Google – hernaes.com

After a busy couple of months with many interesting developments in fintech, I’ll be taking a couple of weeks hiatus from updating my blog for the summer. Feel free to check out my previous posts from the last couple of months in the meantime.

Since the launch of my blog in late february I have covered numerous subjects that interest me. A common denominator for the majority of my blog posts is the changing landscape for financial services, where I have looked at how tech giants are challenging incumbents though the launch of Facebook Pay as well as what plans Google may have for the insurance industry. Ia have also covered how industry convergence is reshaping finance, with the Scandinavian media industry is also joining in on the fun.

Not only are established companies from converging industries challenging the existing ecosystem, but the number of unicorns in fintech steadily increasing, with P2P Lending as one of the areas of high potential for disruption as well as bitcoin and blockchain as a potential game changer. I have also given a reminder that regulations are not always a constant, and Iceland’s proposed change in the monetary system is a brilliant example.

Over to regional perspective, I have devoted a lot of time giving an overview of fintech in Scandinavia, including fintech in Sweden, or more specific the greater Stockholm region, how Denmark is focusing on a more specialized approach and the growing Norwegian fintech scene. There are also several bank driven fintech initiaitves, and some claim the Nordics as the potential silicon valley of payments.

In addition to my focus on fintech, I have also looked into more general subjects like how to hire digital talent, interpretation of Net Present Value when interest rates are negative, and how sharing in the sharing economy is everything but caring.

While you wait, you could also check out the older material on my blog (in both English and Norwegian) and stay tuned for my next contribution at TechcCrunch scheduled July 12th. There I will look closer at real time banking and the correlation between ISO 20022 and Blockchain.

Thank you for all the feedback and encouragement. Have a great summer!

Ever since the acquisition of BeatThatQuote in the UK in 2012 there has been rumors of Google entering the insurance industry. I looked into this subject myself almost a year ago, and concluded that is not a question of whether Google is going to take a position in the future value chain for the insurance industry, but which position Google wants to take, and how this will affect incumbents. Earlier this year, Forrester analyst Ellen Carney also uncovered that Google had filed for a license to sell insurance in half the states in the US market earlier this jyesr.

Confirming these rumors, Google finally announced that they will launch Google Compare for Auto Insurance, a comparison and insurance shopping site directly tied to your search words.

This makes perfectly sense for Google as they have in collaboration with BCG India predicted that 75 percent of all insurance purchases will be online by 2020. In most cases this customer journey begins with a Google search, and already insurers are paying up to $54 per click for car insurance quote searches. With a comparison service based on cost-per-acquisition (CPA) this is surely a major step towards a strengthened position in the financial services value chain.