Financial Services

Predicting the future of finance is, for the most part, impossible. However, if you look back (and not that far) at the history of innovation in our industry, chances are you believe the future is bright. Consider how far we’ve advanced in just the past 60 years: Modern-day credit cards were introduced in 1950, starting […]

This table below highlights how blockchain can disrupt various aspects of the financial services industry. If you are interested in learning more about blockchain, download our new guide titled “Getting Ahead with Blockchain in Financial Services.”

It’s been awhile since I’ve written about FDA warning letters, so I thought I would take a look at the letters issued throughout the year and see if anything egregious (or at least interesting) came up. I was surprised to learn that the FDA issued letters to six separate clinical investigators, and I thought the […]

Leveraging blockchain technology requires access to a blockchain platform. Public or permissionless blockchain platforms, however, have limitations for financial enterprise transactions, creating privacy concerns by enabling everybody on the blockchain to have visibility of all transactions. Additionally, the sheer vastness of potential transactions requires a substantial amount of computational power, which can slow transaction processing […]

Current transaction processing requires trusted intermediaries to store assets, verify the legitimacy and solvency of each party in a transaction, validate each asset being transacted, complete the transfer of ownership of the asset, and record the transaction in a centralized ledger. Once a transaction is initiated, the initiating party has no visibility of each stage […]

Blockchain is not a new technology; it has been available since the introduction of bitcoin in 2008. However, alternative applications in financial services have not yet achieved a critical mass of acceptance. There are some reasons for this, including the following. Regulatory Approval There is currently no legal framework that regulates the application of blockchain technology […]

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), which measures the satisfaction of consumers with the quality of products and services offered by companies across a variety of industries, released a report that suggests digital transformation is helping financial services companies increase customer satisfaction. The ACSI report, which is based on 17,861 customer surveys collected between October […]

Pharmaceutical companies selling their products in the UK need to consider the impact Brexit will have on their operations. Some changes will need to be made before the UK leaves the European Union on March 30, 2019. In a press release, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said: “The guidance document outlines the practical and simplified […]

In the mid-1980’s, a nascent technology was leveraged to invent the World Wide Web. Few could have foreseen the ubiquity of the internet in 2017. Likewise, blockchain is a relatively new technology, and its full potential may not be realized for some years. In the interim, and as further research continues, a number of applications […]

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is will be moving its offices from London to Amsterdam, due to the UK’s decision to withdraw from the European Union. According to a press release issued by the EMA, the relocation effort needs to be completed by the end of March 2019. The EMA currently employs close to 900 […]

In the interest of reducing cost and liability, financial services companies have started withdrawing from the advice market and are requiring non-high net worth individuals to bear responsibility for their own financial decisions. This trend is similar to a trend in healthcare called “patient empowerment,” where doctors no longer make a recommendation for a course […]

Adjusting to the new regulatory environment Recent problems with bank employees opening unauthorized accounts for consumers have focused the regulatory spotlight on sales practices in the industry. The fallout from sales practices problems has been spectacular and well-publicized: Hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and legal costs Destruction of shareholder value Brand and reputational […]