Fintech Friday: BBVA and the SEC make fintech headlines

• Sedicii receives in the 2018 BBVA Open Innovation Fintech for Future Award. This award comes on the heels of winning the BBVA Regtech Award and being a finalist in the Fintech for Business category, both earlier this week. The Sedicii Zero Knowledge Proof technology will power the Kriptan Identity Network which will add key GDPR and compliant capabilities to public blockchains. The ground-breaking solution will facilitate fully regulated digital and FIAT asset transfers. CEO and Founder Rob Leslie called the news “recognition for the hard work and dedication of the entire Sedicii team”. He expects the award from BBVA will open many more doors and be a further catalyst for growth and penetration across the Fintech and Regtech sector.
• BBVA today announced a partnership with leading fintech venture investor and builder Anthemis Group to build a venture creation studio in London.  The studio will deploy capital and resources to build businesses that address untapped user needs and attract fintech entrepreneurs. The partnership will expand the BBVA footprint in the fintech ecosystem, and enable Anthemis to continue its mission to cultivate change in financial services. BBVA and Anthemis expect to help startup founders find fintech business opportunities, initiate projects, and see them develop from conception through to the seed capital round of financing.
• The Securities and Exchange Commission released an investigative report warning public financial companies against cyber fraud, but for budding financial technology companies, there is a more pressing problem.  Many prominent fintech firms like Kabbage, Lemonade and Social Finance (SoFi) are funded by SoftBank, which is backed by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is at the center of the recent scandal involving the disappearance of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. In fact, being linked to the Khashoggi scandal could prevent some fintech firms from getting national bank charters.
• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is launching a portal to engage with companies using blockchain, artificial intelligence and more. The new fintech hub, or FinHub for short, is designed to bring the SEC’s existing services to a single access point and provide an easier way to for companies to communicate with the public. As startups building with blockchain increasingly come under the SEC’s attention, the new portal has the potential to streamline the process of building compliant platforms prior to launch. The SEC’s FinHub will be led by Valerie A. Szczepanik, senior advisor for digital assets and innovation and associate director in the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance. Szczepanik told Forbes the SEC has “been doing these things for years. This is going to bring it all together.” The FinHub will be staffed by representatives from the SEC’s divisions and offices who have expertise and involvement in fintech-related issues.

Note: Every Friday, BBVA Compass, a leader in the U.S. digital banking revolution, publishes its weekly Fintech Friday article, giving you headlines you might have missed in the world of fintech across the country.