The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has announced development of a new distributed ledger technology solution for processing credit derivatives; DTCC has selected IBM, Axoni and R3 to lead the integration of the solution; IBM will manage the solution-as-a-service with Axoni providing infrastructure and smart contract applications and R3 participating as a solution advisor; the solution will be one of the first comprehensive financial services trade processing solutions used globally; its goal is to streamline, automate and reduce the cost of derivatives processing; the solution is anticipated for completion in 2018. Source
IBM is now moving into banking compliance, by purchasing Promontory Financial Group they hope they can use the compliance company's expertise to teach Watson about banking compliance; "Part of why we bought Promontory was, these systems (meaning Watson), they do have to be trained," explained IBM CEO Ginni Rometty; IBM believes artificial intelligence can help across the banking industry and ease the burden on specific firms. Source
Canada reported significant growth in online and marketplace lending in 2016; fintech growth in the country was also substantial with Canada reporting a 74% increase in fintech investment; a blog post from Aspire gives a roundup of online and marketplace lending activity in 2016 which included many partnerships and equity rounds; also provides predictions for the market in 2017; among its seven predictions are more bank partnerships and increased institutional investment. Source
New insurtech platform Ladder has launched, offering digital life insurance; the platform's life insurance product will be available to consumers in California; the company is marketing a faster, more efficient process for life insurance applications and coverage; its platform can approve customers in minutes for life insurance policies up to $8 million; it charges no annual policy fees and its policies are reinsured by Hannover Re US. Source
Morgan Stanley has partnered with Addepar to provide investment management platform services for its private wealth management group; Addepar is a growing investment management platform that provides solutions for aggregating and managing the wealth of private high net worth clients; Addepar is supported by Peter Thiel; prior to the partnership with Morgan Stanley its clients primarily included registered investment advisors; it is now seeking to expand to a broader range of large private wealth banking clients. Source
The FactSet Global FinTech Index has been launched by FactSet; it includes 88 companies involved in financial technology globally; Nikko Asset Management has licensed the Index for its Global Fintech Equity Fund; US credit providers in the Index include PayPal and Square. Source
R3 has reported that it is leading a $150 million funding round for a blockchain investment which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017; the funding will be the largest investment in the blockchain industry; R3 is a blockchain banking consortium with over 100 employees in nine countries; it now has 77 members and will be involved as an adviser on the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation's integration of a new blockchain solution. Source
Sichuan Xinwang Bank and Jilin Yilian Bank have received licensing to provide internet banking services in China; the two banks will bring the total number of digital only banks in China to four; Xiaomi is a leading Chinese shareholder in Sichuan Bank with a 29.5% stake and Meituan is a leading shareholder in Jilin Yilian Bank with a 28.5% stake; the other two digital banks in the Chinese market include Ant Financial's MyBank and Tencent's WeBank. Source
CompareEuropeGroup is a London fintech company using artificial intelligence to develop digital and automated services for financial companies; it has obtained 20 million euros ($21.32 million) in new capital from a Series A funding round; investors included ACE & Company, Pacific Century Group, Nova Founders Capital, SBI Holdings, Mark Pincus and Peter Thiel; the company will use the funds to develop its technology and machine learning services. Source
Canadian robo advisor WealthBar now manages over CAD$100 million (USD$75.93 million) in assets under management; the firm was launched in 2014; it currently offers online onboarding, investment management, financial planning and an individual advisor; its services have also expanded to private investment portfolios and registered retirement savings plans. Source