Fintech 2023: The Year That Was and What’s Next

As 2023 draws to a close, it’s time to reflect on the key events and trends that shaped the world of fintech over the past year. From crypto meltdowns to generative AI breakthroughs, it’s been a turbulent yet transformative period.

In this article, I will provide an overview of the top fintech stories I wrote in 2023 — ranging from innovations in digital assets, payments, and investment research to shifts in regulations, business models, and consumer behaviors. I`ve grouped the articles in four categories even though several articles belong in more than one of these:

1. Banking Innovations & Challenges (including Payments)
2. Finserv & AI (including Investing)
3. The Future of Money & Capital Markets (including Tokenization)
4. Fintech Trends, Business Models, and Emerging Innovations

I believe these groupings make it easier to reflect on 2023. I invite you to share which fintech topics interest you most now and going forward. Which areas would you like to see more coverage of next year:

• Financial Services on new rails (CBDCs, stablecoins, crypto, Tokenization)
• Embedded Finance
• WealthTech
• AI in Financial Services
• Open Finance (market or regulatory-driven)

Let me know in the comments.

• Are you more interested in Fintech in specific regions (e.g. India, Latam, EU)
• Are you interested in Fintech innovations that blur industry lines (e.g. mobility, e-commerce, social media)?
• Are you more interested in Fintech adoption from incumbents?
• Are you more interested in developments in Fintech funding and the VC world?

The 2023 list below can help your reflection and is also an opportunity to read some of the 2023 articles that are thought-provoking as we are all preparing to switch to an exciting new year that I am sure will be full of progress.

— Thank you for reading —

Banking Innovations & Challenges (including Payments)

- The web of partner banks to maximize FDIC-insurance coverage

- Mourning the loss of Banks for the Unbanked — the Silicon Valley Bank trauma

- A WISE Solution to Bridge the Digital Divide Between Legacy Banks and Digital Natives

- Empowering `Ants`: Lessons from ANT Group`s ESG journey

- Coinbase: A challenger in the Wallet and Payment space

- FedNow Launches: Time to look into the ACH Network Services

- Is the comparison of AMEX with VISA ridiculous?

- The Payment methods graveyard

- Apple Raises Customer Experience Bar in US

- The $5 Trillion shortfall in cross-border trade financing for SMEs

• Are Adyen and Nubank Fintech ETF darlings?

Finserv & AI (including Investing)

- Buying, Renting, or Financing GPUs: Navigating the AI Compute Wars

- The power of Generative AI in Financial services Video Marketing

- Exploring the Intersection of AI and Finserv: Copilots, Autopilots, and Solana’s ChatGPT Integration

- Algorithmic Trading at an inflection point with GPT models

- The costs and concerns of Generative AI & a RegTech GPT3.5 use case

- Conversational Multimodal Interfaces in Asset Management

- Unlocking the Collaborative Potential: Iterative Collaborations, Blockchain, and Conversational Interfaces

- Mo, the First Personified Next-Gen Chatbot for Investment Research

- ChatGPT Empowering Investment Research: Trends and Use Cases

- From Chatbots to Social Impact: How GPT Models are Transforming Rural India

- A Moody`s & Microsoft GenAI collaboration for the Era of Exponential Risk

- Fighting Payment Fraud Together & For All: SWIFT and Microsoft’s Federated Learning Model

- 6 Thinking Hats: A framework for AI advancements

- OpenAI’s Agency Complexities: A Reflection on Business Models & Technology

- AI-Powered GovTech: Unlocking Economic and Social Network Effects

• E-Invoicing Adoption: A Tale of Two Continents — North America vs. Latin America

The Future of Money & Capital Markets (including Tokenization)

- The 5 aspects of Money

- Four Acquisitions for the Love of Tokenization

- The Tokenization Paradigm: Incumbents Embrace Innovation, Alliances Take Shape

- Bots, micro-payments, and my Twitter Blue subscription

- Stablecoin Showdown: The USD-Pegged Battlefield 3 Incumbents & 2 Stablecoin issuers

- The Quest for Blockchain-Enabled Innovation amidst the FTX Trial

- Perspectives: From Kik and Telegram to the XRP Veteran Token

- Purpose-Bound Money to Digitize Voucher Programs for Social Impact

- The Digital Yuan Chronicles: Exploring Future Insights and Promising Prospects

• 3 changes in the Gold-Backed Token market & the Texas wild card

Fintech Trends, Business models, and Emerging Innovations

- Cooking and Serving an Embedded Finance Stew

- Three conundrums for Fintech startups

- Fintech Subsectors with Potential for Bottom-Up Gender Diversity

- Unveiling Fintech Disparities & Opportunities Amidst High-Interest Rates

- 6 principles to Become a Purple Fintech Cow

- Innovation can work even in a Fragmented world

- The collaboration village in Davos 2023

- 26 People-Centric Fintechs Featured in the Top LinkedIn Startup Lists

- An Unbundling Alert — Innovations at the City and Country Level

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