There’s so much is happening in the financial services world that its enough to make your head spin. At the same time, if you take a look at the news today, you can see who’s getting it and moving forward, and who’s content with playing the same old game risking their very survival.

Here’s my Fintech Innovation Watch. With a twist! With every news item, I’ll also go out on a limb and derive some future potential innovations that might happen (or might not)!

APIs: Xero tied up with Capital One. Its a great partnership but the news is getting old now with Wells, SVB etc. already on this bandwagon. I’m sure better things are coming soon. This integration is great for a customer to import their bank transactions into Xero (and hence be happier with Capital One), but banks need to prepare for the new frontiers in customer engagement? For example, in a connected world, a simple 2-way API that helps build up context of the customer transactions that’s available in Xero to help with analytics on receivables and other cash management needs? The number of value added services (perhaps paid) that can be developed by banks are countless. We only need to look beyond the traditional products of business checking account and loans. Read the original news item here.

Core banking and community: In another interesting development, Fiserv signed up Apple Creek Bank. This is a small community bank in Ohio. The reasons for moving to Fiserv are based on traditional metrics of faster processes and providing additional digital services like PopMoney to customers. Fiserv has started to do that really well no doubt. And great goals by Apple Creek too. But if you think about it, the goals also reflect the pains of all banks who are severely constrained, and perhaps trapped inside their own perimeters. With less than deep pockets, many of them rely on their foundation platforms to carry them into the new world. Banking providers should be enabling Internet of Everything for community banks, and helping to actually build a community connected by exciting types of commerce. By serving same old same old, the community banking menu of offerings won’t be able to make escape velocity. Read the original news item here.

Payments: Then we see the continued rise of seamless payments. M&B restaurants are leading the way just like Uber and Lyft did, by making the payments and ordering seamless with Flypay. We order, we eat and drink, and we walk away. Its like Panera++ and Starbucks++! There’s also the added bonus of seamless loyalty across all the M&B brands, not to mention lots of labor efficiency gains. No doubt future enhancements like order ahead and recommendations are on the way, and we should be closely watching how these sector specific payment models will work with more traditional models such as cards and even Apple Pay. Will the list of payment options always be available? Going even further, will restaurant platforms open up APIs for ordering and payments  – to be skinned by anyone? Now, that would be a mashup to watch! Read the original news item here.

Robo-Advising: What a model this news represents! Something for all banks to think about. Danske bank launched its digital investment platform (June) to put to work deposits that are earning practically nothing where they are! Sure, all of us need a little cushion for the rainy day but lets face it – most of us have way more sitting in our checking accounts than we would like. So Danske has turned that simmering dissatisfaction into something of a delight. Independent robo-advisors watch out! Even though June itself is a robo-advisor it is showing us a model that so far has been limited to the large wealth managers like Vanguard and Schwabb. Now if only my own trusty old bank can get its act together, and actually help me manage my money better! Danske got a couple of things right – first they make it easy for customers to take an action, they offer a defined and tailored portfolio, and they’ve opened it up to customers outside of Danske. Now that’s a nice escape from the Innovators Dilemma and creating new business models of the future. Way to go! Read the original news item here.

Hope you liked my take on these innovations. Each of these innovations is awesome in its own right of course. It does take a lot of make a change, however incremental it may be. Do let me know what you thought of this Fintech Innovation Watch. These leaps of faith are based on the principles I used in my new book Connected! How Platforms of Today Will Become Apps of Tomorrow.

Thanks to Finextra for the daily sources. If you liked my take, do subscribe to the blog for when the next edition comes out in a few days. And PS: If anyone wants to partner up to target any of these innovations, look me up! Image courtesy Pixabay

Until next time!