While most banks still do not offer a forecasting type feature Wells Fargo has added it to enhance their app experience; the bank says a customer can receive 50 different messages based on their account activity; “Having information in the palm of their hands can help lead customers to take action and make more informed financial choices,” Steve Ellis, who heads the bank’s innovation group, said in a press release reported by American Banker; the bank has had their share of issues recently but innovation has been one area where the company has excelled. Source.
JoinedNov. 30, 2016
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Todd is the host of PitchIt: the fintech startups podcast, a weekly interview show featuring emerging fintech founders and leading venture capitalists. He is responsible for leading the content team which covers fintech through daily & weekly email newsletters, editorial, virtual events, and in-person conferences. He has been covering fintech, banking, and venture capital for more than 15 years, including speaking regularly at industry events.
Only 8 percent of cybersecurity heads at U.S. financial firms report directly to the CEO; a survey done by the Financial Services Information Sharing & Analysis Center showed the lack of access for cyber heads and pointed to other vulnerabilities; one of the biggest areas for improvement of defenses is better employee training as people can click the wrong link and open systems up; most firms, 54 percent, compile quarterly security reports while 18 percent do bi-annual reports and 16 percent do annual reports. Source.
Ant Financial is looking to raise a new $5bn round that would take the company’s value north of $100bn; the FT reports that the new round might begin later this month; if the valuation is as much the company would be worth more than Uber who right now is worth about $68bn; the biggest reason behind such a lofty valuation is the data collected on users according to Thomas Olsen, partner at Bain consultancy. Source.
With more customers being active on Twitter, TD Ameritrade sees an opportunity to better engage and so they are rolling out a Twitter trading bot; the bot allows traders to execute trades, get market updates and look at educational content; this rollout follows the recent release of the Facebook messenger bot last August; using social media within trading has become a wider trend in the wealth management community as advisors look to cater to younger investors. Source.
Head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, said she thinks it is inevitable that global regulators come up with new regulations for cryptocurrencies; the IMF has been primarily focused on how the new currencies are being used for money laundering and funding illicit activities; this isn’t the first time the IMF has hinted at and discussed cryptocurrency regulations; trends in the direction of new legislation have been hinted at for some time though nothing widespread has occurred yet. Source.
While some of Europe’s biggest banks will not allow clients to buy cryptocurrencies with credit cards or advise on investing in the market, the smaller banks see an opportunity; Vontobel, Falcon Bank and Bank Frick have all agreed to handle cryptocurrency investments on behalf of clients; “There are risks involved but there are also really big opportunities,” Edi Wögerer, chief executive of Bank Frick, told the Financial Times; some of the world biggest banks have said the market is too risky with volatile prices and money laundering concerns; with the potential for more regulation these smaller banks are looking to already stake a place in the market before the bigger firms feel comfortable enough to get involved. Source.
SoFi said it missed their internal 4th quarter earnings projections due to lower than expected loan performance, increased hiring costs and expenses related to management changes according to the WSJ; the company also said they expect the loan performance trend to continue into 2018 as the look to refine their credit model; the company is also looking to improve fraud prevention, automate loan processing and get better at collections. Source.
Writing a piece for Crowdfund Insider BankMobile’s Co-Founder, President and Chief Strategy Officer Luvleen Sidhu talks through the current banking makeover; new technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain are becoming more prevalent; competition in the digital banking space is beginning to increase as banks look to close branches and move more focus online; banks are currently upgrading their cybersecurity defenses in the wake of the recent Equifax breach; these changes and more are happening now as banks better understand their customers and look to become more efficient. Source.
Cambridge Bancorp in Massachusetts formed an innovation group in 2016 and is now positioned to compete against bigger banks; head of the innovation Group Scott Chamberlin tells American Banker, “We spent a couple years proving … we could win business externally and, more importantly, internally from a credit standpoint. We’ve proven that out. This is year we start to add scale.”; the bank is looking to be an alternative to the likes of Silicon Valley Bank and Square 1; they see a differentiating characteristic being their local reputation and that they are in it for the long haul. Source.
Budgeting app Moven is planning to buy a small bank so they can become a more direct competitor in the banking space; the company’s new partner, SBI Holdings, is investing in Moven to create two entities MovenBank and Moven Enterprise; “We’ll do a digital direct challenger bank without having to run branches,” Moven CEO Brett King said to TearSheet. “That was really the thing we were waiting to see if we could solve because we’re just not interested in doing branch banking.”; the company will look continue allowing banks to leverage their technology with Moven Enterprise then use MovenBank to be a true digital bank alternative. Source.