<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5dfd69e0855cc250c9493f74-1534/berna headshot.jpg" alt="Bernadette Anat" /><p class="source"><span>Bernadette Anat</span></p><p class="caption">Bernadette Anat.</p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Bernadette Anat is a 30-year-old "finfluencer" and the founder and owner of Hey Berna, a company aimed to make personal finance and financial literacy more fun and accessible for all.</li><li>When she graduated college she had plenty of debt to pay back, including $38,000 in student loans and $12,000 in credit card debt.</li><li>She started her career working at Seventeen Magazine, then the YMCA, then Instagram, where she became familiar with the trends and habits of young adults on the platform.</li><li>Leveraging this experience and her own journey paying off her loans, she set out to start a company and build a platform centered around personal finance.</li><li>She shared with Business Insider how she became a "financial hype woman" on Instagram and built her following to over 18,000 people to rack in an impressive five-figure salary.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories.</a></li></ul><p>Two years ago, Bernadette Anat was researching the data and trends of young adults' digital habits and presenting them to the product teams of one of the largest tech companies in the world: Instagram. </p><p>Today, the 30-year-old "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/move-over-american-psycho-finfluencers-are-inside-finance-look-2019-9">finfluencer</a>" is the founder and owner of <a href="https://www.heyberna.com/">Hey Berna</a>, a company aimed to make personal finance and financial literacy more fun and accessible for all. Now her days consist of heading to a coworking space in San Francisco to edit videos, package her $129 <a href="https://www.heyberna.com/budgetcamp">financial education course</a>, and set up speaking engagements and posting regular financial tips, tricks, and support to her over 18,000 followers on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/heyberna/?hl=en">Instagram</a>.</p><p>After only a year, Anat has racked in an impressive five-figure salary that only plans to grow from here on out. With features of her work on <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandratalty/2018/10/31/13-wild-ways-these-influencers-first-saved-money-to-travel-the-world/#5add9180169d">Forbes</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/9/17/20858931/student-loans-debt-living-with-your-parents">Vox</a>, and <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/how-to-make-budgeting-fun">Refinery 29</a>, Anat has hit the mark when it comes to the social and cultural perspective around money - turning it from a begrudgingly resentful chore to an exciting, community-fueled conversation. </p><p>"Honestly, what motivated me to get into personal finance was anger and indigence," Anat told Business Insider. "Why is there no one [who] sounds like me translating these wild words? Why is that not accessible at all?"</p><p>Anat has partnered up with companies like Yahoo Finance, Girlboss, and <a href="https://www.builtbygirls.com/summit-berna-anat">BuiltByGirls</a> to teach young people, especially young women, about the necessary tools to manage, save, and invest their money properly. She spoke with Business Insider about her own journey to financial freedom and entrepreneurship.</p><h1>A goal to pay off debt leads to a business idea</h1><p>It all started when Anat noticed how much debt she had accrued during her college years at the University of Southern California, including having to pay back $38,000 in student loans and $12,000 in credit card debt. Luckily, after graduating in 2011 and freelancing for a bit, she was able to land her first "big girl job" as an executive assistant at Seventeen Magazine and start chipping away at her debt. </p><p>"I knew I'd be getting a paycheck every two weeks. Some higher power was like, 'Berna, this is the moment to get your financial ish together,'" she said.</p><p>After her stint at Seventeen, Anat got a job at the YMCA as the teens program director building leadership programs across New York City. </p><p>"It was really fun and I think really built up the leader and facilitator in me," she said about the experience. Next she landed at Instagram in a role as a teen community lead, "which basically meant my job was to translate the teen trends in the US to the product team and keep track of amazing creators and influencers," she said.</p><p>While at the Facebook conglomerate, Anat <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BV-MXeEDTcY/?igshid=ylp81wjfxa01">documented</a> the struggles and challenges of paying off her debt on social media to prove she could take control of her own financial earnings. That said, she didn't really have much of a finance or banking background. </p><p>"I'm just a regular person who Googled the hell out of personal finance. I got really passionate and started translating things for people [both in person and online]," she explained. </p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BYUcxCTD1bu/?igshid=1j1xynheyxmuq">By focusing on making budgeting fun</a>, Anat used practices like <a href="https://www.chimebank.com/2017/06/12/can-habit-stacking-work-for-you/">habit stacking</a> and the famous <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/080716/debt-avalanche-vs-debt-snowball-which-best-you.asp">snowball and avalanche methods</a> to zone in on her goals. "I'd sit down with my seaweed [snack] and listen to 'Hamilton' while I was budgeting. It turned into this fun self-care budget association thing I did for myself every week," she said. By 2018 - seven years after graduating from college - she was officially debt free. </p><p>Leveraging her experience going debt free and the relationships she built from working for Seventeen, The Y, and Instagram, Anat decided to spearhead her personal finance project - launching an Instagram profile and website all about budgeting, banking, and being a boss for a largely young adult audience. She was simultaneously working full time at Instagram, teaching herself the ins and outs of finance, and building the starting stages of Hey Berna (initially, the project was called "Felicia's Wallet," inspired by the internet catchphrase "<a href="https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/bye-felicia-meme/">Bye Felicia</a>" in 2016).</p><p>As she started teaching herself more about financial literacy through YouTube, speaking with financial advisors, and the internet, she noticed that there seemed to be a gap between where the resources were and who had access to them. </p><p>"The more that I tried to teach myself about personal finance, the more that I saw that there [were] so few women, and so very few women of color, in the space. Which made me very confused because money as a topic isn't specific to a group, class, or demographic; we all deal with money," she said.</p><p>She also noticed that finance was difficult and bland to learn about. This opened the door to build a new kind of personal finance brand.</p><p>"I didn't see anyone being excited about money," she explained. "I didn't see anyone being super encouraging about money ... so I made my own lane. I tell people to find an empty spot on the dance floor and fill it yourself."</p><h1>Growing the brand of a 'financial hype woman'</h1><p>"While I was at Instagram, I recognized the importance of branding yourself. What I mean by that is the importance of what you bring to the game. At this point, there's an influencer and a niche for everything," she said. Given that her previous role involved tracking Instagram trends and influencers, growing her own following and brand came easy.</p><p>"I know that I'm a very good cheerleader," she explained. "I'm good at being very enthusiastic for people and I'm just really good at hyping people up. It was a simple as that. If I'm really good at hyping people up - do people need hype in the financial world? And how can I build a brand around that?"</p><p>In the beginning of creating her finfluencer account, it was all mainly about trial and error and figuring out what a "financial hype woman" could look like. "What if I just danced every single time someone had some sort of financial win? What if I just made that a thing?" she said. </p><p>The thought of dancing around anytime anyone added $100 to their savings account might flabbergast a financial advisor, but to Berna, the method is what spiked up her engagement by 3% every Friday.</p><p>"That's what I started doing every Friday. I dance all over Instagram [Stories] and people just started to expect it and that sort of gained more and more of a following." She also found success with <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B2CkEiSFJ2Y/">memes</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B3IFhcAnHpF/?igshid=1bnsdipqqtn10">enthusiastic captions</a>. "That's like the language of young people. How could I then use memes for personal finance?" she said.</p><h1>Balancing the responsibilities of an entrepreneur and influencer</h1><p>One massive change Anat noticed when it came to running her own brand and business was having to create her own routine and practice self-discipline. While she was used to having a manager assign her responsibilities and schedule out her day in past jobs, her current entrepreneurial venture doesn't offer those same privileges. </p><p>"This is the first time I've gone out and given myself structure. [It was] massively terrifying." she explained. "In a corporate structure, to get help, it means going to your manager and being like, 'I need help.' But as an entrepreneur, getting help literally means paying someone for help."</p><p>To stay organized and on top of her daily to-do list, Anat uses sources like <a href="https://later.com/">Later</a> and <a href="https://www.thinkific.com/">Thinkific</a> to keep her posts and tasks set for the following week. She also hired a part-time business coach and digital manager to support her business' online strategy and action plan. </p><p>Making her income was another hurdle to jump over. As an entrepreneur, you can set your own income, but finding the right price point is key. Currently, Anat charges anywhere between $4,000 to $10,000 per event or engagement depending on the client, audience, training, and workshop activity. At the end of this year, Anat would have done an average of one engagement per month. She also makes revenue from selling her online course and monetising her social media through occasional sponsorships. </p><p>"The biggest reward has been the amazing connections [I've made]," Anat said about her journey. "Joyful and emotional waves come at me from other people when we speak about [personal finance issues] and realize how common [they are]."</p><p class="tagline"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/stories-slide-deck?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;itm_content=instagram&amp;itm_campaign=stories-slide-deck"><img src="https://static.businessinsider.com/image/5bd375adcd6f3842155a1a29" alt="Exclusive FREE Report: The Stories Slide Deck by Business Insider Intelligence" style="width: 100% !important" /></a></p>            <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-jay-z-and-diddy-made-millions-off-of-cheap-alcohol-zack-omalley-greenburg-2018-3">How Jay-Z and Diddy used their fame to make millions off of 'cheap grapes'</a></h3>                    <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/qhWHAjCo-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;"></iframe>            

A 30-year-old 'finfluencer' with over 18,000 Instagram followers explains how she went from $50,000 in debt to running her own personal finance business

The Evolution of Ev: The creator of Twitter, Blogger, and Medium has a plan to fix the mess he made of the internet

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/554a05aedd089592118b4600-1200-924/tyrese-gibson-actor-copyright.jpg" border="0" alt="Tyrese Gibson actor copyright"><p class="source"><span>Frazer Harrison/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Tyrese Gibson is among the celebrities uploading videos to their Facebook pages without the permission of rights holders.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Facebook's video views are skyrocketing - but there's a dark side to this growth. The social network also has a serious problem with copyright infringement,&#xa0;<span>and rights holders say the company is doing little to stop it.</span><p>Some of the biggest celebrities on the site are lifting viral videos created by others, sharing them with their fanbases, and then earning money on the clicks those views generate on links to their own work on iTunes or elsewhere.</p><p>Even when the videos are ultimately deleted, they can rack up tens of millions of views within days - and make the thieves serious money in the process.</p><h3>Viral videos are big, big business</h3><p><a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/3092666-facebook-fb-mark-elliot-zuckerberg-on-q1-2015-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single">CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed Facebook had passed a major milestone</a> - "more than 4 billion daily video views,"&#xa0;<a href="http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/09/the-latest-on-facebook-video/">shooting up from 1 billion in September 2014</a>.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/554a05aedd089592118b45ff-1200-924/zoella-youtube-vlogger.jpg" border="0" alt="Zoella youtube vlogger"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/14565557583/">Gage Skidmore/Flickr (CC)</a></span></p><p class="caption">Wildly succesful British vlogger Zoe Suggs, a.k.a. "Zoella."</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>There is more money than ever before in online video. YouTube stars like Zoella <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2957053/That-s-7-million-subscribers-buy-Blogging-sensation-Zoella-buys-1million-five-bedroom-mansion-Brighton-six-years-YouTube-diary.html">are landing book deals and making enough to buy mansions</a>, and even lesser-known videobloggers can comfortably make enough from advert revenues to make it a full-time job.<p>Meanwhile, accidental viral video stars can earn six-figure paydays from their unexpected stardom, with entire companies springing up in their wake. When Jared Frank <a href="http://www.dailydot.com/business/how-much-will-train-selfie-kid-make/">made an estimated $250,000 from a video of him being accidentally kicked in the head by train driver</a>, for example, he was being represented by Jukin Media - a viral video licensing agency that has dozens of employees around the world.</p><p>As more and more video is consumed, Facebook <em>needs</em> to make its site an attractive platform for these content creators if it wants to stay relevant.</p><p>On the issue of copyright, it's stumbling.</p><h3>Celebrities are stealing content with impunity</h3><p>Jay Lichtenberger is a full-time viral video creator, best known for his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgrr6b6Vt6M">"scary snowman"</a> YouTube videos. <a href="http://www.dailydot.com/entertainment/facebook-video-content-id-copyright-infringement/">I spoke to him in October 2014 for the Daily Dot</a>, when he told me that copyright infringement on Facebook is "out of control." In the intervening six months, video views on Facebook have quadrupled - but when it comes to intellectual property theft, he says nothing has changed.</p><p><strong>Here's an example of one of Lichtenberger's videos:</strong></p><div><div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/rgrr6b6Vt6M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></div><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="Facebook" title_caption="A Jukin Media-owned video uploaded to Dane Cook's page has racked up more than 28 million views." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/554a05aedd089592118b45fd-960/screen%20shot%202015-05-05%20at%2017.42.47.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/554a05aedd089592118b45fd-740-784/screen%20shot%202015-05-05%20at%2017.42.47.png" border="0" alt="dane cook jukin media copyright video" /></a><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153147559747268&amp;set=vb.55909557267&amp;type=2&amp;theater">Facebook</a></span></p><p class="caption">A Jukin Media-owned video uploaded to Dane Cook's page has racked up more than 28 million views.</p></div><p></p></div></div>It's impossible to quantify just how much copyrighted material is being shared on Facebook. But illegally uploaded videos routinely clock up tens of millions of views, and hundreds of thousands of shares.<p>According to Mike Skogmo, director of communications at Jukin Media, "the scale is massive." And the perpetrators are some of the biggest accounts on the site.</p><p>Rapper Ludacris has previously shared material belonging to Lichtenberger without permission with his 19 million fans. Gossip blogger Perez Hilton (1.5 million) is another example. Skogmo pointed me towards comedian Dane Cook, who has been sharing Jukin Media's content without permission among his 4.5 million fans.</p><p>And perhaps most prolifically, there's Tyrese Gibson. <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/31/8312987/please-dont-share-tyrese-gibsons-facebook-posts">The Verge's Chris Plante has previously written about the singer</a>, who is "lifting the internet's most viral videos for fame and fortune" - and amassing a 25-million-strong following on Facebook in the process. The Verge described how Gibson monetises other people's content for himself:</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">According to CrowdTangle, [a Gibson video] is the fifth most popular Facebook post of 2014 with nearly 86 millions views at time of publish. The video is watermarked with the logo for ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos, but the footage is hosted on Gibson's Facebook Page. As for the link on the post, it directs to one of Gibson's albums on iTunes.</p><p>Celebrities like Gibson aren't just building a fanbase off other people's content - they're actively profiting from it. And while it's easy to be dismissive about the theft of viral videos, for the likes of Lichtenberger and and Skogmo, these are their livelihoods.</p><h3>The motivations are obvious</h3><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/554a05aedd089592118b45fe-742-2005/thieves.jpg" border="0" alt="jay lichtenberger theives viral video"><p class="source"><span>Jay Lichtenberger</span></p><p class="caption">Examples supplied by Jay Lichtenberger of one of his videos stolen by singer Tyrese Gibson, actor Kevin Hart, and rapper Ludacris.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Offenders can be persistent, and Facebook is apparently doing little about it. Lichtenberger told me about how he has reported some pages for copyright infringement more than a dozen times: individual videos are deleted quickly, but the pages themselves stay up.<p>(Skogmo agrees that videos are taken down swiftly once reported, but he notes Facebook's search tools make them difficult to find in the first place.)</p><p>Without meaningful punitive action taken against offenders, it's easy to see why they do it. The highly-sharable viral content can help pages build an audience extremely quickly.</p><p>If desired, they can then link out to ad-plastered external sites to cash in on this audience, although they can't monetise the stolen content directly on Facebook.</p><h3>Facebook could solve this problem - but it hasn't</h3><p>It would be relatively easy for Facebook to solve this problem. "Content ID" is software used on YouTube to automatically monitor for infringing content, scanning all new uploads against a database of registered intellectual property. When there's a match, the offending content can be automatically taken down, should the rights holder desire. Alternatively, it can be left up, and ads placed against it - so the rights holder can profit off the audience of the uploader.</p><p>Content ID isn't perfect, of course, <a href="http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/features/report/9158/youtubes-free-speech-problem/">and has been abused on YouTube before to censor legitimate criticism</a>. But it is currently the only viable way to effectively police global communities like YouTube (or Facebook) for infringement. In May 2014, <a href="http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/6092241/vimeo-to-launch-music-copyright-id-system-exclusive">a similar system was also adopted by video site Vimeo</a>.</p><p>And Facebook <em>already</em> uses similar <a href="https://www.audiblemagic.com/compliance-service/">software provided by Audible Magic</a> to police for infringing music content. But this doesn't currently extend beyond music, leaving content creators like Lichtenberger vulnerable.</p><p>I reached out to Facebook for comment, and a spokesperson told me that the social network "respects the intellectual property rights of others and is committed to helping third parties protect their rights."</p><p>"Our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms?ref=pf">Statements of Rights and Responsibilities</a> prohibits users from posting content that violates another party's intellectual property rights," they continued. "No content or ads may include content that infringes upon or violates the rights of any third party, and upon notice of such impermissible content, we stand ready to respond including by removing the content from Facebook."</p><h3>Where YouTube goes, Facebook follows</h3><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54be4e37dd08950c178b4588-1200-924/mark-zuckerberg-13.jpg" border="0" alt="Mark Zuckerberg"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Adnan Abidi </span></p><p class="caption">Oops.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Facebook's prominent touting of its video viewing figures make it clear that it wants to be a <em>destination</em> for video online, rather than just linking out to it. It is already taking steps to make itself more friendly to video creators - introducing autoplay to boost views, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/business/news/Coming-Soon-Video-Metrics">adding view counts and other detailed metrics</a>, <a href="http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/09/the-latest-on-facebook-video/">and committing to making Facebook</a> "the best place to share, discover and watch videos."<p>But it needs more than just metrics to attract the best content creators to the platform - it needs cold hard cash.</p><p>For years, YouTube has offered users a share of advertising revenues. It's how vloggers and viral stars like Zoella have made their fortunes.</p><p>And now for the first time, Facebook is now experimenting with ad share plans itself. In an effort to encourage media organisations to publish their articles natively to the site (rather than linking out to them), <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-offers-to-let-publishers-keep-revenue-from-certain-ads-1430515600">Facebook is offering a select pilot group of publishers the opportunity to earn advertising revenues by doing so</a>.</p><h3>Facebook wants to eat the Internet</h3><p>It is sometimes said that Facebook is <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/facebook-is-eating-the-internet#.lbqdV1RXW">"eating the Internet."</a> Little-by-little, the social network is expanding onto its competitors' turf, so users have less and less reason to ever leave its ecosystem.</p><p>It's a tactic so effective that <a href="http://qz.com/333313/milliions-of-facebook-users-have-no-idea-theyre-using-the-internet/">one study found that millions of Facebook users don't even realise they are using the internet while browsing Facebook</a>.</p><p>Facebook's renewed focus on video suggests YouTube is next in the firing line. To do this, it needs to get competitive - and this means sharing ad revenues from video uploaders and content creators. But if introduced without Content ID that extends beyond music, that opens the door to unscrupulous celebrities and copyright thieves directly profiting off the work of others.</p><p><a href="http://www.dailydot.com/entertainment/facebook-video-content-id-copyright-infringement/">Viral video creator Jay Lichtenberger told me</a> that if that happens, he will be "extremely upset." And then?</p><p>"I'll look into filing a class-action lawsuit."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/4chan-founder-christopher-poole-humanity-2014-9">Facebook And Google 'Degrade Our Humanity,' Says 4chan Founder </a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="lwdWo1ZDp-gLC9ZfZaya9uqJ8N8NAKyH" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'lwdWo1ZDp-gLC9ZfZaya9uqJ8N8NAKyH',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Facebook's new video business is awash with copyright infringement and celebrities are some of the biggest offenders

<p><em>Welcome to <strong>The Fintech Briefing</strong>, a morning email providing the latest news, data, and insight into disruptive fintech in the <keyword id="6354868" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="UK">UK</keyword> and Ireland, the Continent, and beyond, produced by <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/" target="_blank">BI Intelligence</a>.</em></p><p><strong>Want to receive The Fintech Briefing to your inbox? Enter your email in the box below.</strong></p><form action="http://e.businessinsider.com/s/The+Fintech+Briefing" method="post"><p><strong><label for="email">Email:</label></strong> <input name="email" type="text" /> <br /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe" /></p></form><hr /><p><strong>WHAT'S HOLDING SWITZERLAND BACK IN FINTECH: </strong>Financial services is an integral part of Switzerland's economy at <span>£57 billion </span>(<span>€73 billion, </span>$82 billion) or 13% of the nation's GDP. Further, about 5% of the country's workforce is employed in the industry. The problem is that the country has thrived historically as a place where people can store money in secrecy. But now countries like the US are cracking down on this practice and making it more difficult for foreigners to use the Switzerland's banking system to hide their assets. For Switzerland's financial services industry to succeed in the long term it must reinvent itself, according to a <a href="https://www.finextra.com/finextra-downloads/newsdocs/Swiss-FinTech-Report-2016.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> from Ernst and Young.</p><p>Bolstering fintech could be the answer to Switzerland's financial services problem. The digitisation of financial services is improving the user experience as well as opening up new markets that have historically been difficult to monetise. And institutions that don't innovate will fall behind. Switzerland boasts a number of features that make it a fertile environment for fintech innovation - economic and political stability, a highly educated population, and significant cash holdings. In fact, the country tops the <a href="https://globalinnovationindex.org/userfiles/file/reportpdf/gii-full-report-2015-v6.pdf" target="_blank">Global Innovation Index</a> published by WIPO.</p><p>But Switzerland also faces unique challenges as a fintech hub:</p><ul><li><strong>Burning through capital:</strong> Starting a business in Switzerland can be particularly expensive. Salaries, rent, insurance, and cost of living are all very high relative to other markets. And because of Switzerland's location in Central Europe, startups are often expected to launch in many markets throughout Europe almost immediately.</li><li><strong>Engaging young entrepreneurs: </strong> Despite being a global leader in innovation, Switzerland has the smallest percentage of young entrepreneurs (ages 18-24) in comparison to other countries competing in the fintech landscape, according to data cited by Ernst and Young.</li><li><strong>The offshore money isn't going to fintech: </strong> While Switzerland benefits from troves of cash that could potentially be used for venture funding, the incubator and venture community is relatively undeveloped in comparison to other fintech hubs like London and New York.</li></ul><p>The Swiss government could overcome many of these hurdles by taking a more proactive role in developing a fintech community modeling London. Tax breaks and other incentives could help reduce the expense of starting a fintech business in Switzerland while a more permissive regulatory environment for startups would enable fledgling companies to compete with legacy players nationally and globally. </p><form action="http://e.businessinsider.com/s/The+Fintech+Briefing" method="post"><p><strong>LLOYDS MAKES FINTECH HIRE: </strong>Lloyds Banking Group has hired Han Veldwijk as its "head of fintech discovery," according to the <a href="http://www.efinancialnews.com/story/2016-02-08/lloyds-appoints-head-of-fintech">Financial News</a>. Veldwijk <strong>, </strong>who began his new role in January, was previously head of digital transformation at Dutch lender Rabobank. At Lloyds he'll work on developing new fintech products and services and building relationships with London's fintech community. While at Rabobank, he held a similar role, primarily structuring fintech partnerships and starting digital ventures, like a millennial-oriented banking service.</p><p><strong>Lloyds is working to improve its digital assets. </strong>The firm announced plans in October 2014 to invest £1 billion (<em>€</em>1.2 billion, $1.4 billion) to develop its digital presence across divisions, according to the Financial News.</p><p><strong>In the face of disruption from challenger banks, it's becoming crucial for UK high street banks to upgrade digital technology and build relationships in the fintech community. </strong></p><ul><li><strong>Challengers are well-funded. </strong>Atom Bank recently closed an £82 million (€105 m<span>illion, </span>$118 million) funding round led by Spanish bank BBVA, bringing its total to £135 million (€174 m<span>illion, </span>$194 million) before its launch. And Starling Bank, another millennial-focused challenger, recently closed a <span>£</span>40 million (<span>€</span>62 million, $70 million) funding round - indicating that investors view this as a promising industry,</li><li><strong>Brits are using fintech.</strong> <a href="http://www.ey.com/GL/en/Industries/Financial-Services/ey-fintech-adoption-index?utm_source=Triggermail&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Post%20Blast%20%28bii-payments%29:%20Amex%20reinstates%20steering%20provision%20%E2%80%94%20Fintech%20firms%20could%20increase%20bank%20partnerships%20%E2%80%94%20Early%20success%20for%20PayPal%20OneTouch&amp;utm_term=BII%20List%20Payments%20ALL">14%</a> of digitally active UK adults have used at least two fintech services in the last month, and that number rises to 25% in London.</li></ul><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="BI Intelligence" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56b9b8a2dd089567618b4720-960/bii-top fintech adoption rates_12.23.15.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56b9b8a2dd089567618b4720-1200-900/bii-top fintech adoption rates_12.23.15.png" alt="bii top fintech adoption rates_12.23.15" data-mce-source="BI Intelligence" /></a><p class="source"><span>BI Intelligence</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong>Enjoying The Fintech Briefing? Enter your email to receive it directly to your inbox. </strong></p></form><form action="http://e.businessinsider.com/s/The+Fintech+Briefing" method="post"><p><strong><label for="email">Email:</label></strong> <input name="email" type="text" /> <br /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe" /></p></form><form action="http://e.businessinsider.com/s/The+Fintech+Briefing" method="post"><p><strong>UK TECH FIRMS WANT SETTLEMENT ACCOUNTS: </strong>Major tech firms that operate in the UK are reportedly in talks with the Bank of England to gain proprietary access to the country's payments system infrastructure, according to <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/bank-of-england/12145293/Fintech-firms-want-to-open-accounts-at-the-Bank-of-England.html">The Telegraph</a>. As it currently stands, fintech firms are forced to pay major banks for secondhand access to the system.</p><p>That's extremely expensive for the tech firms, and also forces companies building disruptive technology to rely on the country's major banks - as of now, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/11920354/Payments-system-to-be-smashed-wide-open-for-challenger-banks.html">400</a> smaller firms pay 10 large players for access to the system. Current talks are expected to lead to wider industry discussions, with a decision coming by the end of 2016.</p><p><strong>Small banks are about to gain access to the UK's Faster Payments Scheme. </strong>10 banking firms have signed letters of intent indicating interest in building systems that allow smaller banks direct access to the UK's payment rails, according to <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/11920354/Payments-system-to-be-smashed-wide-open-for-challenger-banks.html">The Telegraph</a>. But fintech firms are still restricted since many do not have banking licenses.</p><p><strong>Giving fintech firms access to payment infrastructure will open the door to competition. </strong>These firms, which include regulated, low-risk companies like PayPal, could pass on the money they save from direct settlement access to their customers in the form of lower rates for services like wire transfers. That could make them more appealing to customers looking for the cheapest possible payment option, and thereby make digital-oriented firms increasingly competitive in the eyes of major banking institutions.</p><p><strong>FINTECH AROUND THE WORLD...</strong></p><ul><li><strong>Istanbul banks are seeking to grow fintech.</strong> In partnership with Istanbul University and Ozyegin University, Turkish banking consortium BKM has launched Fintech Istanbul, an industry group that "seeks to nurture the emerging ecosystem through the provision of training and the sharing of ideas and information between banks and startups," <a href="http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=28431" target="_blank">according</a> to Finextra.</li><li>US-based <strong>Fifth Third </strong> bank <a href="http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/samsung-patents-vein-identification-sensor-on-smartwatches-to-trigger-payments-playlists/" target="_blank">will add</a> Touch ID to its iOS app. The technology will allow users to use their fingerprint to log in and authenticate a variety of transactions. The bank, which added Touch ID in response to customer requests, saw mobile banking use increase by 43% from 2014 to 2015.</li></ul></form>

THE FINTECH BRIEFING: How to grow Swiss fintech - Lloyds hires former Rabobank Exec - UK startups want BOE accounts

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/51186639.cms" style="width: 640px; height: 360px;" /><br /> The Union Government is formulating the budget to be announced on February 29, 2016. The officials in Ministry of Finance are busy with budgetary consultations. At the outset, it needs to be recognised that the Budget, especially the <keyword id="6360189" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Union-Budget">Union Budget</keyword>, is more than a mere accounting exercise as it lays out a vision of the Government and then on a mission mode, provides a strategy to implement it during the course of that year or next. In fact, to achieve steady growth, fiscal policy of the country is embodied in the Union Budget. And the challenges in fiscal policy are a many which needs to be addressed immediately. The important concerns are that despite best efforts, industrial growth continues to be tepid; unemployment, especially amongst youth is high; agricultural output because of El Nino and other climatic conditions is low; consumer inflation is heading northward; and overall growth in the country is beginning to stagnate around 7- 7.5 percent when country has a potential to grow at 9 percent per annum.<br />
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The Central Government is aware of the situation and has consistently been making efforts to revive the economy by announcing schemes like start-up India, MUDRA, Jan Dhan Yojana, make in India, Skill India, Digital India, and Smart Cities. The implementation of these schemes have yet not yielded higher growth. Therefore, probably, the Union Budget of 2016 needs to exclusively focus on measures to increase growth. To increase national output, three ingredients are most important – labor, capital and entrepreneurship.<br />
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<strong>Women Participation in Workforce</strong><br />
There are numerous empirical, studies that have demonstrated that increased female workforce participation can lead to significant macroeconomics gains. Similarly, equal access to inputs by women would raise productivity of female-owned companies. Further getting women to work would also help in improving the per capita income of the country. Increased income by women also leads to reduction in income equalities, as well as poverty. <br />
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The participation of women in labour force can lead to increasing GDP of India by 27 per cent according to research done at International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC. In India, only about 30 percent of women are in workforce. In contrast, in Nepal, nearly 80 percent of women are in the workforce followed by China (71 per cent), Bhutan (67 per cent), and Russia (57 per cent). Closely co-related to low workforce participation are issues like persistency in preference for a male child reflected in adverse sex-ratio. As per the Census data, the state-wise child sex ratio (CSR; number of females per 1000 males in 0-6 year’s age group) in India during 2001-2011 has deteriorated though overall sex ratio recorded a marginal improvement over the years.<br />
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To enhance female workforce participation, the Government could also consider more recruitment of women in armed and police forces. According to some estimates, women constitute only 3 percent of police force in India and a small number in Indian army. In contrast, women play an important role in armies of many countries, including the US, Israel, China, Russia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. India could consider Sainik and Military schools/colleges for training female students and National Cadet Corps can be extensively used in colleges and Universities to show-case job opportunities in defence areas. <br />
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There is substantial potential of jobs in defence forces. Illustratively, in the recent Central Seventh Pay Commission Report, it was mentioned that Indian Army is short of officers by nearly 25 percent while Navy is short by 17 percent and Air-Force by 4 percent. The defence forces have a provision of short service commission (SSC) which can be tailor-made to suit the psychology of Indian families which insist that females should get married and start their own family before thirty years of age. The SSC, with a provision of 5 or ten years of service is most suitable in such circumstances in India. <br />
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Similarly, judiciary suffers from serious shortage of courts and legal staff especially in international comparison. It would be useful to have more female participation in legal services. This effort of encouraging women to work in defence and judiciary may also help in making India a safe place for women.<br />
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To enhance female workforce participation, another out-of-the-box view needs to be considered. It is established that women generally demonstrate responsible behaviour in financial matters and their income is generally used to finance family expenditure. Therefore, the Government could consider offering higher or complete exemption from income tax for women participating in workforce. As the income earned by women is spent on family expenditure, and more women will be encouraged by this measure to enter the workforce, indirect tax collection on goods and services would improve, and therefore, in net, not impact the national or state fisc. Similarly, to incentivise female participation in self-employment, especially under micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), tax holiday could be offered to MSMEs run by women entrepreneurs. The Government could also consider special provisions for women entrepreneurs and longer tax holidays under SUI, announced recently.<br />
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<strong>Capital Mobilisation</strong><br />
To provide opportunity to monetize gold, and financial resources for developmental activities, in a resource constraint economy, the Government had launched Gold Monetisation Schemes (GMS), including Gold Sovereign Bonds (GSB) in November 2015. The response is tepid with less than 4 tonnes of gold mobilised in last few months, and mobilisation seems miniscule compared to nearly 1,000 tonnes that the country imported annually, and holds a stock of nearly 21,000 tonnes. The reasons for the lacklustre response of GMS are manifold. The need is to actively extend the campaign to households, may be through use of vernacular press and electronic media. Also, from the market, the feedback on the scheme suggests that there are problems with collection and assessment of value, as only about 54 assayers in 30 cities are recognised, nation-wide. To make the scheme market friendly, assaying could also be assigned to select jewellers, especially branded chains, to ensure presence in at least all districts. To incentivize collection of gold, commission that is being offered to commercial banks, 2.5 percent including handling charges, could also be offered to select jewellers.<br />
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<strong>Nurturing Entrepreneurship</strong><br />
To nurture entrepreneurship, the Government has launched the Start-up initiative (SUI) which is expected to take India in the much needed fast forward ‘job-creation’ mode. India is poised to be the fastest growing economy in the world according to the IMF, and expected to average about 8 per cent in next five years. In addition, India has a very young population and the demographic dividends are waiting to be tapped. <br />
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More importantly, young population of India, in substantial numbers, generally wastes 2 to 5 years of their age in preparing for competitive exams for government jobs. The number of years lost in such preparation, generally in vain for most students, could have been used more productively. As a matter of fact, seminal work done by research scholars which many times fetches them coveted Nobel Price is undertaken at young age, when taking risk in extending the frontiers of knowledge is easier. The SUI would be helpful in tapping that young age and creative mind for building industrial base of the nation. For the success of SUI, there is need to create an eco-system to produce entrepreneurs. The emphasis of the government should be setting up more world-class colleges, across India, specializing in commerce, law and business studies. The educational requirements of nurturing entrepreneurs is very different from producing managers and administrators for which our present educational system already has world ranking management institutes. India, now needs, world-class institutes on entrepreneurship, illustratively, Indian Institute of Entrepreneurs. <br />
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Further, in Indian system of education and training, tolerance of failure is low but in Silicon Valley, in contrast, the practicing mantra is that failures are pillars to success. In fact, angel investors are more comfortable funding entrepreneurs who have failed in their maiden attempt. Such failures help to steel resolve, build passion to stay ahead of the race, and strengthen faith to face fierce competition as well as undertake meticulous planning. More than the young, mentors, parents and teachers also need to understand that SUI will result in some set-backs and should not get discouraged. To address the fear of failure, there is need to have a fall-back mechanism, and therefore the Government can consider some form of social security for entrepreneurs which could take a shape of insurance against such failures. In the US, in view of social security, the fear of failure is reduced, and therefore risk taking and entrepreneurial activity abounds. <br />
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<strong>Conclusion</strong><br /> The Union Budget needs to show way forward for an economy which is beginning to lose growth potential despite various policy initiatives. In addition to traditional tweaking of taxes and expenditure, there is need to formulate a vision or a long term fiscal policy to help steady <keyword id="47288" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="expectations">expectations</keyword> for growth initiatives from the government. That will help create conducive environment for private sector to flourish and take India on a higher growth path.<br />
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<br /> (The article is authored by Professor Charan Singh. He is the RBI chair professor of Economics at <keyword id="19478" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="IIM">IIM</keyword> Bangalore. He was a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University and Harvard University. Currently, he is also a consultant for IMF and his previous professional appointments include senior economist IMF , Director ( research department and debt management) at RBI)<br />


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