The Federal Open Market Committee raised its target for the federal funds rate to 0.50% to 0.75% at its December meeting; Fed officials also signaled a more aggressive approach for rate increases in 2017 with projections showing the potential for three more rate increases next year; improvements in the labor market, positive GDP growth and stable inflation were key market factors for the rate increase. Source
Future Finance has received commitment for £30 million from the European Investment Fund (EIF) to lend to master's degree students supported by the Erasmus+ European program; Future Finance is a student lending platform active in the UK and Germany; Erasmus+ subsidizes career skills-driven education for over 300,000 higher education students across the European Union; EIF's commitment involves loan guarantees that will encourage investing and borrowing on Future Finance's platform; it has launched a "Call for Expression of Interest" targeting additional financial institutions that finance master's degree students crossing national borders in the EU. Source
Economic challenges in 2023 have impacted financial consumers, but not all demographics are affected equally.
Mastercard is the latest company to be added to OnStar Go, a cognitive mobility platform where drivers can browse stores and restaurants and purchase directly on their dashboard; get gas and pay for it without getting out of the car; after its launch in July, Masterpass is currently available in 33 markets, with plans to expand into 36 by the end of this year; the new dashboard will be deployed across two GM vehicles in the US by 2017; "The global momentum we're achieving with banks, merchants and consumers is proof-positive of our efforts to create simple and secure digital payment experiences anywhere consumers want to shop," said James Anderson, Executive Vice President of Digital Payment Products at Mastercard. Source
Block's Q4 2022 earnings surpassed market expectations. Dorsey outlined the future focus for the business.
Hiring competition has increased across sectors - A focus on financial wellness may equate to higher employee retention and motivation.
LendingClub saw revenue and earnings at the high end of their guidance range but, due to ongoing uncertainty remain reserved with next steps.
SoFi has received preliminary ratings from Kroll Bond Rating Agency for a securitization portfolio including prime jumbo residential mortgage loans; the securitization includes 36 classes with 270 mortgage loans; 31 classes are rated AAA; the remaining classes are rated AA to B with one unrated class accounting for $1 million of the portfolio; the portfolio includes high quality mortgage loans with a comprehensive weighted average credit score of 777; the total principal balance of the portfolio is $168,790,946. Source
In a move that seems quite surprising, Citibank Australia has stopped taking notes and coins at their branches; data shows that less than 4% of their customers used cash at the branches and so to keep up with digital headwinds the bank has decided to go cashless; there has been a trend in Sweden and Iceland of cashless banks, but there has not been any worldwide trend in that direction; the bank will still keep ATMs going and teller services will also remain intact. Source
Uber, the driving service, has launched a debit card product in Latin America, in conjunction with innovative bank, Bankaool; the continent as a whole demonstrates 1.1 mobile phone connections per capita, yet only 14% of the overall population has a traditional savings account; it's difficult to obtain a debit or credit card without being able to link it to a bank account with savings; Bankaool claims to be the first Mexican-based bank where you can fully open a bank account or obtain a card via an online application; Uber acknowledged that a payment card was essential for riders using its service. Source