Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by James Bessenbach
A good business plan is the foundation of every new idea
Welcome to Finextra. We use cookies to help us to deliver our services. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you may change your preferences at our Cookie Centre. Please read our Privacy Policy. News in your inbox For Finextra's free daily newsletter, breaking news and flashes and weekly job board. Sign Up Channels Group External | what does this mean? This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author.
How mid-sized banks can outmaneuver mega-banks
For banking customers, good service now means completing a quick and painless transaction online. The experience of 2020, with branches closed or offering reduced services due to COVID-19 restrictions, has brought this to the fore: a survey by Mastercard showed 87 per cent of people who had never used a banking app before the pandemic would continue to use them in future. Banks are intensely aware of this change, which was under way even before the pandemic.
Who are banks competing against in payments now?
For several decades, incumbent banks have held a comfortable leadership position in payments. But the rapid growth of digital payments has signalled opportunity for new market entrants to attack this status quo. To develop effective strategies to stay ahead, incumbents must understand who their competitors are now, and assess how their strengths and weaknesses compare in the key competitive battlegrounds of data, trust, cost, innovation, scale and alternative payment methods.
Regulation and collaboration: the key to mainstream embedded finance
There was one major story in fintech during 2020: the collapse of Wirecard. The saga of the scandal-hit company increased the focus on some concerns around fintech generally. Of course, the blame for the collapse lies squarely with Wirecard - but there are lessons to be learned beyond the nefarious behaviour of executives in one company. First, whatever the fintech-skeptics say, we should remember that the Wirecard story is not symptomatic of the collapse of the sector.
What the hell is Banking as a Service? And what is it not?
With the surging number of new banking and fintech business models emerging on the scene, it can be hard to keep them all apart. The term “Banking as a Service”, especially, still has many scratching their heads. But scratch no more! We’re here to guide you through the jargon jungle of the new banking business models in our complete overview. We will cover: Banking as a Service Open banking Platform banking What exactly is Banking as a Service?
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with James
Contact James, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack