Once seen as a niche segment of finance online lenders are now originating billions in loans each year; the bigger they get the questions start to arise if they can handle an economic downturn and are their underwriting models good enough; American Banker digs into the overall industry by looking at securitization growth, whether or not traditional banking is dead and more. 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.
PayPal’s shares have climbed close to 75 percent in 2017 and now is considered more valuable than American Express; their market cap has doubled since spinning off from eBay in 2015; while it now finds itself on the heels of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs there is still some who fear they might be valued a bit too high; acquisitions, product diversification and partnership agreements have helped push the company in the last year. Source.
Writing an opinion piece on CoinDesk the Managing Director and CTO of the DTCC Rob Palatnick explores the progress of blockchain technology in finance; he says that while we are still in early days of implementation the industry has learned how important collaboration is to mitigate risk, enhance efficiencies and drive down cost; working together will help to avoid the many silos that exist today and allow for blockchain technology to reach its potential; he also looks at some of the recent consortiums and the work the DTCC has done so far in the space. Source.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and Cyprus’s CySEC have issued warnings to retail traders on contracts for difference based on cryptocurrencies; CFD trading based on the digital currencies has started to become popular with the volatility in bitcoin; regulators are worried that retail investors will suffer significant losses and are looking to limit leverage as a result; this continues a worldwide trend by regulators as they get a handle on the growing crypto asset class. Source.
In PeerIQ’s weekly industry update they cover the IMF’s recent global growth forecast being raised and the recent securitization deals in online lending; while global growth is up the IMF also pointed out that a third of banks by assets might struggle to attain profitability; recent securitization deals from Marlette Funding and SoFi highlight a busy quarter in the sector; the newsletter also takes a deep dive into bank earnings for JP Morgan, Citi, Bank of America and Wells Fargo. Source.
American Express is looking to use the same style data that has made PayPal and Square so successful in small business lending; Gina Taylor Cotter, senior vice president and general manager of global commercial financing at American Express. tells American Banker,“We have done some research on this and we are trusted providers, so this puts us neatly between banks that may have a longer application process and the online lenders who are fast, but maybe a bit more expensive." Source.
In an interview with Business Insider at LendIt Europe Revolut CEO Nikolay Storonsky discussed the company’s continued record growth and office culture; he explains, "Nowadays people are all international. Banks are not providing this service. The vision for us is alternative global banking. Anyone in the world can just download the Revolut app and set up a local bank account to access any services they need.”; the interview also touched on the drive of his employees and his kite surfing hobby. Source.
In an interview with Business Insider at LendIt Europe Zopa CEO Jaidev Janardana says even though new investors are on hold they are growing lending volumes by as much as 50 percent; the investor waiting list is over 15,000 and the current plan is to have them start investing by year end; the interview also touched on consumer credit and the overall economy in the UK. Source.
In a blog on the company’s website David Farmer, Director of Communications, explained the ability for customers to instantly purchase digital currency using a US bank account; customers can now buy up to $25,000 and receive access to their digital currency immediately. Source.
A new report from Kantar says UK financial institutions could be missing a £130bn ($173) opportunity by not winning over women; they are not targeting women in ads and are missing the potential for a significant boost in savings and investment; the report also shows that 38 percent of women feel in control of their financial future and women retire with a third of the savings compared to men; targeting women can not only help to bring these number up but the study also shows women are more apt to recommend financial services than men. Source.