Stash is fresh off a $37mn series D that will see the company double in size and expand into other banking products; the company helps customers invest on behalf of their kids; the typical Stash customer is 29 and makes $50k a year, they help them get more control of their financial lives and invest; “We offer education for these users to help them build the right financial habits from day one, and that doesn’t just stop at investing,” said founder and president Ed Robinson to TearSheet. “Our mission is to help our users throughout their whole financial lives.” Source.
The Portuguese bank announced it will invest in notes issued by CrossLend; CrossLend is a European marketplace lending platform that operates across many European countries; Banco BNI Europa views the investment as a diversification play. Source
The Community Home Lenders Association and the Community Mortgage Lenders of America sent a joint letter to the CFPB asking for more clarity around surprise audits; the companies cite exemptions for small banks but they don’t have the same type of exemption for small nonbanks; they believe if the state regulator in which they operate requests a formal action then an audit can go ahead but surprise audits should not be permitted. Source.
Revolut and Global Processing Services (GPS) have partnered to allow the UK based digital bank to launch their multi-currency FX app for the Asia Pacific region; Revolut will start with New Zealand, Singapore and Japan; while Revolut has moved much of their processing in house they are supported by GPS for this product. Source.
Citi and PNC striking a deal with HighRadius is the latest example of banks forming partnerships to improve commercial payments; HighRadius has already done partnerships with Bank of America, Walmart, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble and Starbucks; HighRadius uses artificial intelligence to help automate some of the slower more paper driven processes in commercial payments. Source.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority released a report on algorithmic trading to help set boundaries around the market; the report lays out best practices and presents guidance on how firms can implement AI in trading; the FCA does voice concerns at too much automation and talks about human intervention to avoid big issues occurring; the report was written to help trading firms comply with the Second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II). Source.
Americans continue to build up consumer debt; in the fourth quarter of 2017 consumer debt (excluding home loans) rose 5.5% from the prior year to $3.82 trillion; this a record since the Federal Reserve Bank of New York began tracking in 1999; non-housing debt was around 29% of overall debt, another record; some aren’t worried just yet with delinquencies coming off of record lows; The WSJ provides more data points on consumer debt, including various perspectives on the American consumer. Source
The Protecting Consumers’ Access to Credit Act of 2017 was passed by the US House of Representatives. Source
Amazon Lending first launched in 2011 and now is partnering with Bank of America Merrill Lynch according to sources; Amazon invites sellers to the program which provides loans between $1000 and $750,000; in June, 2017 Amazon announced it had lent $1 billion over the previous 12 months; recent reports show that Amazon has slowed growth of the product in 2017 to better understand credit risks. Source