In September, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry discussed his proposal for fintech regulation which he said would likely include a fintech charter; on Friday, Thomas Curry is expected to announce his plans for the fintech charter; potential provisions to be included with the fintech charter announcement include receivership powers which would provide support from the government if capital funding fails. Source
Paxos has announced it will add former New York Stock Exchange CEO Duncan Niederauer to its board of directors as blockchain companies are increasingly testing new blockchain technologies for exchange trading and post-trade settlement; Paxos is a blockchain service provider for the financial services industry; Niederauer says blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize post-trade clearing infrastructure. Source
Loot is a banking app designed to help the millennial generation with tracking how much they spend and how to better budget their money; the company does not have a banking license due to the associated regulatory burdens and costs, though they do partner with the German payments company Wirecard; they now offer paycheck deposits with two free ATM withdrawals a month and will soon have the ability to do international money transfers with low fees. Source
New insurtech startup, Zensurance, has raised $1 million in seed funding from Ferst Capital Partners; the funds will be used to help grow the business and hire new employees; Zensurance is an online commercial insurance broker which offers a full range of products to small businesses, with a particular focus on digitizing businesses and technology startups. Source
Stockholm, Sweden has announced it will be opening a fintech hub; leading developers of the Stockholm Fintech Hub include Matthew Argent of BLC Advisors, KPMG, NFT Ventures and Invest Stockholm; the Stockholm Fintech Hub is currently seeking partners and will be led by a steering committee including the Fintech Hub's developers; motivation from the developers for a fintech hub was driven by an ecosystem of fintech startups and high growth companies in the country; according to lead developer, Matthew Argent, the Stockholm Fintech Hub will seek to maintain standards and evolve the support ecosystem that provides resources for fintech companies. Source
Looking to stay competitive, Barclays has announced a new digital investment platform that promises to lower fees for investment services; the platform will be available to existing customers in 2017, providing an upgraded dashboard for viewing checking, savings and investment accounts, also adding increased capabilities for direct investments; this will help the bank keep in line with recent fintech innovation as robo advisors are becoming a bigger force in the wealth management space. Source
UK startup, Vault, launched a retirement product for small businesses at TechCrunch Disrupt London; the investment platform offers a retirement solution for small businesses through automated investing; the company's automated platform allows small businesses to offer a retirement solution for their employees at a low cost. Source
Innovate Finance is encouraging the creation of two new fintech hubs in Bahrain and the UAE; Innovate Finance's CEO Lawrence Wintermeyer spoke on the potential benefits of a fintech hub for Bahrain on Monday at the FinTech Enterprise Excellerate (E2) conference; while in Bahrain, Innovate Finance will also meet with Bahrain fintech regulators; later in the week Innovate Finance plans to meet with fintech supporters in the UAE. Source
Artificial intelligence company, Flamingo, has listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and partnered with online lender, DirectMoney; the company seeks to help increase the sales conversion rate of online customers through web chat, web forms and artificial intelligence that guides customers through an online purchase. Source
Lemonade has raised $34 million in a Series B funding round led by General Catalyst; the Series B round brings the total funding to $60 million; the company plans to use the funding for state expansion with California as its next target. Source