Ep. 269. News: Mi data, su data

Our hosts, David M. Brear, Simon Taylor and Jason Bates are joined by two great guests, Sigridur Sigurdardottir, CEO of Asto and Ali Paterson from Fintech Finance.

First up, Lloyds is 'digitising'. Britain's biggest high street lender will this week announce plans to create 8,000 jobs as part of a £3bn transformation and technology investment programme. Lloyds Banking Group will announce on Tuesday that it is cutting around 6,000 existing roles but establishing approximately 8,000 new posts, leading to a net jobs creation figure of around 2,000. The 8,000 new roles‎ are understood to focus on areas of digital expansion including in the group transformation unit, reflecting the changes taking place across the banking industry.

We've got some great comments from Katherine Griffiths from the Times about the story.

Marcus by Goldman Sachs is opening a new account every 35 seconds. Marcus, the online savings account from Goldman Sachs, has racked up 100,000 customers since its launch in the UK just forty days ago. Discussed on the show before, they are providing long-suffering savers with a market-beating 1.50% interest rate.

Royal Bank of Scotland to launch digital bank for SMEs. Royal Bank of Scotland has become the first of the UK’s big high street lenders to open a standalone digital account, with the launch of a new business-focused current account that will be run independently of its traditional brands. The new bank, called Mettle, is designed for small business customers, and will provide a current account alongside services such as invoicing and cash flow forecasting.

We also have a great interview with Alison Rose, CEO of RBS CPB to learn more.

HSBC warns customers of data breach. HSBC has locked some customers out their online accounts in response to a data breach that saw unauthorised users gain access to a host of financial and personal information. In a notice to customers, which has been filed with California's Attorney General's office, the bank says: "HSBC became aware of online accounts being accessed by unauthorized users between October 4, 2018 and October 14, 2018. Among the information which may have been accessed is full names, mailing addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, account numbers, account types, account balances, transaction history, payee account information, and statement history.

Tech Nation helping fintech play with banks. This PAS provides a guide to fintechs on the terms and approach used by many financial institutions for collaboration and commercialisation of new fintech propositions.

We speak to Greg Michel from Tech Nation to find out more.

And finally, Anna launches debit card that miaows. Anna, a hybrid digital assistant for SMEs, that combines an app, card and business account, is rolling out the gimmick after consulting "animal psychologist" Ellena Hinson. With 90% of small business failures attributed to cash flow problems, Anna claims that a sharp miaow emanating from its app everytime a payment is made could make users think more carefully about their spending. Hinson goes so far as to suggest small biz owners look to cats for tips on managing their finances.

All this and so much more on today's episode of Fintech Insider!
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This week's episode was produced by Laura Watkins and Petrit Berisha. Edited by Alex Woodhouse.

Special Guests: Ali Paterson and Sigridur Sigurdardottir.

Links:

• Lloyds bank to create 2,000 new jobs in tech drive | Financial Times
• Marcus by Goldman Sachs is opening a new account every 35 seconds
• NatWest launches app-only business bank
• HSBC warns customers of data breach
• Tech Nation helping fintech play with banks
• Anna launches debit card that miaows