Uber has partnered up with MasterCard MA and Mexican online bank Bankaool to launch a debit card in Mexico.
According to Business Insider, the UberCard will only be available in Mexico where many card providers don’t allow their customers to use their cards for online payments, which is what Uber generally relies on. Luckily, because of MasterCard’s role in this collaboration, UberCard payments aren’t only relegated to the Uber app, but can be used anywhere that MasterCard is accepted.
Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) in its nine-month unaudited report posted an 8.2 per cent increase in operating expenses, an indication of rising challenges in the industry.
Also, although it recorded 59.6 per cent increase in profit after tax to N119.9 billion from N75.2 billion in the corresponding period of 2015, its cost-to-income ratio, which moderated to 28.5 per cent in the period under review is said to be high too.The bank’s Profit Before Tax also rose from N92.06 billion to N140.84 billion, an increase of 53 per cent.
The improved performance, according to the bank, was attributable to its aggressive pursuit of outlined key objectives for the year, as well as benchmarking the bank in line with global standards.
Its loan book grew by 19.6 per cent, from N1.372 trillion recorded in December 2015 to N1.640trillion in September 2016, while Total Assets of the bank stood at N3.093 trillion, with shareholders’ funds of N483.4billion.
US banks announced their Venmo competitor. Set to compete against PayPal-owned Venmo, their money-transfer app will be called Zelle. It will launch next year and be built atop the payments networks of the nation’s biggest banks, including Chase, Citi, and Bank of America.
The Olam Prize is one of four initiatives launched for Olam’s 25th anniversary in 2014, which also includes a scholarship program, a foundation and the Building Sustainable Futures Forum, which was held on September 15, 2016. Entries are now open for the second global Olam Prize for Innovation in Food Security. The winning research project for the 2016/2017 edition will receive $50k of funding. The laureates may also have the opportunity to work with Olam to develop the practical application of their innovation with the company’s expertise in agricultural supply chains spanning 47 products in 70 countries.
In the most eye popping of headlines, Softbank has announced that it is forming a technology investing megafund in conjunction with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. The $100bn Softbank Vision Fund will be the largest private equity fund of its kind.
In a paradigm where oil prices remain depressed and the world’s most prolific oil producer is investing in technology to salvage its returns, we must all acknowledge that “data is the new oil.”
By 2020, humankind will produce 44 zettabytes of data, with over 10% of that data coming from machines. A zettabyte is one sextillion bytes—yes that would in fact be 21 zeros!!! This is a tenfold increase from 2014 alone and enough data to fill up Lake Ontario.
In the financial services industry, more data in and of itself is not necessarily a good thing. While large volumes of data are still needed for some organizations, the emphasis on smart, meaningful analysis of that data will always take precedent. Smart data always trumps big data, as quality always trumps quantity.
At the end of the day, some of the data collected may not even be worth the cost of storage. In a world where data is truly the new oil, fintech startups that can help find the “signal through the noise” will make the largest splash.