Author and fintech expert Chris Skinner discusses the impact of fintech companies on banking services; the idea of free banking will essentially be gone as fintech companies are able to focus on transactional services the banks once dominated; he calls this the democratization of finance and it will help to bring more transparency to banking overall. 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.
Peter Ryan of the software provider Temenos believes PSD2 has the potential to offer banks the personal touch they have lost; allowing consumers to share their data via APIs can allow banks to learn more about their customers and offer tailored products; while some banks have been proactive there is a fair share of the market who fear open banking; better understanding of the potential in PSD2 will help banks embrace what’s ahead. Source.
Building off of the $70mn funding round from the summer Betterment is now reportedly worth $1bn; the $1bn mark is significant as it denotes that a company is considered a unicorn; the valuation makes Betterment the first robo advisor to reach unicorn status; the company currently has over $11bn in assets under management. Source.
PayKey, a mobile banking fintech, raised a $10mn series B round led by MizMaa; other investors include SBI Group, Digital Ventures, SixThirty, Fintech71 and The FinLab; the company plans to use the funds for global expansions and further product development; PayKey has a mobile banking keyboard that allows users to complete actions without opening the specific bank app. Source.
Consumer lending Platform Affirm is looking to move beyond lending and into the financial advice space; currently Affirm works with retails to offer consumers a credit option when making a purchase; they are exploring ways to help customers better understand their debt and offer a way to help them reduce interest payments; Affirm has lent over $1bn to date Source.
Shares of Qudian surged almost 48 percent on the first day of trading; the share offering raised about $900mn, making it the largest Chinese listing in the US this year; reaching as high as $35.45 the company ended the day at $29.86; Qudian extends loans to millennials and students for small ticket items like smartphones or concert tickets. Source.
Gabriella Kinder, head of alternative credit at NN Investment Partners, writes a piece in AltFi focusing on where the lending gap is since the end of the financial crisis; she explains that the lending gap has been reduced and alternative lending has opened up opportunities; while banks are in better shape they still face challenges on the digital front and credit has been increasing since the start of 2015; overall the gap has reduced and new opportunities have opened up as finance has become more diversified and digital in recent years. Source.
Banks speaking at the BankAI conference this week talked at length about what artificial intelligence means in consumer banking; “We have to keep up and we have to stay ahead,” said Diane Morais, president of consumer and commercial banking products at Ally Bank according to American Banker; the banks also talked through current use cases for AI and what the future might look like for banking. Source.
PayPal has helped to secure the ability for Venmo payments to be accepted at over 2 million retailers; users will be able to make purchases in store and online using the Venmo app; the move will help PayPal to get merchants interested in other products and allows them to begin monetizing Venmo; the strategy is another piece of good news for PayPal as just this week they surpasses Amex in market cap. Source.
JP Morgan Chase made their first fintech acquisition with the purchase of payments company WePay; financial terms were not disclosed but the WSJ reports the price was above their 2015 valuation of $220mn; this deal points to a larger trend in the payments space with 2017 seeing deals for 166 companies worth $29.3mn. Source.