what a ‘cash ISA’ is. In third position, 74% of Brits feel confident enough to know what a ‘building society’ represents and can differentiate it from a normal bank.
Interestingly, despite regularly featuring in the small print of advertising mediums for potentially significant purchases like cars, only 64% of Brits are entirely confident about what a ‘fixed or variable annual percentage rate (APR)’ truly is. Information for immediate release Reboot Online Digital Marketing Agency.
Focusing specifically on the different types of mortgages and the terms related to it - Brits seem most confident knowing what a ‘fixed mortgage’ (72%), ‘mortgage deposit’ (63%) and ‘tracker mortgage’ (49%) is. Contrastingly, Brits are apprehensive about how a ‘shared equity mortgage (58%)’ and ‘offset mortgage’ (57%) respectively work.
On the other end of the scale, the British public were least confident about a ‘spread betting account’, with an overwhelming 67% unsure about its proper connotation. Closely by, 65% are shaky about what ‘corporate bonds’ are. 64% of Brits were equally unclear by a ‘tracker fund’ and ‘self-invested-personal-pension’.
Shai Aharony, Managing Director of Reboot Online commented: “Jargon specifically related to certain sectors and subject matters can be a mind field. Individuals can therefore often get lost in translation when trying to decipher them. Despite this, considering the fact that numerous financial terms have a substantial impact on minor as well as major saving and spending intentions, Brits should be more accustomed to them. This research certainly shows that Brits currently lack the knowledge and confidence to correctly understand a handful of financial terms in a range of important areas such as mortgages, pensions and savings. Going forward, there should be a real drive to educate Brits from an early age on the different aspects of the financial world that will more than likely affect their personal and business matters in adulthood.”
(Source: Reboot Online)
A bout of World Cup fever may have swept the nation last month but with normality restored, it is business as usual for the Premier League. Except that according to Will Tingle at Moore Stephens, the next season of the UK’s top football league is up for a little more than business as usual.
Premier League clubs are already reported to have spent close to £1bn on over 200 deals so far with a number of high profile transfers such as Riyad Mahrez moving to Manchester City and Alisson’s arrival at Liverpool setting a new transfer record for a goalkeeper. With steady investment already, we explore the reasons why it could be another record breaking summer for the Premier League.
Primarily, there is money to burn. Last year, for the first time, every Premier League club reported an operating profit, with 18 of the 20 clubs also reporting a pre-tax profit. Financial fair play appears to have ushered in a new era of sustainability. There are many reasons why clubs can expect a continuation of strong financial performance and revenue growth. This will in turn be used to fund their transfer war chests.
The domestic TV rights for the year is said to be just shy of the record-breaking £5.14bn existing deal, for three seasons from 2016-2019, with Amazon joining the Premier League market for the first time. The cost of the Amazon package to show 20 games a season from 2019 is still unknown. However, any dip in the domestic TV rights income is likely to be offset by an increase in overseas broadcast income as well as club’s own commercial deals.
The Premier League is reported to have made £3.2bn from international TV rights in the same three season period (2016-2019). Beyond this, five out of 80 contracts are said to have been confirmed to continue through to 2022: the Premier League will be optimistic they can continue growth in this area given that some of the new contracts are said to be as much as 14 times the value of current deals.
In terms of other commercial transactions, last season the Premier League introduced sleeve sponsorships, which allowed clubs to have a second brand on their kit in addition to the main shirt sponsors for the first time. Recently, Arsenal are said to have completed the biggest deal yet in this area for a reported £10million per season over three seasons with Visit Rwanda, the club’s official Tourism Partner. Notably Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are yet to agree sleeve sponsors which reflects the fact there is significant scope amongst several clubs to increase revenues through commercial partnerships of this nature.
What does all this money mean? As we have seen in the past, increasing revenue normally translates to growth in transfers and player wages. Although clubs are spending within their means, transfer spending has continued to rise over the years as clubs show little sign of tightening their purse strings with increased revenue making transfers more affordable for clubs and used as justification for record-breaking fees.
Premier League teams have now set a precedent for spending and there is great expectation amongst fans to do so. This has contributed to records being established at an alarming rate. Within the last 12 months, 15 of the Premier League sides for the 2018/19 season have broken their transfer record. Last summer, the total spend for the Premier League during the transfer window was beaten for a sixth consecutive year, coming in at £1.4bn. During the final day of the January transfer window alone, clubs made a record spend of £150m, marking a total spend of over £400m for the month.
There are two additional factors which will serve to add fuel to the Premier League money bonfire. Firstly, the transfer window will close earlier than normal as Premier League clubs voted in favour of closing the transfer window before the start of domestic fixtures. This means that clubs will be under increased time pressure and now have little over 2 weeks to conclude their business. This could possibly trigger a rise in the panic buys associated with the final few days of the window. A lack of time provides leverage to selling clubs in negotiations allowing them to attract higher fees for their players as buyers use money to solve problems when time becomes pressured.
The World Cup only adds to the haste given that many players, many of whom are still on holiday as part of their recovery programmes, wait until after the tournament to resolve their futures. Historically, the competition has led to irrational buying behaviour and overinflated fees as clubs have signed players off the back of a handful of good games. Kleberson, El Hadji Diouf, Guivarc'h… do the names sound familiar?
The precedent for all sides having a reason to spend is well established. Newly promoted sides and those fighting relegation are desperate to establish a foothold in the league given the rewards associated with survival. The riches of the Champions League provides sufficient justification for those competing towards the top to invest heavily.
Others are keen to scale up and compete with the so called top 6 or solely avoid a season of mid-table obscurity. With over £1.4bn spent last summer, Premier League clubs are well on track to break this record again. It promises to be a hectic finish before the transfer window closes on 9th August.
At some point, most companies will need to borrow money, whether it’s to fund the growth of the business, to manage cash flow or to purchase new equipment. There are plenty of business loan lenders in the market, but it’s important that you take your time to find the right product for your business. Below, Gary Hemming, expert at ABC Finance, outlines for Finance Monthly the basic considerations to make when looking into getting a business loan.
Finding the Right Type of Business Loan
The first step in securing funding is to take time to understand the different types of business loan products. The easiest way to do this is by speaking to an experienced business finance expert, ideally a whole of market, fee-free broker.
The different products available tend to have very different costs, both in terms of monthly repayments and the total charge for credit.
Calculate Your Budget Upfront – and Stick to it
Most lenders use computerised risk profiling systems to calculate the interest rate of each loan. This means that the rate charged can end up much higher than the lenders advertised ‘headline rate’.
As the expected costs can gradually creep up as the lender sees things that they feel increase their risk, setting a budget is key. A number of small steps up in the proposed monthly repayments can lead to you taking on a payment that is really stretching the limits of being affordable.
You can protect yourself against this by setting a maximum repayment upfront and sticking to it. Be prepared to walk away if the risk of taking out the loan outweighs the benefits.
Make Sure You Have the Documents Needed to Apply
Although each lender has their own requirements, there are some common documents that are almost always needed. These are your business bank statements and trading accounts.
Lenders will usually need 3 months business bank statements. These can either be scanned and certified by a suitable professional, or PDF copies downloaded via online banking.
2 years accounts are requested by most lenders, with PDF or scanned versions usually accepted. If your business does not have 2 years accounts, the lender will usually want as much evidence of trading performance as possible.
Management accounts will strengthen your application where accounts are either unavailable or if the latest accounts are more than 9 months old.
Be Clear on How Long You Need the Money for
There are a number of unsecured business finance products available and they all work in slightly different ways. It’s important that you’re clear upfront why you need the money and for how long.
If a cash injection is needed into the business and there is no large event upcoming that will be used to repay in full then a business loan is a strong option.
Where funds are being used to specifically fund a large one-off order, or contract, then there may be better options available, such a trade finance.
Equally, if you’re looking for a facility that can be used longer term and that will grow with your business, a business loan may prove too inflexible. In that case, revolving credit facilities and invoice finance may well be better suited to your needs.
An experienced broker will be able to advise you on some of the most suitable finance products for your needs within a few minutes of your initial chat.
Once You’re Completely Comfortable - Apply
Once you’re completely comfortable, and only then, apply for your business loan. If you apply with multiple lenders, you will be credit searched by each one on application.
Although it can seem like a smart move as you will get quotes from more than one lender, too many credit searches can actually reduce your credit score. To prevent this from happening, it’s important that you take a more measured approach.
You can do this by understanding the lender's criteria and interest rate bands – the rates charged depending on the risk presented to them – upfront.
Once you’ve found what seems like the most suitable, and likely cheapest option, apply with them first, while your credit score is at its strongest.
Bitcoin was created in the aftermath of a catastrophic economic recession and a fiasco in the worldwide banking system. It was the poster-child of the ‘cypherpunk’ movement, which believed in the transformative power of cryptography to mitigate that of governments and of capitalism. More broadly, it was the latest in a long line of political movements that have occurred throughout human history – from the French revolution in the 18th Century to the communist revolutions that gripped the 20th – all of which have aimed to give power “back to the people”.
But Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency once heralded by anarchists and libertarians as a technology that would unfetter us from a domineering financial system, now stands on the cusp of assimilating with the very sector which it was supposed to circumvent. For staunch advocates of total crypto liberty, that philosophical sea-change might feel like an expedient betrayal – and they would be right. But Bitcoin has evolved in a way that even its founder surely didn’t anticipate: its popularity has forged a whole new financial market, and an entire crypto ecosystem in its wake.
That’s no small feat, and it’s not one that financial institutions can realistically ignore. The power of blockchain, crypto’s underlying technology, may be in its decentralised nature – and in many sectors, that level of decentralisation is viable. But for the world of finance, this simply isn’t the case, and it never will be. The destiny of all successful financial products is institutionalisation, and given the triumph of crypto, institutional involvement – and the regulation that follows from that involvement – was always inevitable. If the client demand is there, which it is, then institutions have every right to meet that demand – and many already are.
The horse bolted last year, when two exchange giants, CME and CBOE, launched bitcoin future trading operations. That set the gears turning for other exchanges and banks. In May this year, Goldman Sachs, the most prestigious of the major Wall Street Banks, waded into the crypto world with a crypto futures trading operation and a dedicated trading desk. There’s plenty of activity on the horizon too: the New York Stock Exchange, part of the Intercontinental Exchange, is reportedly setting up an online platform for buying and holding crypto.
Crypto has also strayed into the world of asset management, where the number of funds currently stands at around 251, with $3.5 - 5 billion in assets under management. Considering only 20 hedge funds for cryptocurrency existed in 2016, this represents substantial growth. Even George Soros is said to have given approval to trade virtual assets in the last few months, having called it a bubble in January of this year.
Firms like Soros Fund Management and Goldman Sachs are far from outliers in the world of finance. According to a recent survey from Reuters, one in five financial institutions is considering trading cryptocurrencies within the next 12 months. That’s a noteworthy shift from 2017, when BTC and crypto were derided by the financial world as a scam and an avenue for criminality. Financial institutions may be saying one thing, but they’re doing quite another, and there will be fast followers now that Goldman has put the wheels in motion: very few want to lead, but everyone wants to be second.
As tends to be the case with the crypto market, wherever BTC goes, others follow. Ethereum futures appear to be on the horizon, at least as far as CBOE is concerned. The Initial Coin Offering market as a whole has also witnessed rapid institutionalisation. Back in 2017, all token sales were public, and widely advertised. Now, most ICOs get their money in private sales from a handful of investors. Even if start-ups do decide to run public sales, the vast majority of funding still comes from institutional money.
The elephant in the room is now working out the effect of all this institutional involvement. Most obviously, we’ll soon be seeing the impact of big money, as the process unlocks billions on billions of dollars that float in the world’s financial systems. With that, we’ll see more block trades occurring. Prices are likely to rise. Volatility may increase, or indeed, it may decrease as the market becomes more liquid.
Regardless of price movements, institutionalisation looks set to be a positive thing for the market, providing legitimacy in the space: after all, the more positive actors there are in the market, the better.
The United Kingdom, specifically London, has built a position as Europe’s primary financial hub, bridging the gap between the European Union and Asia, the United States and other regions. After Brexit comes into effect in March 2019, this once unassailable position will no longer be certain if it becomes more difficult for banks and other financial enterprises to provide services to EU clients due to a loss of ‘passporting’ rights – if no contingency plans are made.
Many financial institutions are not waiting to see how Brexit plays out and are seriously considering – or already planning – to move at least part of their operations to remaining EU countries in order to be prepared for any fallout from Brexit. Hiring rates in London’s financial sector have already halved, according to LinkedIn – reportedly due to the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and how it will impact the industry. Research from EY shows almost a third of banks and asset managers in the City of London confirmed that they are looking at moving staff to locations such as Dublin, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.
As a result, teams will be scattered across numerous time-zones and locations, with more employees likely to be working from remote locations, including their homes. Connecting a relocated and dispersed workforce is no easy task, and if the process is not well managed, it can cause serious disruption to day-to-day activities. Banking and financial services organisations need to have the right tools in place to ensure far-flung teams can communicate effectively and implement a standardised and coordinated way of working so that employees do not have to flit between numerous applications to complete tasks, collaborate on projects, monitor progress, manage resourcing and track deadlines. Fortunately, disruption can be minimised by utilising tools that nurture joined working environments despite geographical barriers and offer structure that keeps employees at different locations on the same page – in real time.
The challenges of collaborating across borders
Remote working is not new phenomenon – it’s widespread and a hugely popular way of working –
But many businesses are still trying to overcome the barriers it presents to communication and collaboration. Clarizen’s own research has shown that some of the most prevalent issues workers struggle with when working remotely include:
- Struggling to communicate with colleagues;
- Difficulty to remain efficient;
- Limited access to up-to-date documents;
- Finding it difficult to prioritise.
The banking and finance industry needs to ensure that these issues are resolved before Brexit takes place. Otherwise, the serious and negative impact they have on effective collaboration, productivity and business profitability. Having to relocate operations is just one area of business that organisations need to navigate as the UK continues its withdrawal from the EU.
Internal company restructuring, product and services analysis and engagement planning are also elements businesses have to plan and execute, which is why it’s so important that teams have tools that facilitate a coordinated work environment during this tumultuous period.
Equipping employees with the tools to succeed
During Brexit and beyond, banking and financial organisations need to ensure employees are equipped with tools that help promote coordination between dispersed teams, while maximizing efficiency. Recent research from Clarizen found that almost three quarters of respondents said that what they specifically need to boost communication and collaboration among employees is technology, structure and support that enables them to overcome geographical barriers and the gap between time zones to increase productivity, ensure management oversight and foster flexibility.
What can help achieve this is a cloud-based platform that enables real-time collaboration across locations and empowers teams to coordinate workflow, track progress, align goals, allocate budget and meet deadlines from any device and location.
Overcoming communication overload
Ahead of Brexit, businesses need to ensure that they pick the right tool to maximize productive interactions between employees. Some businesses have previously used social media apps to facilitate easy and frequent employee discussion – such as WhatsApp and Facebook – in the belief they would streamline communications between workers and reduce long email chains that cause frustration and confusion. Unfortunately, such applications have often only served to encourage non-work chat and oversharing of irrelevant information that doesn’t bring employees any closer to meeting business objectives.
In a bid to become more focused in their approach, businesses have been turning to business-focussed communication apps. A recent global survey showed that, in the past year, companies deployed one or more of the following apps to improve productivity: Skype (39%), Microsoft Teams (14%), Google Hangouts (8%) and Slack (7%). Yet, even then, efforts to boost productivity proved fruitless as they merely became a place for office banter and overloaded people with numerous notifications and interruptions, which negatively impacts productivity.
It’s a modern workplace malady that has been dubbed ‘communication overload’, which is symptomized by workers struggling under the weight of clusters of unfocused messages, meeting requests and unnecessary interruptions. Clarizen’s research indicates that, in the end, apps that fail to directly link communication to business activities, aims and status updates actually hamper collaboration, effectiveness and efficiency. The survey showed that 81% of respondents said that, despite taking steps to improve communication among employees, they still lack a way to keep projects on track and provide management oversight – and only 16% of the companies surveyed said productivity levels were ‘excellent’ – while a nearly quarter said they were ‘just OK’ or ‘we need help’.
Looking ahead to a post-Brexit world
Brexit presents the banking and finance industry with a number of challenges that could put successful collaboration – and ultimately revenues and profits – at risk. However, by employing tools and methods that encourage an environment that nurtures a truly collaborative environment – where communication is in a business context and reporting in real time – the sector can enhance productivity and business agility, taking some of the sting out of any staff redeployments necessitated by Brexit. Even though it’s not clear what shape Brexit will take, there is no reason businesses in the banking and finance sector cannot minimise disruption and its potential costs by providing their employees with an approach and the tools they need to succeed during Brexit and beyond.
Website: https://www.clarizen.com/
Financial organisations are expanding their online presence across web, mobile, and social channels at a pace that is unprecedented. Overall this is great, as it provides increased access for customers and levels the playing field by allowing organisations of all sizes to broaden their reach and cut costs. However, this expanding digital presence also comes with increased risks, as it enlarges the attack surface that can be exploited by cybercriminals and increases the number of legitimate digital channels they can impersonate to dupe customers. To this last point we are seeing increasingly creative ways of leveraging digital brands to target organisations and their customers.
The threat of brand impersonation
Organisations can no longer afford to ignore any of their digital channels as an opportunity for brand impersonation; domain infringement, phishing, rogue mobile apps and fake social media accounts all form part of the adversary’s arsenal. As it goes, financial organisations are especially vulnerable – our recent report**, which details trends in phishing activity, revealed that financial institutions are almost always the target of the highest volume of attacks - capturing 40% of all phished brands.
Cybercriminals continually adapt their tactics in an effort to stay ahead of recent developments in the cybersecurity industry. Many are currently exploiting the interconnectivity of today’s digital world to maximise their reach through multiple channels to conduct fraud, distribute malware and carry out other abusive activities. That finance organisations get targeted so often is no surprise. Not only does the sensitive and valuable nature of the data that they are entrusted with naturally attract malicious actors, but since many companies operate in multiple countries they also tend to lack visibility across all their digital assets and find it difficult to react quickly to potential brand impersonation threats. More often than not, significant numbers of customers end up getting scammed before social threats are identified and properly remediated.
A recent example of this is the phishing campaign observed during TSB’s recent IT meltdown – during which the bank itself warned customers about fraudsters posing as TSB and attempting to trick people into handing over sensitive information in order to steal their money. Mitigating against these types of threats should be a top priority for organisations across the finance sector.
Security and fraud prevention strategies
The nature of targeted attacks has changed. Not only are we seeing a multi-channel approach from malicious actors, the short duration of many of these campaigns makes them difficult to detect and respond to. For example, it’s not uncommon to see phishing campaigns that last less than a day. Identifying potentially infringing digital assets across the vastness of the Internet in a timely manner requires internet scale automation and sophisticated machine learning to be effective.
Maintaining up-to-date asset inventories across web, mobile and social platforms enables security teams to quickly distinguish fake domains, web pages, mobile apps and social accounts from legitimate ones that may belong to different parts of the organisation. Today it is quite common for corporate IT and security teams to lack visibility into as much as 30 % of their organisation’s publicly exposed digital assets.
Once an infringing asset has been identified, organisations need to ability to quickly respond, no small challenge given the number of domain registrars, hosting providers, mobile app stores and social media platforms there are to deal with. Automation can play a key role here in sending out legal notices, monitoring responses and escalating when necessary. Once taken down, automation can continue to monitor for the reappearance of offending assets.
To benefit from these advances, financial organisations will need to adopt new technologies and modify working practices. Many have already established dedicated external threat management teams that work alongside other security teams to ensure that the organisation has a holistic view of threats, both within their corporate networks and out on the open Internet.
When it comes down to it, customers entrust financial organisations with highly valuable and personally identifiable data and ensuring that they continue to do so requires there to be a high level of trust in the organisation’s brand. Counteracting brand-related threats is therefore key to any organisation that wishes grow its customer base going forward.
Website: https://www.riskiq.com/
