ZhongAn Insurance jumped 18 percent on debut after the biggest ever IPO by a fintech firm in Asia; ZhongAn CEO Jeffrey Chen says, the rarity of technology listings in Hong Kong gave ZhongAn’s IPO an extra appeal for investors looking to diversify their holdings; both Ant Financial and Lufax are considering IPOs in Hong Kong, according to sources. Source
Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said he thinks bitcoin is “certainly something more than just a fad,” according to a Bloomberg report; he also stated that the concept of anonymous currency is interesting because of the privacy it provides; while he has yet to invest in the technology he does see more regulatory control coming soon. Source.
American Banker shares some of the companies that may stand to benefit from the Equifax hack as identity verification becomes top of mind; Mitek is planning to roll out a new product called Mobile Verify for Lending; other companies that have similar solutions include Trulioo, VixVerify and AuthenticID. Source
Goldman Sachs first entered the market with the acquisition of GE Bank and the subsequent launch of GS bank; Tearsheet explores their other moves in the market more recently in fintech; Goldman Sachs has invested in 23 fintech startups and is the only top ten bank that has hit every category in its investments: blockchain, data analytics, insurance, personal finance, wealth management, financial services software, lending, payments and settlement, real estate and regulatory technology. Source
The use cases of blockchain technology has increased significantly in 2017; Business Insider looks at how the technology behind bitcoin is being used in international payments, capital markets, trade finance, regulation, money laundering, insurance and peer to peer transaction; they also look at other industries like healthcare, real estate, media, energy and more. Source.
When Tandem Bank acquired Harrod’s Bank in August there were three main reasons for the move; FT Alphaville reports Harrod’s had a banking license, the deal came with a $13.4mn capital injection to fund the company through to deal approval and an additional $107mn from existing investors. Source.
Former Securities Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt, Sarah Friar, chief financial officer at Square, and Scott Sanborn, CEO of Lending Club recently spoke on a panel about regulation for fintech companies and recent improprieties; Sanborn noted that sound corporate governance is not unique to fintech, referencing the Wells Fargo story; panelists discussed that regulation is always behind innovation and how regulators and fintech companies may strike a balance. Source
Fidelity’s chief executive Abigail Johnson spoke about the company’s current projects involving cryptocurrency at the Consensus conference; they have made venture investments and are also looking at applications of blockchain technology; Fidelity has set up a mining operation which is making money for the company. Source
An article in Business Insider highlights a $96 billion hedge fund, Man Group; the firm initially held off on rolling out their AI powered trading bot out broadly until recently; by 2015 AI was contributing half of the profits to Man Group’s largest funds. Source