Tuesday, 11th of October, 2022

Hi

A good innovation strategy is like a road map for making the most of your forward-thinking mindset.

Successful game changers demonstrate that it is well worth it. Here's how IKEA, Netflix, and Amazon became "innovators."

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it," said Alan Kay, a personal computing luminary who imagined laptops and graphical user interfaces years before they were invented.

He proved his famous quote numerous times, and he wasn't alone. Many executives now view innovation as a critical business goal.

Want to learn more? Check the Readers Corner.

Cheers,

Radek

Finance & Tech?

• PKO Bank Polski, the largest bank in Central and Eastern Europe, has moved one of the most recognisable buildings in the capital of Poland into the metaworld, where it has set up a virtual branch on the Decentraland platform. Pawe? Gruza, vice president of the management board of PKO Bank Polski says the outpost will be used as a laboratory to broaden experience and to test relevant technologies, backed by a belief that the virtual economy will match the growth of PCs, Internet and smart phones in the past. "I would like PKO Bank Polski to be ready to make use of the opportunities related to it, and when metaverse has matured, to set the rhythm in the technological development of the domestic banking sector and the Polish economy," he says. Read more.?
• Mastercard has approved the first cards for issuers that are compatible with the new EMVCo contactless specifications designed to protect against attacks from both traditional and quantum computers. Experts have been warning for years about the potential for quantum computing to render today's security protocols obsolete. Mastercard has been working with global standards body EMVCo to embed quantum-resistant Enhanced Contactless specifications into current card programmes, amid fears over the prospect of bad actors harnessing quantum computing to break the encryption that protects key systems. Ajay Bhalla, president, cyber & intelligence at Mastercard, says: “By bringing quantum-era technology to contactless payments, we are taking steps to future-proof security and privacy protection as much as possible. These new cards will deliver that greater peace of mind, while also providing consumers and merchants a seamless transition from today’s contactless experience.” Read more.?
• Facing a challenging economic environment, business payments platform Airwallex has sustained its $5.5 billion valuation in a new $100 million funding round. The cash came from existing investors Square Peg, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, Lone Pine Capital, Hermitage Capital, 1835i Ventures and Tencent. HostPlus, an Australian industry superannuation fund, as well as a leading North American pension fund also participated. The new capital injection brings melbourne-based Airwallex's total funding to $900 million. The company, which is pondering an initial public offering as early as 2024, has seen its business continue to grow despite the economic downturn, posting a 184% revenue rise and doubling customer numbers over the past year. Read more.?
• HSBC has cut the approval process for new Receivables Finance (RF) customers from one to two months to under 48 hours, using a new technology platform from Trade Ledger. Using the online application form, HSBC customers can now transfer data directly through an API from their accounting software package. They also have the option to upload their data through a user-interface. Once submitted, the Trade Ledger platform automatically generates a survey and risk report using a rule-based decisioning engine which is then despatched to the underwriters within hours of the application being received. The client is kept updated of the status of their application and a final decision is typically received within two days, including an indicative offer. Read more.?
• JPMorgan Chase and Visa are to establish connectivity between their global private blockchain networks, Liink and B2B Connect. Under the collaboration Visa B2B Connect will utilise Confirm, a new tool from Liink to validate new accounts for cross border payments and to approve accounts when new users onboard. Confirm allows institutions to safely validate account information prior to sending a payment, ensuring fewer payment returns due to missing or incorrect information, and mitigating against fraudulent activity by pre-validating account information so participants know beforehand if the instructed beneficiary matches the owner of the account they are paying. Read more.?
• The European Commission has put out a tender for a study on "embedded supervision of decentralised finance". The study will entail a six momnth pilot project to develop, deploy and test a technological solution that would enable regulatory bodies to automatically monitor compliance by reading public blockchain data. "The project will seek to benefit from the open nature of transaction data on the Ethereum blockchain, which is the biggest settlement platform of DeFi protocols," states the Commission in the tender document. "Its main focus will be on automated supervisory data gathering directly from the blockchain to test the technological capabilities for supervisory monitoring of real-time DeFi activity." Read more.?
• Lloyds Bank research has found that UK financial institutions are increasingly turning to technology to combat the rising costs of living. The study found that 75% of UK financial institutions are expecting costs of operations to rise in the next year due to the cost of living crisis. 72% believe that investing in technology will lessen the effect of cost increases, and it is predicted that 71% of financial organisations will invest in core technology within the next year. Read more.?
• FTX has inked a global agreement with Visa to offer crypto-linked debit cards to customers in 40 countries. Already available in the US, the FTX account-linked Visa debit cards will now be rolled out in dozens of countries, initially in Latin America, with Europe and Asia to follow. The cards allow users to convert and pay for goods and services with the crypto balance in their FTX wallets at the 80 million merchant locations worldwide that accept Visa. Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO, FTX, says: "This card allows users to make use of their FTX crypto balances 24 hours a day, 365 days a year securely and with no administrative or processing fees." Read more.?
• An estimated $100 million in Binance Coin (also known as BNB token) tokens were stolen during a targeted hack on the BSC Token Hub on Friday. Hackers broke into the cross-chain bridge linking Binance with Binance Smart Chain (BSC) to shift the funds. These bridges are designed to facilitate the movement of tokens from one blockchain to another. The cryptocurrency exchange temporarily froze its blockchain network after the major hack.CEO Changpeng Zhao confirmed the hack on his Twitter, stating: “An exploit on a cross-chain bridge, BSC Token Hub, resulted in extra BNB. We have asked all validators to temporarily suspend BSC. The issue is contained now. Your funds are safe. We apologize for the inconvenience and will provide further updates accordingly.” Read more.?
• While there have been countless, ground-breaking developments in digital banking in recent years, cash remains the most used legal tender on the planet. Therefore, we need to consider how can we make cash as green as possible. To find out, Finextra spoke to the head sustainability engineer at G+D Currency Technology, Alexandra Geiger, on the Green Banknote Initiative being spearheaded by her company. Read more.?

Number to Remember

$2.6 billion

• For the fourth straight quarter, funding to VC-backed cybersecurity startups decreased—as even one of the most resilient industries showed it is not immune to the venture capital pullback. The recently ended third quarter saw only $2.6 billion go to startups in cyber, the lowest total since the same quarter in 2020, according to Crunchbase data. Read more.?

Reader’s Corner?

• A simple definition of innovation strategy is that it is “a system of business processes and initiatives designed to maximize the value of an organization within a specified time period.” A more pragmatic definition is that an innovation strategy is a commitment to a mission of coherent, mutually reinforcing activities directed toward a specific goal. Strategy translates general ideas into concrete business concepts. Advancement in technologies or services is usually included, as is money. Yes, an innovation strategy requires that you invest money in building research and innovation centers and creating internal ideation programs that will help you achieve your objective. Read more.?