Wealthfront, a robo advisor, has launched Path, a new offering to aid in retirement planning; by connecting financial accounts, Path will analyze past behavior to ensure users are on the right track for retirement savings while also taking into consideration social security, inflation and investment returns; users can also modify settings such as savings to project changes to their financial situation; Path also helps users prioritize contributions and allocations to both Wealthfront and non-Wealthfront accounts taking into consideration tax advantaged accounts. Source
A new global survey report titled, "Blockchain Technology: From Hype to Reality," shows 80% of banks surveyed expect to utilize some type of blockchain technology by 2020; 50% of banks say they have already invested or are planning to invest in blockchain technology in 2017; these financial institutions are reporting an average blockchain investment of $1 million in 2017; according to the report, the top five use cases for blockchain are cross border payments, digital identity management, clearing and settlement, letter of credit processing and syndication of loans. Source
Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker explained in remarks at the Global Interdependence Center's Payment Systems in the Internet Age conference that increased regulatory oversight of the growing fintech sector is necessary; "Regulation is not just a question of protecting consumers; it's a question of protecting the innovators as well," Harker said. "It's in their best interest to have an established framework in which to operate."; he believes getting ahead of the curve with regulation is the way to go, instead of waiting to respond to the next possible crisis. Source
Citizens Bank has partnered with the Opportunity Network to provide increased support for business owners; the Opportunity Network is an innovative business-to-business networking platform; it includes 13,500 CEOs and reports approximately $35 billion of deal flow; through the business-to-business platform, businesses can connect with deal support for a number of activities including mergers, acquisitions and new market expansion. Source
BNP Paribas, France's largest bank, is doubling down on their investment in technology; the bank plans to invest 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion) over the next three years; the bank stated they want to "build the bank of the future by continuing to grow the businesses and implementing an ambitious program of digital transformation, new customer experience and cost savings"; the investment will be directed towards tech labs, company incubators and internal app development. Source
Goldman Sachs's Marty Chavez has helped lead the bank to new levels of automation which have been revolutionizing the financial services industry; Chavez provides details on how the bank's equity trading desk was consolidated from 600 employees to two traders; automation has also evolved significantly for currency trading and investment banking; Chavez sees the trend continuing with more computer engineers replacing traders and investment banking tasks involved with transactions such as initial public offerings also becoming automated. Source
Chinese bitcoin exchanges OKCoin and Huobi have announced they will pause bitcoin withdrawals for one month; the companies report that the halted withdrawals will allow them to improve their anti-money laundering capabilities and improve their processes for mitigating fraudulent transactions. Source
Lend Academy shares details about some of the emerging platforms in the real estate market; new platforms have been providing innovative services to help make real estate transactions easier and make homeownership more affordable; companies mentioned are offering lower down payments and some participate in purchasing equity of the home; new platforms are also significantly reducing the expected transaction time for buying and selling a home. Source
SupportPay is an app that provides a unique solution for managing child support payments; in 2016 the firm was one of only a few female led fintech venture capital fundraises; Sherri Atwood raised $4.1 million for development of SupportPay which offers a digital solution for receiving child support and tracking child care expenses; the increased transparency the child support app provides has helped the firm gain interest from state agencies and legal firms managing divorce cases involving child support. Source
Chancellor Hammond and the newly established fintech delivery panel will meet in February to discuss the fintech industry; the group's purpose is to drive fintech specific policy recommendations for the UK; 24 industry experts will attend the February meeting including representatives from Funding Circle, Seedrs and MarketInvoice; on April 12 the UK government will also hold the International FinTech Conference in London to connect domestic and international investors with the UK's fintech market. Source