As large banks embrace FinTech start-ups and their advanced technology rather than compete against them, both parties aim to eliminate the “middle man” in financial services transactions. This “middle man” is a metaphor for the different steps of customer interaction that technology has removed to make banking more efficient. However, in the hyper-speed environment from which bank - start-up integrations emerge, a new middle man - between these parties has become necessary.

Empire Startups, a thriving startup FinTech community, held it’s annual FinTech Conference on Tuesday, April 26 at concert venue Webster Hall.  The sold-out audience of 560 attendees consisted of early stage startups and larger companies in roughly equal proportion.

The financial industry is no stranger to the power of technology. After all, it has developed its own legion of Quants who use advanced quantitative analysis and programming techniques to exploit big opportunities in the capital markets. Despite being highly regulated, the FinTech industry is booming with the entry of smaller startups looking to disrupt the space with the latest technologies, with data science being at the topmost of the list.

FinTech startup VendorMach provided lessons in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and big data on the Byte campus recently. Topics covered by Chaney Ojinnaka, CEO, and Ivan Kotorov, VP, Enterprise, included:  KYC (Know Your Customer), supply chain, trust scoring and programming languages.  They explained why they chose Python over Ruby for their product.  Python's ability to analyze numbers and frameworks are key (as a Python school we're thrilled:).  VendorMach also discussed FinTech cultural attitudes in London (original headquarters) and New York City  (second office location).  By the end of the event the audience felt much much comfortable with "hot" technology buzzwords including artificial intelligence, machine learning, supply chain and more.

For those who may have missed Finovate two weeks ago, rough cut videos of each presentation have just been published to the Finovate site.  Watch demos online to see the latest from companies on the forefront on FinTech technology.

The SEC and Goldman Sachs have recently tackled the over-and often misleading-usage of the word “blockchain.”  To remedy this perhaps, companies are banning the use of the word “blockchain,” instead using the term “Digital Ledger Technology,” or,  DLT for short?

As you might have heard, we have just recently found our way into the Silicon Valley of India, a.k.a. Bangalore! Following our first foray into India this month, we thought there was no better time to touch upon the hottest topics in the realm of FinTech in the country.