nCino will acquire SimpleNexus for around $240 million in cash and approximately 13.2 million shares of nCino stock.
Prime Minister Theresa May announced the start of the R5-SHCH Connect Partnership between London and China; the partnership will allow banks in China to have access to London’s foreign exchange market; the partnership is between London's R5 and the Shanghai Clearing House; companies involved include HSBC, LSE, BP, Standard Chartered and Standard Life Aberdeen; Jon Vollemaere, CEO of R5 commented to Finextra, “The new service offers benefits for all institutions trading FX. It provides Chinese banks with increased access to the global FX market, it enhances liquidity in major currencies, and it advances the internationalisation of the RMB.” Source.
Funding Circle's, Samir Desai discussed his platform's business model at this week's Web Summit; Desai provided details on how his platform categorizes small business loans and makes credit approval assessments, noting that approximately 80% of businesses funded would likely be approved by traditional banks; also highlights the benefits of diversification for investors who can invest in multiple loans through a single platform; says 90% of investors are earning over 5% a year. Source
Deposit Marketplace Raisin has seen their investor count top 100,000, bank partners top 40 and deposits cross $4.5bn; the bank partners are in 18 different european countries and customers hail from 32 different countries; with interest rates so low their deposit marketplace offers savers a significant boost in interest and they have seen customers earn more than $41mn in excess interest thus far. Source.
UK-based challenger Zopa Bank has made a profit for the first time since its launch in June 2020, becoming one of the fastest digital banks to do so.
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.
The European Central Bank will likely to opt for a centralized solution for its new digital euro, raising questions about state snooping.
MarketFinance's growth in recent years has been boosted by the CBILS and RLS lending schemes alongside strategic partnerships with Barclays.
LendInvest Co-Founder & CEO Christian Faes challenged the UK government to put more support behind small scale developers at the Conservative Party Conference; “There is a clear monopoly in the sector,” says Mr. Faes; to even the playing field LendInvest and others say more regulatory action can help to tip the scales in favor of property entrepreneurs. Source
Atom Bank has launched a new mortgage product for first time buyers; the loan to value range on the new...