25 Must-Read Financial IT Blogs 2016
How money moves, grows, shrinks and is accessed is a head-spinning subject once you delve beneath the surface.
Financial services organizations, such as banks, credit unions and capital markets, are tasked with managing operations and instituting innovative technologies and processes to make the experience better for customers and more efficient for financial services management.
Last year, BizTech launched its inaugural Must-Read Financial IT Blogs list for the financial services sector. We’ve been producing similar lists on the topic of business technology in general and have also compiled a list of great IT blogs for the nonprofit crowd. We found these blogs in a number of ways: we received reader submissions, conducted our own independent research and also found a few from CDW's FinTalk blog, which regularly highlights interesting and relevant fintech content with its FIN List.
We hope you enjoy this year’s class of 25 Must-Read Financial IT Blogs. Pick up a badge to post on your site if your blog was one of the 25 named.
Finanser
As far as fintech celebrities go, Chris Skinner is definitely up there on the A-list. As a noted author and speaker in the community, Skinner commands great influence and respect in the financial services crowd. His blog is chock-full of insights and commentary on the latest news, innovation and ideas that are guaranteed to be topics of discussion at the water cooler.
Follow: @Chris_Skinner | Read the blog: thefinanser.com
Credit Union Times
For those looking to understand the philosophies, motivations and operations of credit unions, there’s no better source than the Credit Union Times. The site offers comprehensive coverage with a particularly strong look at the technology side of credit union management.
Follow: @CookeonCUs | Read the blog: cutimes.com
ZootBlog
While some might not consider the lending process to be much of a hoot, Zoot, a software solutions provider for the lending industry, aspires to at least make it easy and automated. The company hosts ZootBlog, which serves as “a community for financial industry executives to connect on relevant topics and discuss valuable insights and ideas.”
Follow: @zootenterprises | Read the blog: zootweb.com/blog
CoinDesk
The revolution in financial services won’t be televised, it will be digitized. Digital currencies, of which Bitcoin is perhaps the most popular, are on the bleeding edge of the financial services industry. CoinDesk tracks the latest and greatest evolutions in the digital currency space, which includes discussions about security, transaction technology and compliance issues.
Follow: @coindesk | Read the blog: coindesk.com
Jessica Ellerm
Ready to take a ride on the fintech train? Jessica Ellerm is a reliable conductor to guide you along down the industry’s tracks. Her self-titled blog highlights first-person perspectives in the “fintech trenches,” as she calls it, along with insights on technology’s role in transforming the way we use financial services and banking products.
Follow: @jessicaellerm | Read the blog: jessicaellerm.com
Mobile Payments Today
When we consider the mobile revolution, one of the visible examples of how mobile technology has changed our lives is in how it doubles as our wallet. Mobile Payments Today tracks the latest news, perspectives and conversations around mobile payments and provides inspiration and strategic advice to financial institutions looking to get a leg up on mobile money.
Follow: @MobilePayToday | Read the blog: mobilepaymentstoday.com
Finextra
Fintech heads, rejoice! For those who seek to be in the know about “significant technology news in wholesale and retail banking, the capital markets and insurance,” Finextra has you covered. In addition to offering a world-class newswire, the site also hosts guest posts from contributors, a global events calendar and more.
Follow: @finextra | Read the blog: finextra.com
Wall Street & Technology
Technology has actually been a mainstay in the high-speed realm of capital markets. As trades become increasingly automated and performed by computers, this segment of the financial services industry is showing an appetite for technological disruption and innovation. The Wall Street & Tech site marries the of-the-moment, in-depth analysis you expect from a Wall Street pub with the techie perspective you yearn for from a good trade pub.
Follow: @wallstreettech | Read the blog: wallstreetandtech.com
Accenture's Banking Blog
Data is what drives much of the tech in the fintech world, and Accenture is one of the best in gathering, analyzing and interpreting data at scale. The group that focuses on the banking industry within Accenture puts together articles that run on the group’s blog, providing existing and potential customers with plenty of food for thought.
Follow: @BankingInsights | Read the blog: bankingblog.accenture.com
SQUEX
Sush Bapna, a strategist in the financial services industry, runs SQUEX, a blog that documents fintech’s past, present and future. The fintech revolution is a call to arms for Bapna, as he explains in his description of the blog, saying: “The brains that run Fintech were once part of an inefficient setup. Now these individuals question, develop and prime the technology to inaugurate a new era of Fintech.”
Follow: @SushBapna | Read the blog: squex.net
The Fintech Blog
We often celebrate Internet pioneers, but do you know some of the faces and names on the front lines of the online banking frontier? Michael Halloran was there for the launch of the U.K.’s first online bank, and now, in addition to his role in business development at a fintech startup, he highlights his ideas and opinions on where the industry is headed through his blog.
Follow: @fintechblogger | Read the blog: thefintechblog.com
Duena Blomstrom
What does it mean to be “uncomfortably opinionated”? Ask Duena Blomstrom, a long-time digital banking consultant and entrepreneur. Her blog posts include intriguing concepts such as “emotional banking,” and she hones in on the intersection of technology and behavioral science within financial services.
Follow: @DuenaBlomstrom | Read the blog: duenablomstrom.com
BankThink
As one of the largest lobbying and advocacy groups for banks, the American Bankers Association carries significant weight among financial services leaders. The association hosts a wonderful blog called BankThink that is all about rethinking operations, technologies and strategies for bank leaders. Definitely put on your thinking cap before diving in here.
Follow: @BankThink | Read the blog: americanbanker.com/bankthink
Tom Groenfeldt
With more than a decade of fintech experience under his belt, Tom Groenfeldt is an established authority on the history and evolution of technology within the financial services industry. You could, perhaps, call him the Gandalf of fintech. He certainly has an appropriately white beard for it.
Follow: @tomgroenfeldt | Read the blog: forbes.com/sites/tomgroenfeldt
Bobsguide
The cream of the crop in financial services IT leadership gather and pay close attention to the news, insights and information put out by U.K.-based Bobsguide. By offering up real-world, applicable best practices and advice to financial IT leaders, this is one Bob you’ll want to know.
Follow: @Bobsguidedotcom | Read the blog: bobsguide.com
Bank Innovation
How can banks grow and acquire customers? Bank Innovation is dedicated to telling that story. The blog “tracks and encourages innovation in banking and explores the world of bank customer acquisition and retention,” while serving as inspiration to bank leaders on how technology can infuse their organizations with growth and meaningful intelligence.
Follow: @bankinnovation | Read the blog: bankinnovation.net
Disruptive Finance
When it comes to technology disruption, often it’s the consumer sector that gets the ink. But finance is worth disrupting too, and the Disruptive Finance blog hosts conversations around such topics as lending innovation, new financial models and digital currencies. It’s run by Huy Nguyen Trieu, a mentor who serves on the board of several fintech organizations.
Follow: @Huynguyentrieu | Read the blog: disruptivefinance.co.uk
Daily Fintech
Fintech isn’t just an idea or a theory, it’s a way of life. Check out the Daily Fintech blog for regular doses of fintech goodness from a variety of experts and contributors. For example: peer into the crystal ball to predict future trends or hop in the time machine to the past to remind readers how fintech got to where it is today.
Follow: @dailyfintech | Read the blog: dailyfintech.com
Cisco Financial Services
When it comes to vendors with a track record in the financial services sector, you can’t really go wrong with Cisco Systems. The company has a dedicated group that caters to financial services, and as part of that work, they produce a blog that includes useful insights into industry trends and Cisco products.
Follow: @CiscoFSI | Read the blog: blogs.cisco.com/financialservices
ATM Marketplace
Think back over the past five years: Has your ATM experience changed? Between ATMs that email receipts rather than print them, or terminals that use biometrics rather than PINs, ATMs are one of the most visible ways that banks have implemented new technologies. ATM Marketplace keeps track of it all.
Follow: @atmmarketplace | Read the blog: atmmarketplace.com
Transaction Trends
The Electronic Transaction Association’s Transaction Trends covers the payment technology industry aggressively. This include new technologies, legislation and policies that will impact retailers, financial services and businesses at large.
Follow: @ElecTranAssoc | Read the blog: electran.org/publication/transactiontrends/
Mortgage Technology
Mortgages — those all-important financial instruments that enable most Americans to buy a home — are fascinatingly complex, and like the rest of the capital markets industry, highly automated. National Mortgage News gets the skinny on everything that’s breaking and shaking in the mortgage-tech side of the fintech world.
Follow: @NatMortgageNews | Read the blog: nationalmortgagenews.com/mortgage-technology/
Elizabeth Lumley
Elizabeth Lumley is a self-described “fintech diva for life.” Her blog, which lives on Finextra, covers her unique and unapologetic perspective on how financial services leaders and technologists can roll up their sleeves and start innovating.
Follow: @LizLum | Read the blog: finextra.com/blogs/blogs.aspx?memberid=36965
Payments Source
Making a payment may be a simple transaction, but multiply that across the country (and across the world) by hundreds of thousands of times per day, and you’ve got some pretty challenging IT requirements. Payments Source is a cheat sheet for the fintech set on all things payments.
Follow: @payments_source | Read the blog: paymentssource.com
Hyperwallet Voices
Looking for a community of like-minded voices and individuals? Hyperwallet, a worker payout solution, gathers a true rainbow coalition of experts and opinionated workers in fintech as part of its mission to draw more awareness toward the stars and solutions in the space.
Follow: @hyperwallet | Read the blog: voices.hyperwallet.com
If your blog is one of those featured in our this list, you can grab a badge here.
