Real estate crowdfunder, Fundrise, has made its investment division into an independent company, RSE Capital Partners; the goal was to separate and focus on the two functions of capital raising - via Fundrise with its eReit platform - and capital providing to real estate projects; RSE will focus on financing real estate deals from $20 million to $100 million, while they examine ways to make terms more flexible. Source
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UpLift, a new fintech startup offering a point-of-sale financing service for travel purchases, has partnered with Golden Nugget Hotel and The Mark Travel Corporation; the companies will utilize UpLift's financing solutions at the point-of-sale making installment payments an option for customers; UpLift also says it offers the industry's lowest rates for the payment services. Sources
Monexo plans to hire 30 to 40 people in a new office in Salt Lake Sector V; company plans to first start with personal loans and has already tied up with CIBIL for credit scores of borrowers; according to Monexo, good borrowers will receive a rate as low as 13%; Monexo has been in operation for 18 months and has offices in Bengaluru and Chennai. Source
In its first Fintech Conference, New York University's Stern School of Business discussed some key topics in the industry including regulations to public policy, equity crowdfunding, marketplace investing and blockchain technology; Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal, was the keynote speaker; panel discussions included, "Marketplace Investing Versus Venture Capital" and "Beyond Blockchain and the Decentralized Autonomous Organization." Source
Citi announced the launch of a new global API Developer Portal (developer.citi.com) to connect with developers and enable them to build innovative client solutions; the open architecture will help facilitate collaboration and partnerships with fintech companies and consumer brands worldwide; Citi will grant developers access to APIs across six usage categories: account management, peer to peer payments, money transfer to institutions, Citi rewards, investment purchases and account authorization; Citi plans to add more categories over time and developers are encouraged to register with Citi to use this portal. Source
The World Economic Forum has elevated its interest in blockchain technology by forming a working group featuring two dozen prominent executives and innovators; the group meets in Dubai for the first time this week; it will begin with issues of governance of the technology's direction and development protocols; members include the chief economist for the People's Bank of China's research group, the head of the Bank of England's fintech startup accelerator, the former President of Estonia and representatives from startups including BitPesa, Everledger, Ripple and Chain as well as Barclays and Deutsche Bank. Source
UBS has partnered with Amazon to utilize Amazon's Alexa artificial intelligence (AI) for a pilot program with wealth management clients in the UK; Alexa will provide answers on inquiries about wealth management topics and the economy for clients through several devices; the partnership follows a trend toward use of artificial intelligence in the wealth management industry and a deal by UBS with robo adviser SigFig for account services; Alexa's AI capabilities offer a cost efficient way to provide information and standardized advice for wealth management clients. Source
PayPal has announced new capabilities that allow for international person-to-person payments in 30 countries with Siri; PayPal's Siri iPhone users can direct international payments to individuals using voice activated prompts; the solution evolved from Apple's iOS 10 operating system; the new offering is part of a focus by PayPal on mobile, a category that reported a 56% growth rate in the third quarter of 2016. Source
Marketplace lender, China Rapid Finance, has now surpassed the one million mark in terms of borrowers; they are considered the largest consumer lender in China in terms of loans facilitated; the company has lent out 8.8 million individual loans since inception and believes their focus on emerging middle-class mobile active consumers, or EMMAs, sets them apart; the EMMA population typically has no credit history and is estimated at around 500 million people in China, the world's largest untapped consumer credit market. Source
ReadyForZero has notified users that the site will shutdown on November 12; the platform was acquired in 2015 by Avant to provide debt management and credit monitoring services for consumers; Avant is a marketplace lender focused on personal loans; users were notified of the consumer finance website's closing by an email from ReadyForZero and Avant has not provided any further details on the closing. Source