Business Insider talked to David Levy, president of Turner, before he spoke at IGNITION 2018. He discussed Turner’s IP, Turner’s advantages in the direct-to-consumer landscape, and addressable advertising.

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• A weed grows in Toledo, Ohio.
• One family thinks it is an eyesore.
• So they decorated it like a Christmas tree.
• Now, the weed is all lit up for the holidays.

A weed grows in a Toledo, Ohio, intersection — and no one is there to tend to it. Save for one family, who decided to decorate the plant like a Christmas tree making it a local landmark, CBS-affiliated WTOL reports.

Troy Emrick saw the weed while walking one Sunday afternoon, and the rest was history.

"[My dad] saw it going home from church, and said, 'That’s a really big weed. We should just decorate that," Alyssa Emrick, Troy's daughter.

And so they did. 

The Toledo community has really taken to the makeshift tree, adding decorations of their own and sharing photos of it to social media. 

The tree even has a Facebook fan page of its own, aptly named Toledo Christmas Weed.  

The page shares messages of encouragement. 

It also shares — of course — pictures of the weed all decorated. 

Read more: People in a small Pennsylvania city are using a Christmas tree to fill a persistent pothole

Since it was first set up, people have started to leave gifts underneath the weed, as if it were a Christmas tree. According to the Toledo Blade, people have donated items like canned goods, shoes, and toothpaste under the weed.

Alyssa said her dad has been dreaming of doing something to spread kindness in their community for years — and they're all thrilled to see the weed bring people together.

"[My dad's] been talking about it for years, how he’s wanted to decorate something random so when people saw it they’d be surprised," Alyssa told WTOL. "But we had no idea it would become like a community Facebook page and people would take Christmas pictures by it."

And after all, that's just what the holidays are all about: People coming together, spreading happiness, and decorating sidewalk cracks. 

Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.

• Read more:
• A mom called the police on her son because he wouldn't wake up on time for school
• A man was trapped in a grease vent at a deserted restaurant for 2 days
• Meet Lil' Bill, a tiny bull that's the size of a cat

Join the conversation about this story »

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The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

It's only the first week of December and some of the hottest tech gifts of the year are already backordered or sold out until early 2019. Other top devices will see their prices marked up by resellers.

To save time and get you the best bang for your buck, we put together a list of stores where you can still buy devices like Apple AirPods and the Nintendo NES Classic at their original retail prices. But don't sit on this information for long before buying since we fully expect the majority of the devices in this slideshow to sell out by Christmas.

Most of these items are available with two-day shipping if you have Amazon Prime, so don't stress too hard about your last-minute shopping — just remember that the sooner you order, the better your chances of a timely arrival.

Looking for more gift ideas? Check out all of Insider Picks' holiday gift guides for 2018 here.

SEE ALSO: All of Insider Picks' holiday gift guides, in one place

Miniature Nintendo and PlayStation consoles

Nintendo NES Classic Edition, $60, available at Best Buy and Walmart

Super NES Classic, $80, available at Best Buy and Walmart

PlayStation Classic, from $74.99, available at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart

Nintendo's retro game consoles, the $60 NES Classic and $80 Super NES Classic, are awesome gifts for gamers and nostalgists alike, and they have both sold out the last two holiday seasons. Right now, the NES Classic is still in stock at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. The Super NES Classic still up for grabs at Best Buy and Walmart.

Sony followed Nintendo's lead and debuted the PlayStation Classic on December 3. The Classic costs $100 and is currently available to buy at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart.

The Amazon Echo

Echo (2nd Generation), $69.99, available at Amazon

Last year, the Echo was a big hit. The smart speaker comes with Amazon's perennially popular smart assistant, Alexa, built right into the hardware. That means you can call on Alexa to play music, make calls, set alarms, ask questions, control connected devices, and just about anything else. 

It features a speaker powered by Dolby and is currently available in six styles, including fabrics and wood veneers — for the holidays, Amazon partnered with (RED) on a limited-edition red Echo to support the fight against AIDS. 

The Wyze Cam

Wyze Cam, $25.98, available at Amazon

The Wyze Cam is one of those rare devices that costs much less than any of its competition. It records video in 1080P and sends your phone a notification each time its motion sensor is triggered. These video clips are stored in the cloud for two weeks for free; most other home security camera options only keep clips for a day if you don't pay a monthly subscription fee.

Wyze has gotten overwhelmingly positive reviews for this camera. Given its low price and great performance, we don't expect it to stay in stock this holiday season.

• Jamal Crawford is 38 years old and on his eighth team in 19 seasons, and has become a key player for the Phoenix Suns.
• Crawford is considered ageless on the court and says he's stayed young by making dietary tweaks like cutting out Capri Suns and treating his body right.
• Crawford says his career motto is loving the game and that if you treat it well, it will treat you well back.

As the NBA regular season began and Jamal Crawford remained unsigned, he could have chosen to wait it out, hoping some contending team would reach out in need and offer him a contract.

But one thing rules Crawford's life, and that is the love of basketball. So, in mid-October, he joined the Phoenix Suns when they offered him a deal.

"It got to a point where, I love basketball so much, to be honest with you, that I didn't wanna just miss the start of the season," Crawford told INSIDER on Monday before playing the New York Knicks. "Like, I could've waited [for an offer from a contender], played that game, see how that worked out, but when the season started, I wanted to be out there."

It turns out the Suns do need him. Before the season, they had ambitions of competing for the playoffs. Instead, they entered Monday night 6-24, last in the NBA.

Crawford is uniquely qualified for this role as team sage. Now on his eighth team in 19 years in the NBA, Crawford has played for every type of outfit, from lottery dwellers to pseudo contenders.

"This isn't the end-all, be-all," Crawford said when asked what he tells younger Suns players as they grind through a dismal season.

"Just work every day. Take it day by day, get better. But there's a bigger picture to this. As long as you can worry about the stuff you can control, that's always best for you."

Crawford has been a breath of fresh air in the locker room, as other players would tell it. No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton told The Athletic's Gina Mizzel on Monday that he continually tells Crawford that it's an "honor" to be around him.

The NBA world jokes about Crawford's agelessness, particularly in his looks.

But behind Crawford's longevity has been hard work and help from others, including some dietary changes made by his wife.

"I switched Capri Suns for water," Crawford said. "My wife made me, actually. She started changing my diet before I noticed she was changing it, to be honest with you. Like, I started eating more whole foods, better stuff. At first, it was like once a week. Then it was like four times a week."

But Crawford also said he made sacrifices to hang around the NBA.

"Staying in love. I think if you're in love, you're willing to do anything that comes with it. Whether that be foam roller or ice tub or Epsom salt bath or stretching, whatever it might be, getting extra shots up. If you wanna actually love the game like that, then you'll sacrifice.

"If you're good to the game, the game is usually good to you."

That youthfulness was on display Monday night against the Knicks, when Crawford racked up a career-high 14 assists (off the bench), helping the Suns beat the Knicks, 128-110.

There is a lot of season left to be played, but even with the Suns winning three in a row, it doesn't appear as if they're heading for meaningful games soon. Crawford could ask for a trade to a contender if he wanted. He could aim for lofty stats, climbing further up on some leaderboards — he ranks 58th all-time in points, sixth all-time in made threes, and 25th all-time games played. 

But those aren't Crawford's goals.

"The love of playing trumps all of that, to be honest with you," Crawford said. "Even the day I retire, I'll still be playing somewhere."

• Read more:
• James Harden had a hilarious answer for reporters after getting called out for a blatant travel on his signature step-back move
• LeBron James roasted a former Cavs teammate who mistakenly threw the ball to a guy on the bench
• Knicks owner James Dolan reportedly used to annoy players by playing his guitar on team flights
• The 40 most incredible plays in sports of 2018

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Amazon has stopped selling certain designs in its furniture collection, Rivet.
• The apparent change occurred after the designs were named in a lawsuit filed on behalf of Williams-Sonoma, parent company of West Elm.
• The suit alleged that Amazon copied the designs in its own products, like in its Orb chair.
• The product pages for the chairs in question are now returning an error message, as of Tuesday evening.

Amazon has stopped selling some of its private-label Rivet furniture after it was accused of lifting the designs from another brand in a lawsuit filed in US District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday.

West Elm, through its parent company Williams-Sonoma, has accused Amazon of creating "knockoffs" of the designs of three of its patented chairs, including the Orb Dining Chair, the Orb Office Chair, and the Slope Leather Swivel Office Chair.

"It is implausible Amazon could have conceived of a product line with nearly identical product designs which feature product names containing the very same non-descriptive terms WSI uses in connection with these products, other than by intentionally undertaking to copy WSI’s West Elm product line," Williams-Sonoma says in court filings. 

As of this writing, the Amazon product pages for all three Rivet chairs now return error messages, complete with Amazon's famous 404 dog pictures.

An Amazon spokeswoman declined to comment on the lawsuit, but agreed the products seem to no longer be for sale.

West Elm introduced its Orb and Slope chairs in 2016. Amazon released its Rivet line of furniture in late 2017, and according to the suit, it started selling its Slope and Orb chairs in March.

SEE ALSO: Amazon reportedly wants to curb selling 'CRaP' items it can't profit on, like bottled water and snacks

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Almost 80% of the textbook industry is dominated by 5 publishing companies that make books so expensive most students skip buying them

• Blythe Masters has stepped down from her role as CEO of blockchain company Digital Asset Holdings for personal reasons.
• Masters is a former JPMorgan executive and one of the biggest names in the blockchain industry.

Blythe Masters, one of the biggest names in the blockchain space, has stepped down from her role as CEO of distributed ledger technology provider Digital Asset Holdings. 

The news came in a release from the company on Tuesday, which said Masters, who has served as Digital Asset's CEO since 2015, requested to step down for "personal reasons."

Prior to joining Digital Asset, Masters served as an executive at JPMorgan, helping to create the market for credit default swaps in the 1990s and later heading up its global commodities division. 

After joining Digital Asset, Masters become one of the most recognizable faces and vocal proponents of the benefits of distributed ledger technology. 

AG Gangadhar, who joined the company's board of directors in April, was named Board Chairman and acting CEO while a search commences for a permanent replacement, the release said. Masters will still serve as a company board member, strategic advisor and shareholder. 

"Digital Asset has evolved from an ambitious idea to a truly global software engineering firm. We are fortunate to have a deep bench of accomplished executives on the management team and Board, including AG, who have the requisite experience to take the company to the next level," said Masters in a statement. "Having come to know and trust AG as an advisor and Board member, I am convinced that he brings what's needed to guide the company through its next phase."

We got a hold of the note Masters sent to company staff following a town hall meeting Tuesday night:

All, I want to add a personal note to the announcement which I know will have come as a surprise.

I have three important things to say:

Firstly, my belief in DA, and the potential for DLT is as strong as it has ever been. I remain a shareholder, advisor and board member and will be your eternal advocate.

Second, I am grateful for and will be forever influenced by the experience of working with you over the past four years to build this amazing company. I hope you are as proud as you should be of everything you have achieved and for those just joining I hope you are as excited as you should be about the future opportunity to scale out the company. Third, having got to know AG as an advisor and board member, I am convinced that along with our talented management team, he has exactly the right experience to guide the transition of the company from a startup with an ambitious vision to a global software engineering powerhouse.

Working as part of the DA family means the world to me, but I also work for my family's future and I need to focus on this for a while. My DA email will work until you're notified otherwise, but I will always be reachable on xxx@xxx.com.

Stay in touch.

Blythe 

See also:

• A new crypto company backed by Peter Thiel is launching to solve one of the industry's biggest pain-points, and it 'brings something that others haven’t brought so far'
• Citigroup has created a new, less risky way of investing in crypto — and it may be a game changer for the industry

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The legendary economist who predicted the housing crisis says the US will win the trade war

• Macaroni and cheese is a comforting dish that can also be healthy.
• Make simple swaps for the butter, milk, and pasta to lighten the dish.
• Add items like lean protein and nutrient-rich veggies for a healthier, more flavorful mac 'n' cheese.

There's nothing quite as comforting as diving into a rich, creamy bowl of macaroni and cheese after a long day. Truthfully, we'd probably all love to enjoy this dish several times a week, but as it is laden with butter, milk, cream, and cheese, macaroni and cheese isn't the healthiest meal out there.

By playing with flavor combinations and ingredient swaps, you can add important vitamins and minerals while removing some of the heavier elements for more nutritious macaroni and cheese recipes that will nourish your body and soul.

Here are some tips for making your mac and cheese healthier.

First thing is first — choose homemade over boxed.

The packets of processed, powdered cheese in varieties of boxed mac 'n' cheese, have been found to contain phthalates. Many believe the chemicals can disrupt hormones, but more research is needed, according to the CDC. 

Either way, making your own mac and cheese is usually healthier and more delicious anyway. 

Reap the nutritional benefits of leafy greens.

Leafy greens offer a variety of nutrients. Greens like kale and spinach offer vitamins A, C, E, and K as well as fiber, calcium, potassium, iron, and magnesium. 

Swap pasta for whole wheat options.

Whole wheat or whole grain pasta offers many more vitamins and minerals compared to white pasta. Alicia Romano, RD explained in Time that one cup of whole wheat pasta contains 23% of our daily fiber, while white pasta contains only 9%. Whole wheat pasta also provides 16% of your daily protein.

This is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about Business Insider Intelligence, click here.

Regtech solutions seemed to offer the solution to financial institutions' (FIs) compliance woes when they first came to prominence around 24 months ago, gaining support from regulators and investors alike. 

However, many of the companies offering these solutions haven't scaled as might have been expected from the initial hype, and have failed to follow the trajectory of firms in other segments of fintech.

This unexpected inertia in the regtech industry is likely to resolve over the next 12-18 months as other factors come into play that shift FIs' approach to regtech solutions, and as the companies offering them evolve. External factors driving this change include regulatory support of regtech solutions, and consultancies offering more help to FIs wanting to sift through solutions. Startups offering regtech solutions will also play a part by partnering with each other, forming industry organizations, and taking advantage of new opportunities.

This report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, provides a brief overview of the current global financial regulatory compliance landscape, and the regtech industry's position within it. It then details the major drivers that will shift the dial on FIs' adoption of regtech over the next 12-18 months, as well as those that will propel startups offering regtech solutions to new heights. Finally, it outlines what impact these drivers will have, and gives insight into what the global regtech industry will look like by 2020.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Regulatory compliance is still a significant issue faced by global FIs. In 2018 alone, EU regulations MiFID II and PSD2 have come into effect, bringing with them huge handbooks and gigantic reporting requirements. 
• Regtech startups boast solutions that can ease FIs' compliance burden — but they are struggling to scale. 
• Some changes expected to drive greater adoption of these solutions in the next 12 to 18 months are: the ongoing evolution of startups' business models, increasing numbers of partnerships, regulators' promotion of regtech, changing attitudes to the segment among FIs, and consultancies helping to facilitate adoption.
• FIs will actively be using solutions from regtech startups by 2020, and startups will be collaborating in an organized fashion with each other and with FIs. Global regulators will have adopted regtech themselves, while continuing to act as advocates for the industry.

In full, the report:

• Reviews the major changes expected to hit the regtech segment in the next 12 to 18 months.
• Examines the drivers behind these changes, and how the proliferation of regtech will improve compliance for FIs.
• Provides our view on what the future of the regtech industry looks like through 2020.
  Get The Regtech Revisited Report
  

   

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The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

All too often, products that say they're feminist are actually just mass produced goods that don't represent the principles and values that feminists hold dear.

We've done the research to find feminist gifts that give back to women and children around the world, so you can feel good about the gifts you give. Some of the brands we've included donate a portion of the proceeds for every item purchased from their stores, while others have special collections of products that give back.

No matter which gifts you choose from our guide, the feminist in your life will probably love the story behind them just as much as the gifts themselves.

Most of these items are available with expedited shipping, and some should arrive within a few days' time, so don't stress too hard about your last-minute shopping — just remember that the sooner you order, the better your chances of a timely arrival.

Looking for more gift ideas? Check out all of Insider Picks' holiday gift guides for 2018 here. Keep scrolling to check out the best feminist gifts that give back to women and children.

SEE ALSO: All of Insider Picks' holiday gift guides, in one place

Clothing and accessories that give 100% of the price to charity

J.Crew Garments for Good Collection

In honor of Giving Tuesday, J.Crew has partnered with Girls Inc., HRC, and charity: water to create special collections of products that give back. From November 27-29, J.Crew will donate 100% of each item's retail price to the corresponding charity.

You can choose from 18 different styles, including sweatshirts, tote bags, T-shirts, and accessories for each charity. We love the Girls Inc. Sweatshirt, which says "girls" in several different languages.

Girls Inc. is a nonprofit that was founded in 1864 to empower girls and young women from age 6 to 18. The charity provides "safe spaces, mentorship and programming to help them build lasting skills to succeed and create systemic change." 

HRC and charity: water are also wonderful organizations to support. HRC works to ensure equal rights for LGBTQ people and charity: water provides fresh drinking water to those who don't have access to it.

Gifts that are handmade by women artisans

Shop all artisan handmade goods at Globe In 

Globe In sells Fair Trade, handmade products that are produced in ethical working conditions by workers who are compensated fairly for their labor. Many of the workers are women who would otherwise have no employment or means of supporting themselves or their families. Each product description says where it was made and who made it. You can also read about the positive impact Globe In's special gift boxes have had on local communities.

Feminist clothing that fights back with every purchase

Shop all Wildfang clothing and accessories

Wild Feminist Pride Edition T-Shirt, $30

Wildfang was founded by a woman and continues to be run by women. The brand's offerings include cool basics, suiting, gender neutral apparel, as well as feminist clothing and accessories. We really love the Wild Feminist line, which includes T-shirts, beanies, button-up shirts, sweatshirts, and accessories. Wildfang makes a donation to select charities with every single purchase.

"We walk the walk, giving back $400,000 and counting this year," Wildfang's website says, "In 2017, we helped raise over $75,000 for charities including Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, Joyful Heart, and the Tegan and Sara Foundation ... Additionally, a percentage of all full price goods across our entire site go directly to a rotating monthly charity." You can see all the charities Wildfang has supported here.

• Many countries have unique naming customs that parents must follow when they are naming a child.
• Some countries outlaw symbols and numbers, while others outlaw specific names for their meaning.
• From "Monkey" to "4Real," INSIDER found 20 banned names around the world.
  

Many countries grant parents the freedom to give their kids whatever name they want, but some have pretty rigid restrictions. In fact, there are some names that are considered illegal throughout certain parts of the world and others that are just cautioned against.

Names can be forbidden for a number of reasons. For instance, if they're offensive, difficult to remember, or downright embarrassing, it makes sense why a country would implement the regulation.

INSIDER found out some of the blacklisted names around the world.

In New Zealand, "Queen,""Duke,""Justice," and other rank names like "Princess" are off limits.

Under New Zealand's Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act section 18, you cannot register a baby name if it's an official title or rank, like "Queen" or "Duke." You also can't register a baby under an offensive or unreasonably long (more than 100 characters) name.

In 2013, New Zealand's Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages shared a list of names they've banned in the past and how many times each was rejected — "4real" was one of them.

In the US state of California, "José" needs to be spelled "Jose" with no accent.

In the US, naming laws vary state by state. In the state of California, for example, names cannot include any diacritical marks to distinguish its pronunciation, such as è, ñ, ē, ç. You also cannot use pictographs, emojis, or ideograms. 

Many parents find this law to be restrictive, even unconstitutional, and there have been efforts to update it in recent years. 

In Iceland, the name Cleopatra wasn't allowed because the letter "c" isn't in the Icelandic alphabet.

The country's naming restrictions are governed by a committee who has to approve any new baby name that hasn't ever been used previously.

To make matters even more complicated (or simple, depending on how you look at it) all names must adhere to the Icelandic alphabet. For example, because there is no letter "c" in the alphabet, one couple who attempted to name their child Cleopatra was rejected. (By the way, residents refer to it as "Ísland," in case you were wondering.)

Overall, parents must choose from a list of roughly 1,800 girls' names and 1,700 boys' names, according to the BBC. 

• Tariffs are costing US firms $6 billion a month, a sudden surge because of President Donald Trump's trade war.
• According to data from Bespoke Investment Group, tariff costs as a percentage of the US GDP have doubled in the past few months.
• Tariffs as a percentage of total imports have also soared to historic levels.
• While the costs are still small, the sudden jump is another issue for US companies to handle.

President Donald Trump's trade war is nearing its nine-month mark, and according to new data, US companies are starting to pay the price.

The US Treasury confirmed in recent data that American importers paid about $6 billion in custom duties during the month of October, double the amount during the same month a year ago. The sudden increase in tariff payments is largely a function of the Trump administration's tariffs on Chinese goods, steel, and aluminum.

One chart from Bespoke Investment Group laid out the significance of this sudden increase in tariffs in the context of the broader US economy and historical norms.

Read more:US companies forked over a record amount in tariffs in October — $6.2 billion! — because of Trump's trade war

• "On a 3-month average basis, September to November saw customs duties collected at a pace of 30 basis points (o.3%) of GDP,"Bespoke said.
• "Historically (since this data series begins in 1998) that number typically runs between 15 and 20 basis points (0.15% to 0.2%) of GDP, so relative to the size of the economy import tariffs are nearly twice their historic range."

In addition to tariff costs growing compared to the US economy, the value of tariffs as a percentage of total imports is also on the rise:

• According to Bespoke, tariff costs were equal to 2.3% of the total value of goods imported into the US from September to November.
• That compares with a historical average of 1.5% over the past 20 years.

But while the numbers have risen dramatically in the past few months, it's still a relatively small problem in context for companies at this point.

"In other words, the tax rate on imports has risen very sharply, but it’s still very small relative to, for example, sales taxes in most states," Bespoke said.

Read more:Trump's trade war could cost every middle-class American family $453 and could eliminate 292,000 US jobs

But in a time when cost pressures from rising wages and slowly rising interest rates are already putting a squeeze on US businesses, the added cost of tariffs represents another problem for these firms to manage.

That could get worse if the US and China fail to reach an agreement on a longer-term trade deal by a March 1 deadline. At that point, tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods would increase to 25%, and Trump could start the process to impose tariffs on the rest of Chinese goods not caught up in the trade war.

A possible tariff on imported cars and trucks, another longtime threat of Trump's, also remains in the mix.

SEE ALSO: Trump is losing the trade war with China based on his favorite report card, and it's probably going to keep getting worse

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Anthony Scaramucci claims Trump isn't a nationalist: 'He likes saying that because it irks these intellectual elitists'

• This reboot comes 25 years after the original.
• There are some familiar characters in "Mary Poppins Returns."
• Almost all will take on new roles and cameos.

The 1964 movie-musical "Mary Poppins" has captivated viewers for multiple generations. On December 19, a new chapter in the Mary Poppins world will unfold in "Mary Poppins Returns."

The sequel is set 25 years later and has a few familiar faces as well as new actors reprising old roles. We rounded up all the original characters and actors who will appear in the new movie. 

Emily Blunt will play Mary Poppins in the long-awaited sequel.

Famed singer and actress Julie Andrews played the original Mary Poppins in the 1964 classic. Her performance was beloved by many and even won her the Oscar for Best Actress in 1965.

For the sequel Emily Blunt, known for a range of films from "A Quiet Place" to "Into the Woods," will be replacing her in the iconic role.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, "Mary Poppins Returns" director Rob Marshall recounts how excited Andrews was when he informed her Emily Blunt would be filling her shoes.

"Julie will always be, for me and for everybody, the most astonishing performance as Mary Poppins, winning the Oscar and bursting onto the scene so brilliantly," said Marshall. "But Emily is the perfect person to carry the torch, and I know Julie feels the exact same way. She loves her."

Ben Winshaw will portray Michael Banks as an adult.

In the original, young Michael Banks was played by Michael Garber. The sequel finds Michael as a full-fledged adult, reeling from the loss of his wife as he raises two children of his own: Anabel (Pixie Davies) and Georgie (Joel Dawson).

Ben Winshaw has been a household name in England for years for his roles in films including "Spectre,""The Danish Girl," and "The Lobster."

In an interview with Vulture, Winshaw expressed his excitement for the role. "I have seen ['Mary Poppins Returns'] and I'm really delighted by it. I'm really excited for other people to see it."

Emily Mortimer will play Jane Banks, Michael's sister.

Karen Dotrice played little Jane Banks in the first film, tagging along for adventures with Mary Poppins with her brother Michael. In the sequel Emily Mortimer will play Jane as an adult, helping her brother raise her niece and nephew.

Emily Mortimer is best known for her roles in movies like "Lars and the Real Girl" and "Match Point" as well as the HBO series "The Newsroom."

Mortimer told Hollywood Life that she had a fantastic time filming "Mary Poppins Returns" and has already seen an early version of the movie.

"I saw a little of it and it just lives up to every expectation you could have had," said Mortimer. "It was in the best hands with [director] Rob Marshall who was the perfect puppet master for the revival of Mary Poppins."

I

• FedEx released its 2019 Q2 earnings report today.
• FedEx won't achieve its operating income goals by fiscal 2020, the company said today. 
• It's also going to start offering buyouts to eligible employees along with other cost-cutting measures.
• Executives attributed the "weakened" business to economic slowdowns in Europe and Asia.

FedEx Express' goal of achieving an operating income of $1.5 billion by fiscal 2020 won't be achieved, the company said in its earnings report on Tuesday.

The Memphis, Tenn.-based company also dropped its 2019 earnings guidance to $15.50 to $16.60 per share. Previously, the company forecasted $17.20 to $17.80 a share. In after-hours trading, FedEx shares dropped by 6%. 

"Global trade has slowed in recent months and leading indicators point to ongoing deceleration in global trade near-term," said Alan Graf, FedEx executive vice president and chief financial officer, in the report. "These trends, coupled with the change in service mix at FedEx Express, are negatively impacting the segment's financial results."

Read more:A fiasco of tariffs, the holiday season, and a truck-driver shortage may make December the most expensive month ever for moving freight

In a call to investors on Tuesday, FedEx executives highlighted economic troubles in Europe as a key reason for the company's lowered expectations. Express package volume has been lower than expected in the region.

Graf said, because of that, FedEx will cut costs and "focus on increasing efficiency across the organization."

While executives underlined FedEx's "record-setting holiday season" in the US, American employees may see some of the effects of that cost-cutting. FedEx will offer "a voluntary buyout program" to its US employees that's expected to save the company $225 million to $275 million. 

Other initiatives include limiting hiring, reducing discretionary spending, and reducing international network capacity. 

These mediocre earnings come after the Dec. 10 resignation of David Cunningham, previously the head of FedEx Express. Cunningham left the role after just two years, while his predecessor led the air freight division for 17 years. The sudden departure concerned investors and analysts, who called it "out of character."

FedEx CEO Fred Smith praised Cunningham's 30-year tenure at UPS in the investor call on Tuesday, calling the departure a retirement.

SEE ALSO: MORGAN STANLEY: Monthly truck orders are starting to 'unwind' for the first time in years

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• In the last few months, three open source software startups have made big changes to their licensing model — a defensive move against the rising power of major cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services and Alibaba Cloud.
• Their gripe: Amazon and other clouds often take free open source software and package it up as a paid service, without contributing what's considered a satisfactory amount of code back to the original project. 
• Developers and activists in the open source community believe this goes against the very meaning of "open source," saying that the code should be free for anyone to use — even major cloud providers.
• Giving away free software and growing a business often contradict each other, so increasingly, more open source startups are attempting to find a middle ground.

It is a time of great unrest in the open source software world. 

Amazon Web Services, Alibaba Cloud, and the other major cloud computing platforms have come under fire for taking free open source software and repackaging it as a paid service. It's a maneuver that's legal, but not always welcome, as Amazon has a reputation for not giving back to the open source projects from which it profits. 

In response, three smaller software companies behind some of the open source software that Amazon and others rely on — Confluent, Redis Labs, and MongoDB — have gone on the defensive. In recent months, they've made changes to their licensing that prevent cloud platforms from profiting from the open source code that they develop. Open source can't be "free and unsustainable R&D" for tech giants, said Confluent CEO Jay Kreps last week.

Read more: After Amazon’s cloud encroaches on its turf, a startup is taking a stand: Open source can’t be ‘free and unsustainable R&D’ for tech giants

The problem, experts now warn, is that these companies' big move against Amazon and others could undermine the very concept of open source itself, which is in turn a pillar of the modern software industry. Restricting how software is used, say the critics, is antithetical to the literal definition of open source, which states that software should be free for anyone to use as they wish, even if that means selling it.

"These proponents think they're out to save open source. We don't think so," Bruce Perens, one of the founders of the open source movement and the creator of that definition, told Business Insider. "You can use whatever license you want as long as you don't call it open source." 

The challenge, several experts and CEOs tell Business Insider, is figuring out how to navigate these issues in a way that preserves the core philosophy of open source, while simultaneously respecting these startups' right to make money from their own code. 

Experts warn of a 'disturbing trend'

The companies that are making this stand against the tech giants all share a similar business model. They all develop an open source project — MongoDB and Redis Labs work on eponymous open source databases, while Confluent is the lead developer on Kafka, an open source streaming data analysis tool.

Amazon Web Services offers the Redis database as a service, and just announced a Kafka-based service, too. It's also expected to launch a service based on MongoDB, according to reports. Competing cloud platforms, including Alibaba Cloud, have launched similar services based on these and other open source projects.

These smaller companies' new licenses don't appear to directly impact AWS or the other big cloud platforms; they only apply to the specialized additions to the open source software that they developed in-house, while Amazon is using the original software. These companies also all sell customized versions of their software for businesses.

This, in and of itself, isn't a problem: It's common for software companies to release some of their labors as open source, and others as proprietary, commercial products. 

"Not all open source is the same, and there's a long, diverse spectrum from completely free, permissive, and open to maximally expensive, restricted, and closed," Kyle Mitchell, independent business law attorney, told Business Insider.  "Companies can dice up the work they do into buckets and make independent choices about each one."

However, Bradley M. Kuhn, the President of the Software Freedom Conservancy, calls the new licensing changes from these startups a "disturbing trend." Sure, these startups are protecting their business interests, but then these startups can't claim to be open source anymore — even if they do still make the source code available for free download. It's a matter of philosophy, he says. 

"You should have equal rights whether you're modifying or sharing the software as a hobby or sharing it as commercial software," Kuhn told Business Insider. "Our community has long held the belief that the issue of software freedom is equal for everyone whether they're a commercial actor or not."

In other words, Kuhn says, with these licensing changes, Redis Labs and Confluent are saying that commercial providers do not deserve software freedom.

For its part, MongoDB has submitted its new license, called the Server Side Public License, for approval from the Open Source Initiative. The license gets sent out on a mailing list, and the community discusses whether the new license meets the criteria for the software to call itself "open source." 

Will MongoDB's new license get approved? Perens personally thinks it's unlikely. According to the email thread, as reviewed by Business Insider, many participants have written that they are strongly opposed.

There has been pushback on Redis Labs and Confluent's licensing changes as well, although both have clarified that they don't intend for their new licenses to qualify their software as open source. 

Some in the community have written blog posts criticizing these changes, and developers protested Redis Labs' announcement by taking its open code, copying it, and beginning work on a new version that will meet the criteria to be called open source.

A "lose:lose scenario"

A major beef held by these startups is that Amazon has a reputation for not contributing very much code to the projects that it's taking and selling. Indeed, in 2017, Amazon employees only contributed code to 158 of the top open source projects on GitHub.

Compare this to Microsoft — which acquired open source hub GitHub this year — where employees contributed to the 825 top projects, and Google, where employees contributed to 1,100 top projects. Despite being the #1 cloud provider, Amazon seems to give only a fraction back to the open source community.

Dor Laor, founder and CEO of open source database company ScyllaDB, says he understands why these startups are upset, but he also has concerns that the new licensing changes hurts smaller companies, which sometimes sell open source software made by others, but actually make major contributions to the code in return.

"It's a lose:lose scenario and goes against the open source spirit," Laor told Business Insider. "Another class of companies who will be hurt by this is smaller as-a service vendors and despite the fact that the may contribute back to OSS, the license will forbid them to run it...So all in all, it's not a positive trend."

'It's part of the game'

Open source startups may be founded on ideals of keeping software free and open. But when reality hits, and cloud providers make considerable profits off of software they didn't create, it can cause an identity crisis for open source companies. Do they stick to their open source ideals, or do they look after their business interests?

Heather Meeker, an open source licensing specialist who helped draft Redis and MongoDB's licensing changes, says this dilemma is becoming more common for open source businesses.

"When you're a lawyer, you do what your clients need you to do," Meeker told Business Insider. "My view is, I'm not morally opposed to proprietary software. I think open source is great and can be a hugely helpful tool in business, but companies have to think very carefully on how to have a revenue model."

And that's the issue: starting a business and creating open source software have two completely separate goals. The goal of starting a business is to make money. The mission of open source is freedom.

"The biggest question I always get is, how do I make money by making open source?" Perens said. "My answer to that is, if that's your major goal, you're probably the wrong person to make the open source. The people who are making open source should have another goal."

Laor also says that when it comes to an open source business, the possibility of others selling your software is definitely a risk, but that's just what happens when you give software away for free. For example, IBM has already been selling ScyllaDB's software for some time.

"It's not as major as the other three leading companies, and it can certainly happen," Laor said. "We believe it's part of the game. It may happen. We may lose some opportunities, but we also gain some because if that happens, the project credibility will rise. It won't necessarily be a bad thing for us."

Laor says he does not plan to pursue any licensing changes for ScyllaDB.

Ultimately, it's up to the individual startup to strike the right balance between idealism and practicality. In the meantime, MongoDB, Redis Labs, Confluent and likely more startups to come have been attempting to find a middle ground.

"For various reasons, some people desperately want to work in a software world where everything is either wide open or slammed shut," Mitchell said. "But self-described 'open core' companies are finding they need and want to experiment with different combinations and gradations, for both technical and business reasons."

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In an increasingly digitized world, brick-and-mortar retailers are facing immense pressure to understand and accommodate their customers’ changing needs, including at the point of sale (POS). 

More than two years after the EMV liability shift in October 2015, most large merchants globally have upgraded their payment systems. And beyond upgrading to meet new standards, many major retailers are adopting full-feature, “smart” devices — and supplementing them with valuable tools and services — to help them better engage customers and build loyalty.

But POS solutions aren’t “one size fits all.” Small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) don't usually have the same capabilities as larger merchants, which often have the resources and funds to adopt robust solutions or develop them in-house. That's where app marketplaces come in: POS app marketplaces are platforms, typically deployed by POS providers, where developers can host third-party business apps that offer back-office services, like accounting and inventory, and customer-retention tools, like loyalty programs and coupons.

SMBs' growing needs present a huge opportunity for POS terminal providers, software providers, and resellers. The US counts roughly 8 million SMBs, or 99.7% of all businesses. Until now, constraints such as time and budget have made it difficult for SMBs to implement value-added services that meet their unique needs. But app marketplaces enable providers to cater to SMBs with specialized solutions. 

App marketplaces also alleviate some of the issues associated with the overcrowded payments space. Relatively new players that have effectively leveraged the rise of the digital economy, like mPOS firm Square, are increasingly encroaching on the payments industry, putting pricing pressure on payment hardware and service giants. This has diminished client loyalty as merchants seek out the most affordable solution, and it's resulted in lost revenue for providers. However, app marketplaces can be used as tools not only to build client loyalty, but also as a revenue booster — Verifone, for instance, charges developers 30% of net revenue for each installed app and a distribution fee for each free app.

In this report, Business Insider Intelligence looks at the drivers of POS app marketplaces and the legacy and challenger firms that are supplying them. The report also highlights the strategies these providers are employing, and the ways that they can capitalize on the emergence of this new market. Finally, it looks to the future of POS app marketplaces, and how they may evolve moving forward.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• SMBs are a massive force in the US, which makes understanding their needs a necessity for POS terminal providers, software providers, and resellers — the US counts roughly 8 million SMBs, or 99.7% of all businesses.
• The entrance of new challengers into the payment space has put pricing pressure on the entire industry, forcing all of the players in the industry to find new solutions to keep customers loyal while also gaining a new revenue source.
• Major firms in the industry, like Verifone and Ingenico, have turned to value-added services, specifically app marketplaces, to not only build loyalty but also giving them a new revenue source — Verifone charges developers 30% of net revenue for each installed app and a distribution fee for each free app.
• According to a recent survey by Intuit, 68% of SMBs stated that they use an average of four apps to run their businesses. As developers flock to the space to grab a piece of the pie, it's likely that increased competition will lead to robust, revenue-generating marketplaces.
• And there are plenty of opportunities to build out app marketplace capabilities, such as in-person training, to further engage with users — 66% of app users would hire someone to train and educate them on which apps are right for their businesses. 

In full, the report:

• Identifies the factors that have changed how SMBs are choosing payment providers.  
• Discusses why firms in the payments industry have started to introduce app marketplaces over the last four years.
• Analyzes some of the most popular app marketplaces in the industry and identifies the strengths of each.
• Breaks down the concerns merchants have relating to app marketplaces, and discusses how providers can solve these issues.
• Explores what app marketplace providers will have to do going forward in order to avoid being outperformed in an industry that's becoming increasingly saturated. 

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• China has an astounding housing vacancy problem.
• There are cities all over the country that are almost entirely unoccupied.
• About 50 million apartments are abandoned across the country.

When you picture a ghost town, images of an abandoned town in the wild west probably come to mind.

In China, however, there are a surprising number of "ghost cities," or modern developments that have failed to attract residents.

The Kangbashi District in Inner Mongolia, China, for example, is a city that has been in development for the past 14 years. The district is filled with residential skyscrapers, a modern museum and library, and schools — but it is dramatically underpopulated. Developers originally intended for a million residents, though they have since lowered the goal to 300,000.

Keep reading for an inside look at China's ghost cities.

In the Yunnan Province, the Chenggong district of Kunming was filled with largely unoccupied residential skyscrapers until recently.

The city's development from farmland to urban center began in 2003.

Source: Go Kunming

However, by 2012, the city's population had not grown to match the new infrastructure.

• Oath is changing its name to Verizon Media Group, according to an announcement Tuesday.
• News of the rebranding was accompanied with what many guessed to be the new logo — the letter "Y."
• The Y logo appears to have been a gaffe that immersed the rebranding effort in confusion.

Verizon announced Tuesday that Oath, the business unit comprising Yahoo and AOL, will be rebranded as Verizon Media Group starting January 8.

But the brand's name change wasn't what necessarily caught the attention of those who viewed the announcement. Instead, people were puzzled by the graphic at the top of the announcement — a purple box with the letter "Y."

It was not clear whether the graphic was supposed to be the new logo for the rebranded business. Although the purple and white Y is very likely related to Yahoo (which uses a similar looking purple Y in its logo), Verizon's use of the Y seemed incongruous with the new Verizon branding. 

And Twitter users didn't waste any time in roasting the company.

Verizon did not immediately respond to Business Insider's inquiry seeking clarification about the "Y" logo.

But later on Tuesday, the announcement had been updated. Gone was the "Y" logo. In its place was a box bearing the names of various Verizon Media Group owned brands, such as Yahoo!, Yahoo! Mail, Tumblr, Aol, and HuffPost.

News of Oath's rebranding comes a week after Verizon said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing it expected to write down the value of Oath by $4.6 billion. The write-down was due to competitive pressures in the digital ad business, Verizon said.

Business Insider first broke the news in April 2017 that the combined unit of AOL and Yahoo would be named "Oath." The new division was created following Verizon's acquisition of Yahoo for about $4.8 billion in cash.

Read more: AOL and Yahoo plan to call themselves by a new name after the Verizon deal closes: Oath

Verizon paid about $9 billion to acquire AOL and Verizon. The integration of the two companies as Oath never achieved the benefits Verizon hoped for, the company said in its SEC filing.

SEE ALSO: Russia's disinformation campaign wasn't just on Facebook and Twitter. Here are all the social media platforms Russian trolls weaponized during the 2016 US elections

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• Tinder has fired its vice president of marketing and communications, Rosette Pambakian, and a "number" of other employees who participated in a $2 billion lawsuit against the dating app's owners, according to a report by The Verge. 
• Tinder employees involved in the lawsuit, including Pambakian, had been put on leave back in August, but were recently let go because they were "unable to fulfill their job responsibilities."
• In August, a group of 10 current and former Tinder employees sued the dating app's parent company IAC and Match Group for $2 billion. They alleged the startup was undervalued on purpose to devalue early employee options.
• Part of the lawsuit also involved allegations that former Tinder CEO Greg Blatt "groped and sexually harassed" Pambakian at a company holiday party. 
• Match and IAC have previously called key claims of the lawsuit "meritless." 

Tinder has fired its vice president of marketing and communications, Rosette Pambakian, as well as a "number" of other employees who participated in a $2 billion lawsuit against the Match Group, the owners of the dating app, according to a report by The Verge. 

Tinder employees involved in the lawsuit, including Pambakian, had been put on leave back in August. A spokesperson for the Match Group confirmed to Business Insider that "we’ve terminated a number of employees who are unable to perform their responsibilities."

In an email addressed to Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg and published by the Verge, Pambakian said:

"I love Tinder. And I love my colleagues. But you have now fired me from a company I was so proud to build in blatant retaliation for joining a group of colleagues and Tinder’s original founding members in a lawsuit against Match and IAC, standing up for our rights, calling out the company’s CEO Greg for sexual misconduct, and confronting the company about covering up what happened to me."

"Your position was never at risk due to any sexual harassment complaints. I wanted to find a way to keep you employed at Tinder," Ginsberg said in a reply email sent to Pambakian, as provided by a spokesperson to Match. You can read Ginsberg's full letter below. 

In August, a group of 10 current and former Tinder employees sued the dating app's parent company, Match Group, which is itself owned by conglomerate IAC, for $2 billion. The lawsuit alleged the startup was undervalued on purpose to devalue early employee options. Match and IAC have said these claims are "meritless." 

Part of the lawsuit also involves allegations that former Tinder CEO Greg Blatt "groped and sexually harassed" Pambakian at a company holiday party in 2016. 

Read more:Tinder founders say former CEO 'groped and sexually harassed' an executive at a company party in a bombshell $2 billion lawsuit

Match said of the sexual-harassment allegations at the time that it had "conducted a careful and thorough investigation under the direction of independent Board members, concluded, among other things, that there was no violation of law or company policy." 

The full Verge report — including Pambakian's email and Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg's response — can be found here. 

Here's Tinder CEO Mandy Ginsberg's full response to Pambakian, provided by a Match spokesperson:

Dear Rosette,

I’m glad you reached out to me directly and I would like to take this opportunity to clarify a few points, because there seems to be a very real disconnect here that I truly want to fix.

You were not terminated because you reported Greg for sexual harassment. You couldn’t have been, as you never reported Greg for sexual harassment. When Sean Rad brought the subject up nearly five months later, right after the valuation process commenced, it was immediately and thoroughly investigated by the Board, independently without any involvement from Greg, which concluded that no sexual harassment occurred. I was not the CEO at the time, but I know that you were interviewed on at least two separate occasions and you never alleged sexual harassment.

On the topic of sexual harassment at Tinder, you know how seriously reports are taken. You yourself reported two other male colleagues, whom Sean Rad hired, and they were very quickly dismissed. Clearly, it was taken very seriously given the company terminated those individuals. More importantly though, Greg is no longer here. I am. And I promise you, we do not retaliate against anyone who reports sexual harassment. Your position was never at risk due to any sexual harassment complaints. I wanted to find a way to keep you employed at Tinder.

As explained in the letter we sent you, you were terminated because it was not possible for you to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of your role as Tinder’s spokesperson for a number of reasons, including your public position against the company over a valuation process. We also recently asked you to come to the office for a meeting with the HR department to discuss work-related activities and policies and were told that we can only contact you through your attorneys. Unfortunately, it’s impossible for you to do your work at Tinder if all communications related to your job have to go through your lawyers. As it relates to your personal information, any suggestion that we have been trying to access it is just not true. Like any company, we’ve asked for you, and all other employees involved, to return company laptops, phones and other devices to us. And unfortunately, we couldn’t retrieve a number of company devices from you and the others since you claimed that they were coincidentally all lost or damaged just before you decided to sue the company.

There are two last points I want to make: on the point about your equity, those options have already been accelerated, and should be exercisable in your account, along with the other equity awards that have vested since August. However, on the arbitration agreements, there is no NDA in them and we never tried to force you to sign a non-disparagement agreement. You’re free to talk about anything publicly that you’d like. You have already done so and that’s your prerogative. But the arbitration agreement is attached again. As you already know from when you signed it, it’s clearly labeled “Agreement to Arbitrate.”

I am a strong female advocate and have said to the women in the organization that as a female CEO in charge, I have zero tolerance for bad behavior and I am very much invested in every single employee’s success. If you’d like to discuss any of the above, or have a productive dialogue, I am here and will make myself available for an in person meeting. Just let me know.

Mandy

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This is a preview of The Digital Media Forecast Book from Business Insider Intelligence. Current subscribers can read the report here.

Media consumption has changed rapidly over the past decade, with digital increasingly claiming a larger share of the daily time spent with media. Increased mobile usage is driving much of the growth in digital time spent, as smartphones become more powerful and capable of handling tasks otherwise completed on desktop.

Meanwhile, cord-cutting and cord-shaving will continue as consumers seek more affordable alternatives to traditional pay-TV. Marketers need to understand the underlying consumer trends that are driving billions of dollars in global advertising, and how those behaviors are likely to play out in the near term.

In this three-part forecast book, Business Insider Intelligence forecasts how much time users spend consuming each format as we approach peak media, and how those changes reflect how advertising dollars are spent globally and in the US.

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This is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence,  Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about Business Insider Intelligence, click here.

In recent years, we've seen a ballooning of activity in fintech — an expansive term applied to technology-driven disruptions in financial services. And 2018 has been no different, with fintechs' staggering influence on the market evidenced by record funding levels for the industry — by Q3 2018, overall funding was already up 82% from 2017’s total figure, according to CB Insights.

Additionally, this year marked a watershed moment for the industry, with the once clear distinction between fintechs and financial services proper now blurred significantly. Virtually every incumbent financial institution (FI) is now looking inward and engaging in an innovation drive, spurred on by competition from fintechs. As such, incumbents are now actively investing in, acquiring, and collaborating with their fintech rivals.

In this report, Business Insider Intelligence details recent developments in fintech funding and regulation that are defining the environment these startups operate in. We also examine the business model changes being employed among different categories of fintechs as they strive to embed themselves further in mainstream finance and prove sustainability. Finally, we consider which elements of the fintech industry are rapidly rubbing off on incumbent financial services providers, and what the future of fintech will look like.

The companies mentioned in this report are: Funding Circle, GreenSky, Transferwise, Ant Financial, Nubank, Cellulant, Oscar Health, Stripe, One97, UiPath, LianLian Pay, Wacai.com, Gusto, Toast, PingPong, Flywire, Deposit Solutions, Root, Robinhood, Atom, N26, Revolut, OneConnect, PolicyBazaar, WeCash, Zurich, OneDegree, Dinghy, Vouch Insurance, Laka, Cleo, Ernit, Monzo, Moneybox, Bud, Tandem, Starling, Varo Money, Square, ING, Chase, AmEx, Amazon, Monese, Betterment, Tiller Investments, West Hill Capital, Square, Ameritrade, JPMorgan, eToro, Lendy, OnDeck, Ripple, Quorom, Chain, Coinbase, Fidelity, Samsung Pay, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Bank of America, TransferGo, Klarna, Western Union, Veriff, Royal Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Canada, Facebook, ThreatMetrix, Relx, Entersekt, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Gemalto, Lloyd's of London, Kingdom Trust, Aviva, Symbility LINK, eTrade, Allianz, AXA, Broadridge, TD Bank, First Republic Bank, BBVA Compass, Capital One, Silicon Valley Bank, Credit Suisse, Ally, Goldman Sachs.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• Fintech funding has already reached new highs globally in 2018, with overall funding hitting $32.6 billion at the end of Q3.
• Some new regions, including South America and Africa, are emerging on the fintech scene.
• We've seen considerable scaling in older corners of the fintech ecosystem, including among neobanks and alt lenders.
• Some fintechs, including a number of insurtechs, have dipped into new markets to escape heightened competition.
• Emergent areas like blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT), as well as digital identity, are gaining traction.
• Many incumbents are undertaking business transformations that aim to reimagine everything from products and services to front-end systems and back-end processes.

 In full, the report:

• Details the funding and regulatory landscape in the US, Europe, and Asia.
• Gives an overview into a number of fintech segments and how they've changed over the past year.
• Discusses how incumbents are reacting to fintechs in order to stay relevant in the changing financial services sector.
• Evaluates what the future of fintech will look like and what trends to look out for in the coming year.
  

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SEE ALSO: How the largest US financial institutions rank on offering the mobile banking features customers value most

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