Everybody wants to be a "fintech epicenter" these days. This morning, the Dubai International Financial Center (yes, THAT Dubai) announced the establishment of a $100 million fund (no outside investors, thank you) to invest in fintech start ups in the region. Now comes word that Jacksonville, Florida is declaring itself to be very well positioned as a fintech center as well. Fintech incubators popping up in places like Arkansas, Alabama, North Carolina
and elsewhere throughout the US only further validates what the readers of FintekNews already know. Fintech is THE future growth driver in finance, in all its varied forms, the world over.
(Cindy Taylor/Publisher)
"Jacksonville is very well positioned when it comes to fintech," said Marc Chalifoux, vice president of fintech intelligence and innovation at TD Bank's Payments Group. "I believe fintech can be a differentiator for Jacksonville."
Chalifoux addressed a gathering of banking and technology professionals Monday at an event hosted by Jax Chamber and TD Bank (NYSE: TD). He believes that Jacksonville has the five ingredients - entrepreneurs, large corporations, research universities, capital investors and government - that are needed for an industry to succeed.
Fintech that was once feared as disruptive is now being integrated by banks to provide a wider range of solutions for customers, Chalifoux said.
"Think of a bank as an aggregator of all these services, and increasingly so," said Chalifoux, noting that TD Bank has worked with fintech startups to improve payment services, customer service, tax filing, fraud detection and self-service capabilities.
Chalifoux pointed to six areas where banks and startups are driving fintech innovation: Artificial intelligence, blockchain (a decentralized way of verifying assets), cloud computing, biometrics, APIs (customer interfaces) and cryptocurrency.
Chalifoux was joined onstage by local entrepreneurs Ted Willich, CEO and co-founder of NLP Logix, and Neal Anderson, CEO of OnPay Solutions. NLP Logix provides a wide variety of AI and machine learning solutions, but about 30 percent of its revenue comes from financial clients. OnPay Solutions automates business-to-business payments, eliminating the need for costly paper checks and simplifying accounting processes..."
Full Story at Jacksonville Biz Journal