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The concept of central bank-issued digital currencies has been the talk of the town in the crypto- ad banking communities for a while, but as we are getting into the new decade, news of various central banks either researching or announcing that they will launch digital currencies that have exploded. What are the motivations behind this rise in popularity, what are the potential consequences and does national bank-issued digital currencies make sense in a borderless digital world?

By now, we’ve all heard the talks of mobile wallets becoming the one app to rule them all that eventually disintermediates banks from the customer relationship. However, reality has failed to meet expectations so far. Although mobile wallet adoption is slow, activities are picking up the pace, and the main players are not the incumbent banks.

Our friends at at the Factory has updated their excellent map of the Norwegian fintech landscape. From a moderate start only a few years ago, fintech has grown to a sizeable area in Norway.

Defining a strategy is easy. Transforming those slides and spreadsheets into action is the tricky part. Instead of presenting an endless barrage of charts, boxes, and figures, leaders should embrace storytelling as a tool to inspire and engage the organization.

Med ny teknologi og regulatoriske endringer går bank­ene fra å være en lukket silo til å bli en åpen plattform. Det er dette som kalles open banking. I denne artikkelen stilles det spørsmål om hva dette egentlig betyr for bankbransjen slik vi kjenner den, og hvilke muligheter dette representerer for både etablerte aktører og nystartede selskaper.

Mandag 2. desember inviterte Finansdepartementet utvalgte aktører i finansbransjen til å dele sitt syn på fintech for å gi sine innspill på hvordan norsk finansnæring også i fremtiden kan ligge langt fremme i den teknologiske utviklingen.

Challenger bank and for many fintech favorite Revolut announced last week that the company is set to raise additional $1,5 billion for its expansion into the US market. In terms of valuation, Revolut is aiming somewhere in the range of $5-10 billion. The big question is whether the company fundamentals and future expectations justiy this valuation, or is Revolut the Wework of fintech?

I have previously argued that leadership is the key ingredient for digital success, and even a born-digital company like Sbanken needs digital transformation in order to adapt to a new landscape for financial services. In order to embrace the change, we have defined a set of leadership principles as a code of conduct when navigating forward.

The financial industry has been standing at the precipice of this major shift. Some banks have taken the leap – innovative thinkers and leaders embracing the data revolution and using it to deliver amazing services. For those who’ve waited, now is your time – to take a leap, redefine how consumers manage their money and seize a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change banking for the better.

With the rise of online banking, social media, e-commerce, and peer-to-peer services, a verified digital identity is a crucial ingredient in making any digital platforms succeed. There is too much at stake when it comes to our digital identities to remain unvigilant of what is going on, as shown numerous times through both data breaches where our personal data is compromised and manipulation of public opinion through social media. Ownership of our digital identities should belong to we the people rather than one corporation or consortium of corporations that seek to exploit our data for profit.

Teknisk gjeld – gamle IT-systemer som må oppdateres og forbedres for å ikke falle sammen – har lenge vært et sentralt tema for enhver IT-avdeling og ethvert utviklermiljø. Du er ikke digital bare fordi du har lansert en app, og dersom du beveger deg for raskt i kundegrensesnittet uten å samtidig adressere underliggende teknologi vil du til slutt møte veggen. Hva er egentlig problemet, hvorfor ender så mange opp der, og hva skal til for å løse det?

Facebook’s venture into the payments space has been a long time coming for many of us. Today Facebook finally unveiled the details surrounding the rumored cryptocurrency, Libra that is set to launch sometime 2020. What is it, who will benefit from it, and who will be potential victims of Facebook’s potential success?

Digitalisering er et tema som har gått fra bagatellisering til en overdreven teknologioptimisme til en erkjennelse om at vi må ta grep. For dette finnes det ingen enkel oppskrift, men det finnes kjennetegn på hva som skal til for å komme i gang.

Climate change is real, the earth is getting warmer, and it is our fault. The rate of human-induced rate species extinction is accelerating to more than 1,000 to 10,000 times the normal rate. Water scarcity is getting worse, where at the current consumption rate, two thirds of the world population may face water shortages by 2025. Our oceans are not in a healthy state either, 63 percent of global fish stocks are considered overfished, and where there are no more fish, we are filling our oceans with plastic waste. In order to combat these and many other challenges affecting the environment, we must all do our part, and that includes the financial services industry.

Join me at this year’s Money 20/20 Europe in June where I will be hosting an all-star panel on how all disruptors eventually become incumbents. From the perspective of Sbanken, the original challenger bank, existing digital-only since 2000, I will lead the discussion together with well-renowned fintech unicorns as they are coming of age. Stay tuned for more and get your tickets at Money 20/20.

Samtidig som både norske forbrukere og virksomheter er blant de mest digitale i verden trekkes det stadig frem at Nordmenn både er naive og utsatt når det kommer til digital sikkerhet. Når det kommer til digitale løsninger er det til syvende sist mennesker som ikke bare bruker, men også designer og utvikler løsningene. Ved å tro det beste om folk, risikerer vi å overse hvordan det vi lager kan benyttes til ondsinnede formål.