UK listed information and analytics group Relx bought online ID verification company ThreatMetrix for more than $800mn; the move will help to beef up Relx’s LexisNexis Risk Solutions unit; ThreatMetrix has built a database of 1.4bn unique online digital identities in more than 180 countries; Mark Kelsey, the head of Relx’s risk and business analytics division, tell the FT, “Bringing ThreatMetrix together with our own strengths in physical identity attributes will give our clients across all forms of commerce and geographies a more reliable, comprehensive approach to fraud and identity risk management.” 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.
Investing startup Wealthfront is adding a new feature to their Path platform to help users with home buying; “With the introduction of Path’s home planning service, our clients can now easily plan for all of their major life milestones — from saving for their children’s future to one day retiring — with just a few taps on their phone,” said Andy Rachleff cofounder and CEO of Wealthfront to Business Insider; the new feature will use real estate dat from Redfin to help users explore the housing market and see whether or not they can afford a home. Source.
In an interview with Tearsheet Bradley Leimer, managing director and head of fintech strategy at Explorer Advisor & Capital says companies are underestimating content; most VC’s focus on who can be the next Robinhood or TransferWise when there is plenty of opportunities in the market; companies can use customer data to better educate and better target consumers for a specific financial product; there are a lot of interesting companies in the market who can find their niche to perform and offer consumers more choose. Source.
Only five days after announcing they would enable bitcoin and ethereum trading Robinhood saw more than one million signups; Robinhood has made its name on zero commission stock trading and plan to roll out the new feature in five states first; “We see millions of trades a day. In our brokerage industry there is no excuse for down time. We plan on bringing that mind-set to the crypto space,” said Robinhood Co-Founder Baiju Bhatt to Business Insider. Source.
Banks have historically made money on overdraft fees, out-of-network ATM fees, fees for not maintaining a certain minimum balance and more; this fee structure has helped give banks a bad name; big tech companies and fintech startups have garnered a better reputation for upfront fees for a simple service and transparency around other fees; “It’s important to let consumers understand what you’re offering, what the fee structure is — and be abundantly clear about it — and then you can build trust,” said Jay Shah, CEO of Personal Capital to TearSheet; studies show that customers are not turned off by fees, but are annoyed when they hear of free checking then see ACH transaction fees or overdraft fees; banks need to begin to understand what their customers want and how much they are willing to pay for it in a clear way. Source.
Meta Financial Group formed a partnership to provide personal loans to customers of NY based Liberty Lending; Meta said they will look to originate between $500mn to $1bn of personal loans during the three year partnership; “We are excited to partner with a respected and growing brand in online lending, and look forward to working together to deliver best in class loan products to consumers,” Brent Turner, Meta's head of consumer lending, said in a press release reported by American Banker. Source.
SoFi acquired the engineering and product teams from mortgage startup Clara Lending; American Banker reported SoFi said of the deal it will help them to, “immediately ramp up our technical capabilities."; SoFi’s business is still reliant on student loan refinancing but this acquisition will allow them to increase their mortgage business in the next few years. Source.
Lending Club files an 8K for a $200mn warehouse funding agreement; JPMorgan Chase was the administrative agent and Wilmington Trust was the collateral trustee; the revolving credit facility will be with certain lenders not yet announced; the move is another step in the funding sources diversification direction the company discussed late last year. Source.
This week’s PeerIQ Industry Update covers 4th quarter GDP news, another round of bank earnings, the new SoFi CEO, fintech fundraising’s and the latest securitization trends; the new SoFi CEO was accepted positively across the market as the company looks to expand products in coming quarters; SoFi and Lending Club are looking at a busy quarter on securitization issuance and PeerIQ reviews their most recent deals; Streetshares secured a $23mn series B round led by Rotunda Capital; PeerIQ also took a deep dive into the key points of the recent letter CFPB Director Mulvaney circulated to staff about his vision for the bureau. Source.
As banks keep closing or reorganizing their branch experience JPMorgan Chase just made a big bet on branches and staff; the bank announced a 5 year $20bn investment plan that includes 400 new branches and 4,000 new jobs; the plans included expansion into 15 to 20 new markets for the branches, where most of the staff hires will occur; they also said lending will increase by 25 percent over the next 5 years. Source.