Nearly 6m people in the UK are invisible to the financial system

"Almost 6m people in the UK are “invisible” to the financial system, causing them to be excluded from mainstream financial products and services, a new report has found.
Analysis of user data by Experian, a credit reference agency, revealed that 5.8m people in the UK have little or no financial information linked to them. These so-called “invisibles” can find themselves barred from the services that most people take for granted, or paying higher costs to access them.
Experian said it was not just those on the poorest incomes who were affected. “These people come from a variety of backgrounds — including families on average incomes, middle-aged adults with low incomes and pre-retirement households,” said James Jones, head of consumer affairs at Experian for the UK."
Source:  NewsCabal, 9th November 2018
(Story was originally in the FT)

Contactless payments account for 45% of Visa's transactions in the UK

Fun fact from Visa’s Oliver Jenkyn: Contactless payments = 91% transactions 🇦🇺, 45% 🇬🇧, 5% 🇺🇸 #money2020

— Chloe Cornish (@ChloeNCornish) October 23, 2017

Active bank accounts per 1,000 people in Africa

Source:  IMF, via Gates Notes, January 2015

People who are careful with money have fewer car crashes

"The [insurance] industry has started quietly trawling customers’ finances and other sources of “big data”, after proving that those who are careful with their cash have fewer car crashes.
The correlation is so strong that Lloyds Banking Group has begun offering prudent account holders savings of as much as 20 per cent on their car insurance.
Lloyds’ insurance arm Scottish Widows has not established why consumers who stay within overdraft limits or avoid bounced debit card payments have fewer accidents, but insiders suggest the thrifty tend to be more responsible.
The development shows how access to so-called big data are revolutionising the insurance industry. Companies are now accessing a wide range of information on everything from financial probity to shopping habits to determine the risk premium for individual customers.
Tesco, which tracks consumer behaviour through its Clubcard loyalty scheme, offers those it deems less risky based on their shopping habits discounts of as much as 40 per cent on home and car insurance.
Aviva has calculated the optimal distance from the street at which a property is least likely to be burgled – not too secluded nor too exposed.
Elsewhere, executives at Aviva’s Canadian business have established that houses within a radius of a few hundred metres from cinemas are more likely to be vandalised.
“This is not just a backroom theoretical exercise,” said Maurice Tulloch, who runs Aviva’s UK’s general insurance business. “If our analyst finds something new on a Monday, that can be live and impacting our prices on the Tuesday.”
Simon Douglas, director of AA Insurance, said: “The winners in the insurance market will be the ones that have got the data insights that others don’t have. It could be supermarkets, banks or social media companies.”"
Source:  Financial Times, 12th July 2014

Online & mobile banking in the UK

"The way people manage their money is undergoing a major revolution, with the number of payments made through banking applications on mobile phones doubling in a year, according to research published on Monday.
Around 1,800 transactions are now conducted each minute on Apple iPhone, Samsung Galaxy and other smartphones.
The British Bankers’ Association (BBA), whose research is the most comprehensive study of customer habits undertaken to date, said daily usage had doubled in 12 months.
In total, 12.4m people have downloaded banking apps, which allow customers to check their balance and make payments at the touch of a button. They used their devices to conduct 18.6m transactions a week last year, up from 9.1m in 2012.
[...]
Nearly 40m mobile and internet transactions were made each week in 2013, according to the BBA. Its research found the average Barclays customer now uses mobile banking 24 times a month, while downloads of the RBS/NatWest app are on course to hit a million this year, increasing its total by a third in just 12 months.
Mr Browne said technological developments, “largely explain” the “seismic decline” in visits to high street branches. Footfall at RBS/NatWest, for example, has fallen 30pc in four years."
Source:  Daily Telegraph, 31st March 2014

The demographics of Wonga customers in the UK

Click to enlarge

Source:  Wonga, retrieved 3rd September 2013
Also - Wonga has more than a million customers

A tweet from a billionaire investor added 5% to the value of Apple stock

We currently have a large position in APPLE. We believe the company to be extremely undervalued. Spoke to Tim Cook today. More to come.
— Carl Icahn (@Carl_C_Icahn) August 13, 2013

"APPLE’S shares rocketed last night after legendary investor Carl Icahn tweeted his support for the company, adding tens of billions to its market value.
The activist shareholder sent markets wild with a pair of tweets during afternoon trading yesterday, telling over 40,000 followers that he owns a large amount of Apple stock – which he believes is undervalued.
As shares began to rocket – rising as much as 5.6 per cent – Icahn stuck to the social media forum to divulge that he'd been speaking to the tech giant’s chief executive, and pushing Tim Cook to return some of the company’s huge cash pile to shareholders.
“We currently have a large position in Apple. We believe the company to be extremely undervalued,” Icahn tweeted, sending trading volumes up to three times their usual daily level.
“Had a nice conversation with Tim Cook today. Discussed my opinion that a larger buyback should be done now. We plan to speak again shortly.”
Stocks soared up 5.6 per cent on the statements, before ending the say up 4.75 per cent – representing a gain of $17bn to the market value of the business. The jump leaves the shares at $489.57, their highest level since January."
Source:  City AM, 14th August 2013

There is a correlation between page views on Wikipedia and stock market performance

"A flood of views to a company's Wikipedia page may be a sign that their stock price is about to plummet.
That's the implication of a study published on 8 May in Scientific Reports, which looked at Wikipedia page view data from 2007 to 2012 and correlated it with changes in the stock market price for companies listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
An uptick in the number of Wikipedia page views, as compared with the average weekly views, was followed by a fall in a company's share price.
The research suggests that Wikipedia pages, which can be edited by anyone, are part of the information-gathering process for financial transactions -- potentially useful knowledge for people wanting to play the system.
"We were really intrigued by the idea that data from usage of Internet information resources such as Wikipedia might help us understand how traders gather information before making these decisions," lead author Suzy Moat, Senior Research Fellow at Warwick Business School, told Wired.co.uk.
"The connection we find between views of Wikipedia pages and stock market moves suggests this may indeed be the case. This suggests that data on people's usage of online information services, such as Wikipedia or Google may be used to anticipate decisions they might later take in the real world."
Previous research has shown that the volume of financially-related searches on Google and also the "mood" of tweets on Twitter can be linked to changes in the stock market. Big data approaches to real world trends have also shown links between web searches and flu infections."

Source:  Wired, 8th May 2013

28% of American mobile phone users and 48% of smartphone users used mobile banking in 2012

"A new study by the Federal Reserve Board revealed yet more strides being made in the area of mobile banking.
It found 28 per cent of all mobile phone users and 48 per cent of smartphone users had used mobile banking in the 12 months to Nov 2012. This is an increase from 21 per cent and 42 per cent respectively year on year.
The use of mobile financial services was more marked among the 10 per cent of the population that is underbanked (people with bank accounts but who use cheque cashers, payday lenders, or payroll cards).
90 per cent of these consumers have mobile phones, and 49 per cent had used mobile banking in the 12 months preceding November 2012, up from 29 per cent in December 2011.
The FRB reckons the same uptake might come next to the unbanked (those without a bank account), as 59 per cent of this group has a mobile phone, half of which are smartphones."

Source:  Mobile Money Revolution, 4th April 2013

Kiva has made loans to more than 1 million people

"Kiva, the world's largest crowdfunding platform for social good, announced today that it has reached over 1 million people in more than 65 countries through $400 million in microloans. This is a tremendous milestone for the nonprofit organization, which was founded in 2005 to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty and expand economic opportunity.
"This has been an amazing journey over the last seven years," said Matt Flannery, Kiva Co-founder and CEO. "I want to thank the one million borrowers who have proven to the world that it was worth taking a chance on them. You have made Kiva possible."
In their first year, Kiva lenders crowdfunded almost $500,000 in loans. Today, Kiva's community of 900,000 lenders crowdfund more than $1.5 million in loans per week. These small dollar individual loans have helped more than 1 million low-income borrowers start and grow businesses, go to school, improve their homes, buy clean energy products, and more. Through Kiva, anyone with an internet connection can make a loan as little as $25 to the borrower of their choice on Kiva.org. And with Kiva's repayment rate of 98.9%, lenders are able to relend their money again and again, or withdraw it from the system."

Source:  Press release from Kiva, 18th March 2013

Instant messaging is more popular than search in China

Click to enlarge

Source:  CNNIC via Marbridge Daily, 15th January 2013

19 million drivers are covered by 'black box' car insurance

"Google recently announced huge steps forward with their self-driving cars, and while we may not have reached the future automobiles envisioned in films such as Minority Report, we can see some of that technology on the horizon. With more than 30 vehicle manufacturers launching telematics services in the US, China, and Europe; over 19 million drivers covered by telematics-impacted insurance policies; and over 15% of all new passenger cars in Europe being smart-key fitted, some parts of the future are already here."

Source:  Press release from Global Information Inc, 11th September 2012

An estimated 475m people in sub-Saharan Africa have no access to bank accounts

"The surprising fact is Africa’s poor represent a vast reserve of untapped capital waiting to be channeled into consumer and small-businesses loans, and for infrastructure development. By some estimates, 95% of the nearly 500 million adults in sub-Saharan Africa earning less than $10 a day have no access to bank accounts. If they did, the formal banking system could get its hands on as much as $59 billion in new deposits."

Source:  Time, 16th August 2012

180,000 'black box' car insurance policies were sold in the UK in H1 2012

"Sales of telematic, or ‘black-box’, car insurance will reach 500,000 in the next two years, according to the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (Biba).
The trade body for the insurance industry has recorded a five-fold increase in this type of motor insurance in the past two years.
The use of telematic technology is proving popular because it can reduce the cost of motor insurance, especially for young drivers who are often faced with unaffordable quotes.
Biba’s research shows a steady increase in the take-up of telematics policies, from 12,000 in 2009 to 180,000 in the first six months of 2012.
When the technology was launched it was offered mainly by Coverbox and ikube, but a wide range of insurers now offer this option including mainstream insurers such as the Co-op, Swinton, and the AA.
The technology may benefit female drivers when a European ban on using gender to assess risk comes into force later this year.
This is expected to lead to a significant increase in the cost of insurance for female drivers who have previously been considered a lower risk group."

Source:  Finance Markets, 12th July 2012

UK Online Ad Spend Rose to £4,784m in 2011, up 14.4% Y-o-Y

"Despite the backdrop of a depressed UK economy, advertising on the internet increased by 14.4% to a new high of £4,784 million in 2011, up £687 million year on year.
According to the latest Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB) advertising expenditure report, conducted by PwC, online advertising continues to grow at an exceptional rate, and last year experienced its biggest increase in five years.
UK ecommerce shoppers helped Retail surface as the biggest winner in terms of overall growth in the second half** of 2011, as it became the third biggest display advertiser. Consumer Goods (FMCG) moved to second place, while Finance just held on to top spot.
The top five categories, by share of display spend, in 2011 were:
Finance 15%  
Consumer (FMCG) 15%  
Retail 12%  
Entertainment & the Media 12%  
Technology 9%  
The powerhouse of display is banners and other embedded formats, which continue to drive display forward (73% share). Growth of this format was fuelled by bigger, richer and more dynamic ads that spiked display spend by 13.4% to a high of £1,128 million (£945 million in 2010) and a 24% share of online ad spend (23% in 2010).
Video advertising continued its incredible growth and now accounts for 10% of all online display advertising.  Expenditure on online video doubled year on year to £109 million (£54 million in 2010). The format has grown more than eight-fold since 2008, when video spend was £12 million.
In 2011 banner ads on social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn, increased by 75% to £240 million – an eight-fold increase since records began in 2008.
Search marketing proved to be a recession-proof staple for direct response advertisers, recording impressive growth of 17.5% to £2,767 million (£2,346 million in 2010), and a 58% share of online advertising spend (57% in 2010).
Despite a difficult market for recruitment, total Classified ads grew 5.2% to £785 million (£751 million in 2010) and a share of 16% (18% in 2010). However, consumer and B2B Classifieds (property, cars, holidays and B2B), reached the half billion milestone for the first time at £509 million (£485 million in 2010).
Advertising on mobile devices rose by 157%* in 2011, to a new high of £203million, as a result of increased smartphone ownership, the proliferation of touchscreen technology, 3G, and soaring tablet sales, which sparked a surge in interest from brands, especially in the Retail and Consumer Goods (FMCG) sectors."

Source:  Press release from the IAB UK, 3rd April 2012

American Express' twitter campaign generated an estimated 160,000 tweets and $7.2m in spend on the cards

"A campaign launched by American Express in the first week of March on Twitter has generated some eye-brow raising numbers.  Called Tweet Your Way to Savings, the campaign asks AmEx cardholders to tweet #AmEx hashtag in order to receive a deal the cardholder is marketing. The savings are automatically applied with the purchase.
Visibli Social Analytics, which has been tracking the #AmEx hashtags since the campaign launched on March 6, reports that the campaign has generated so far a total spend of approximately $7.2 million and discounts of $1.4 million, roughly. There have been 160,707 tweets, or approximately 259 tweets per hour."

Source:  MarketingVox, 16th March 2012

Transactions on Kenya's M-Pesa mobile money service exceed transactions made by Western Union globally

"Local transactions by Kenya’s mobile money service, M-Pesa currently exceed transactions made by Western Union globally, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reports. According to the IMF, “M-Pesa now processes more transactions domestically within Kenya than Western Union does globally, and provides mobile banking facilities to more than 70 per cent of the country’s adult population.”
Launched in March 2007 by Kenyan telecoms operator, Safaricom, the service which now has over 14 million users in Kenya is currently the world’s most successful mobile payments system."

Source:  TheNextWeb, 24th October 2011

Via

Microfinance company Kiva has loaned nearly $250m in 5 years

"Since Kiva was founded in 2005:
629,358 Kiva lenders
$248 million in loans
98.87% Repayment rate
We work with:
142 Field Partners
450 volunteers around the world
60 different countries"
Source:  Kiva, retrieved 6th October 2011
More stats here

40% of American - & 25% of British - mobile web users use mobile banking services

"Young owners of smartphones in Britain and the United States are increasingly managing their finances via their phones, checking account balances and viewing transactions, new research shows.
Consumer research by mobile web and application specialists Antenna said 40 percent of those who accessed the Internet via mobile phones or tablet computers in the U.S. were using mobile banking services.
That compared with 25 percent in Britain.
The United States was also ahead in terms of how many users were accessing banking sites via a specific mobile application created by the bank, as opposed to reaching a mobile site via a browser on the Internet.
Antenna Chief Executive Jim Hemmer told Reuters that consumers, particularly younger ones, had little loyalty for which bank they used and therefore the banks could attract more customers if they improved their offerings."
Source:  Research by Antenna, reported by Reuters, 29th June 2011

52% of Chinese mobile internet users use mobile banking

"According to the "2011 China Mobile Banking Industry User Survey" recently issued in Beijing by Chinese mobile internet portal 3G.cn, as of February 2011, mobile banking reached a penetration rate of 52.2% among Chinese mobile internet users, compared to 36.8% in July 2010. The report also shows that the industry is making inroads amongst the middle-age demographic, and users' personal monthly income level continues to rise."
Source:  Marbridge Daily, 30th March 2011