fintech digest
UK banks failing SMEs, Goldman Sachs Plans to Exit Consumer Lending, Dubai’s Fintech initiatives & More
Research Team
20 October 2023
UK Banks Are Failing SMEs Needing External Finance; Threatening ‘Rise in the Number of Insolvencies’
UK banks appear to be growing increasingly reluctant to lend to SMEs, with 67% of UK SMEs believing they are less willing to lend to them today – increasing to 71% for SMEs with a turnover between £1 million and £5 million.
Goldman Sachs Wants Out of Consumer Lending. Employees Say It Can’t Happen Fast Enough.
When Goldman Sachs and Apple launched their joint savings account in April, Goldman held a town hall at its headquarters, where bank executives talked it up. One executive had a different message shortly afterward. “We should have never done this f—ing thing," the Goldman partner told colleagues.
Dubai Introduces Key Initiatives to Strengthen its Fintech Ecosystem
Dubai takes centre stage this week as it hosts one of the world’s largest start-up showcase, Expand North Star. With more than 1,800 startups hailing from over 100 countries, backed by a roster of 1,000 investors overseeing an astounding $1 trillion in assets, the event shines a spotlight on Dubai’s growing significance in the global tech landscape.
UAE to launch national domestic card scheme
The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) and its subsidiary payments infrastructure provider Al-Etihad Payments are to develop and implement the DCS in partnership with NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), which led the development of India's RuPay card scheme.
Fight to launch spot bitcoin ETF in the US passes another hurdle
The long-running fight to launch a US exchange traded fund investing directly in bitcoin has passed another hurdle after the regulator declined to contest a court ruling made against it. The US Securities and Exchange Commission had until Friday to appeal against an August federal appeals court ruling that it had been wrong to reject an application from cryptocurrency house Grayscale Investments to convert its $16.7bn Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), the world largest crypto fund, into an ETF.