Digital-only bank N26 has launched a new credit product for its customers as digital-only banks struggle for profits due to high operating costs; the new credit product will offer credit lines of up to 25,000 British pounds ($26,810) for 5 years with varying interest rates; the product launch occurs as many digital banks seek expanded offerings to offset some of the high costs associated with deposit accounts. Source
Congressman Patrick McHenry and Congressman Jeb Hensarling have both released comments supporting President Donald Trump's executive order on Dodd-Frank; the executive order on Dodd-Frank signed on Friday outlines core principles for regulating the United States financial system and asks the Treasury secretary and regulators to come up with a plan for replacing Dodd-Frank; Congressman Jeb Hensarling has proposed the Financial Choice Act to overhaul Dodd-Frank; if new policies are enacted it would ease lending requirements for banks making credit more available for consumers and small businesses from mainstream financial institutions. Source
Goldman considers Marcus a fintech startup supported by 147 years of experience from the global investment bank which has given it some advantages in the online lending market; the fintech startup and its use of application programming interfaces (APIs) has been part of some important digital innovation initiatives for the firm; according to Chavez, Goldman is not only exploiting APIs, but open source and cloud services as well; he refers to the integration of the three services as the most "profound drivers" of innovation in financial services he's ever experienced; Goldman has integrated APIs into nearly all aspects of its business and API-centric technology is a key factor for innovation in the global fintech market. Source
Innovate Finance has released a report on fintech investment showing global investment in fintech increasing but decreasing in the UK; global fintech investment increased by 10.9% in 2016 to $17.4 billion; in the UK, fintech investment decreased by 33.7% to $783 million; fintech investment in China and the US accounted for $13.9 billion of the total $17.4 billion. Source
Credit China Fintech plans to expand its investments in peer-to-peer lending and payment companies; it invests in companies in the fintech industry and has recently invested in Ping An Securities Group Holdings Ltd. and blockchain technology firm BitFury Group Ltd.; recent investments have caused some scrutiny from short seller Anonymous Analytics which negatively affected the stock price in December 2016; the firm's stock price has regained its value since then with a current market capitalization of approximately $3 billion; over the past three years the firm has raised HK$4.3 billion ($554 million) and it plans to acquire at least one more company in the first quarter of 2017. Source
Fintech is helping to increase consumer spending in China as lenders provide increased access to capital; these lenders are becoming more integrated with merchants and providing point of sale credit options; Dumaio is one example of a fintech lender that has been successful by adapting to market demand; real estate fintech platforms are also emerging in the country with Shenzhen-based Touchouwang offering domestic real estate investment opportunities and Beijing-based Uoolu offering foreign real estate investments. Source
Babak Hodjat is managing a hedge fund in San Francisco run completely by artificial intelligence (AI); his firm Sentient Technologies Inc. has been building an AI system for analyzing markets and automating trading for over a decade; performance for the firm is not publicly disclosed; numerous firm's in the wealth management industry are using some form of unbiased automated trading however Sentient is one of few firms that completely uses AI technology for comprehensively managing assets. Source
The fraud landscape is constantly changing and evolving with things like synthetic fraud increasing the costs consumers, businesses and governments are paying; synthetic identities are identities which are not tied to a real person; according to Pat Phelan from TransUnion, fraudulent transactions are currently costing the US $50 billion per year; Phelan talks with PYMNTS.com about some of the factors companies should consider when managing fraud and how businesses are managing fraud prevention programs overall. Source
Spanish bank BBVA has reported $90 million in goodwill impairment charges related to its acquisition of digital bank Simple; the acquisition has caused many analysts to question the valuation metrics for digital banks; BBVA acquired Simple in 2014 for $117 million which was $1,100 per customer; a similar digital bank sale of BankMobile is currently being priced at approximately $50 per customer; despite the impairment charges for BBVA, the bank has reported success from its acquisition with continued investment in Simple helping to increase its workforce to 350 employees. Source
Germany's GLS Bank has launched an equity crowdfunding platform through collaboration with CrowdDesk; GLS Bank will do the due diligence for the platform's investments and CrowdDesk will primarily focus on the technical infrastructure and business services; the deal sets a precedent for bank crowdfunding partnerships in the equity crowdfunding space and will provide company financing for up to 2.5 million euros ($2.67 million). Source