Three Ways To Stay Current In The Financial Services Industry
The financial services industry is a cutthroat market with razor-thin margins, making it one of the toughest industries in which to generate profit. Yet, for Fintech startups, it is one of the least chartered, most lucrative sectors. Accenture recently reported that fintech investments grew 201 percent in 2014 compared to the previous year. As a comparison, overall venture capital investments grew only 63 percent in the same period. There is little doubt that today’s financial systems are inherently complex, outdated and inefficient. The potential to innovate within [...]
Interest rates increased after almost a decade
So Finally FOMC increased the interest rates this week by .25% after almost a decade as expected. Though it was fixed since 2008 at 3.25%, June 2006 was the last time it was increased. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) mandate is to determine the prime interest rate & money supply.It was formed through the Banking Act of 1933 & were supposed to meet four times a year. However since 1981, they are meeting every five to eight weeks at least 8 times a year to [...]
Will FOMC end the history’s longest interest rate freeze tomorrow ?
Prime rate is the interest rate at which bank is suppose to lend money to their best customers. It is set as a reference to determine what are the best possible terms at which some one can get interest. In actual, interest rates could either be higher or lower than the prime. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) mandate is to determine the prime interest rate & money supply.It was formed through the Banking Act of 1933 & were supposed to meet four times a year. However [...]
FinTech startups don’t want to be a Bank
Banks are boring & claim to be next generation bank is rarely heard in startup world. Banks were born out of need to store the cash safely. Banks generally have a very good perception of trust & security among masses which led to position themselves as one-stop shop for anything financial related. Over time they built the brand , distribution & resources to up-sell other financial products such as loans, insurance, money transfers etc. As any other business, competition have started to hurt the [...]
Biggest challenge for a money remittance company
Every week, a new startup is born to grab the 600 Billion remittance market volume . With an average fee of 7% approximately 40 billion dollar are paid in fees and despite dozens of startups trying to reduce it, fees are not coming down as anticipated. Even though we blame the remittance companies for higher fees, the industry have some additional challenges which other industries haven't even heard of. The biggest challenge in running a MSB ( Money Transfer Business ) isn't higher cost [...]
What is your management style ?
Someone asked me a question about my management style. Let me give a disclose that I have not been very good at it and this is the most difficult task that a founder has to encounter. While I am not pro at it, I thought of asking this question from myself for days and came up with following Ideal management style is a style in which people don’t have to be managed Now it goes more about the culture where everyone can think [...]
Millennial – Generation of two decades
Everyday, we come across the term "Millenials" or "Generation Y". Companies/Startups are overusing this term to define their customer base. From just the sound of it, image portrayed in mind of a Millenial is a teenager who is snap chatting on his new iPhone with music played on his flashy expensive branded headphones. However, it’s not quite right. Any person born between 1980 - 2000 counts towards Millennial. As of today, it’s the generation aged between 15-35. That’s a difference of two decades. I [...]
How to make quick pivotal decisions
We have to make trivial decisions on regular basis. Some of those decisions create a deadlock which have impact on other things we do. Everyone advises to go with the instincts and gut feeling but the solutions are so close that it becomes challenging to figure out what do we actually want. As human nature, we like to delay it as much as possible as long as it doesn't impact the outcome. When I am in such situation, I use tossing the [...]
What advice would I give to myself 10 years ago ?
Life is the name of continual motion. My counter is constantly running and I have no control over it. In fact, none of the billions of people walking this earth right now, have any control over this counter. It keeps running and running until one day when it will abruptly stop. That day, life as I know it, will cease to exist. I enjoy the great outdoors and feel blessed to be living in Ottawa, one of the most beautiful cities I have [...]
Love vs Lust
Once in a while, we get attracted to different things including cause, person or a vision. It is difficult to differentiate between lust and love at first because they both have the same passion and sentiments. With the passage of time, it becomes difficult to keep the same sentiments over an extended period of time. We all are humans and sentiments make or break us. We have to invest resources such as time, money and emotions for a better future but mostly we are [...]