Re-inventingfinance for a digital world

whitePaper | September 20, 2022

Banking has historically been one of the business sectors most resistant to disruption by technology. Since the first mortgage was issued in England in the 11th century, banks have built robust businesses with multiple moats: ubiquitous distribution through branches; unique expertise such as credit underwriting underpinned by both data and judgment; even the special status of being regulated institutions that supply credit, the lifeblood of economic growth, and have sovereign insurance for their liabilities (deposits). Moreover, consumer inertia in financial services is high. Consumers have generally been slow to change financial-services providers. Particularly in developed markets, consumers have historically gravitated toward the established and enduring brands in banking and insurance that were seen as bulwarks of stability even in times of turbulence.

whitePaper | March 29, 2023

Today, the financial services industry faces numerous disruptive forces, including ever-increasing customer demand for innovative and personalized services; intense competition from technology companies, fintechs and incumbents; rising regulatory pressure; increasing cybersecurity threats; and the need for skilled talent to address all the above.

whitePaper | May 24, 2022

DTCC’s 2015 white paper, Understanding Interconnectedness Risks, underscored the importance of looking at the global financial system as a complex network of interdependent components. Building on efforts by academics and researchers to apply network theory and other insights to financial risk management, the paper highlighted how the failure of a large and highly interconnected entity can impact the financial system and the real economy to the point where it can cause worldwide financial instability.

whitePaper | July 15, 2022

Since the inception of Bitcoin in 2008, financial markets have seen a sharp increase in market capitalization for various blockchain-based assets in recent years. Yet, Bitcoin still represents the most popular cryptocurrency, with a market capitalization amounting to approximately USD 370 billion as of mid 2022. The recent phenomenon of blockchain-based applications such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the emergence of decentralized finance (DeFi) have also contributed to the mushrooming of digital assets. In particular, DeFi has experienced tremendous momentum, with cryptocurrency investments locked to the Ethereum blockchain exceeding USD 100 billion by the end of 2021. DeFi has witnessed a rapid increase in market value in 2021, accompanied by a growing user base and the emergence of new, innovative use cases. Against this backdrop, we believe that exploring and developing a comprehensive understanding of DeFi marks a worthwhile endeavor.

whitePaper | July 29, 2022

Would you like to be able to aggregate your data across your bank accounts? Enable your tax accountant to see your financial information? Enable the App of your choice to make a payment on your behalf? Or perhaps you would like to enable your residents or customers to perform these tasks in a low cost, secure and interoperable way? There is a global movement towards “Open Banking/Open Data” the paradigm shift where a user authorizes the release of their data from one entity (a data holder like a bank) to an entity where they would like it to go (a relying party like a FinTech). This is also known as “user-consent based data sharing.” Although this movement started with banking use cases and gaining access to data held by banks, it is now expanding to a range of other verticals including brokerage and mutual fund services, insurance, telecommunications, utilities, health and more.

whitePaper | January 6, 2020

Finance’s role is evolving. Following the 2008 financial crisis, it guided the business through extraordinarily difficult economic times, relying on cost management and lean practices to keep their organizations afloat. Today, finance must switch gears and find ways to navigate sustainable and profitable growth.