Lloyds CEO António Horta Osório told a conference that his bank is the largest digital bank in the UK with more than 30 million digital customers; the bank plans to spend about $1.5bn annually on their digital strategy for the next three years; he also stated he thought partnerships between banks and fintech companies will become even more important and wants to work with them in a symbiotic relationship. Source.
The CEO and founder of Blinker tells us how his company is disrupting the user car buying and selling experience. Source
Banco BNI Europa and Varengold Bank AG have committed £90 million and £45 million respectively to MarketInvoice; MarketInvoice offers business loans and invoice finance through their platform and already has a variety of investors participating on the platform; Banco BNI Europa previously invested £28 million in 2016 and another £45 million in 2017; Varengold previously committed £45 million in September of 2017; MarketInvoice recently crossed the £2 billion mark. Source
The Venture Capital industry has seen some early signs of positive change when it comes to gender discrimination and diversity; though some still believe there is no issue and that they cannot do anything to effect change; brave women like Ellen Pao and Susan Fowler have helped others to share their stories and men in power have been forced to leave and policies at firms have changed; you are starting to see VC’s hire more women and require companies they fund to show diversity among their executive ranks; there is still a ways to go for VC’s and Silicon Valley overall, though change is happening. Source.
Citigroup has shrunk its retail banking business over the years, but is now looking to become a national player; they plan to do this by expanding mobile app features to serve new customers wherever they live; the app will include banking, credit card, lending, investment tools and account aggregation; Citigroup has invested three years into their digital plans and also has plans for a roboadvisor within the app Source
Raisin has over 100,000 customers and launched investment products for their customers in Germany; customers will be able to choose from index or exchange traded funds from Vanguard or DAB BNP Paribas that cost less than .5%; Germany is a newer market for Vanguard which listed its ETFs on the German stock exchange last year. Source
In 2011 Regions Bank started studying their customers usage of social media and how that might effect the bank’s interaction and understanding of them; they found household revenue of customers active on social media was 60 percent higher and household deposits of social media users was 76 percent higher than non social users; the bank has a social strategy that focuses on increasing loyalty, delivering customer service but most importantly driving revenue; Tearsheet interviewed Melissa Musgrove, head of social media at Regions Bank, about how they have evolved since 2011 with their approach to social media; they also discussed challenges faced inside the bank, what drives revenue and what keeps Melissa up at night. Source.
China’s central bank said they will open up the electronic payments market to foreign companies for the first time; international firms will be required to set up local units, establish infrastructure within China, and store client information within the country; China is one of the biggest and most competitive payments markets in the world; there are currently more than 260 companies with payments licenses and they processed more than $26tn in volume in 2017. Source.
Santander has teamed up with Ripple to bring to market the first international money transfer app by a large retail bank based on blockchain technology; the project does not yet have a launch date but Business Insider reports the companies said in the next few months; the app will allow for transfers to be settles within 24 hours and customers will be able to understand all costs before making a transfer. Source.