Regional banks have taken a beating - fintechs' customer centric flexibility may provide an answer to their flawed system.
Yesterday the House overwhelmingly passed a relief bill that, among other things, will provide a much needed top up of...
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Founders Fund has amasses hundreds of millions of dollars or bitcoin recently; the fund started with about $10mn to $15mn worth of bitcoin and has since seen that initial investment skyrocket; while many traditional wall street names have yet to buy into bitcoin the move by Mr. Thiel and his fund point to their confidence in the currency; during an interview in October Mr. Thiel was reported to say, “While I’m skeptical of most of them, I do think people are a little bit underestimating bitcoin, specifically, because it is like a reserve form of money.” Source.
Two reports share that the federal government may not profit or break even on their $1.4 trillion student loan portfolio; there has been an increase in borrowing in recent years and some graduate students are opting for income-driven repayment plans; these students are expected to pay back less than they took to pay for tuition; there are concerns that the interest payments of those paying the full amount on their loans may not be enough to offset those that are entering these plans. Source
- Finn.ai Raises $3 Million in Institutional Financing Round
- Digital bank for teenagers raises $5m in Series A investment round
- Italian peer-to-peer lender launches its own fund, targets €100m raise
- Templum Raises $2.7M in Seed Funding
- Canadian Lenders Association & Innovative Lending Platform Association Launch Smart Box in Canada
- Starqrmarq wins peer to peer lending brief
- State of Small Business Lending: 2017 Spotlight on Women Entrepreneurs
HSBC is looking to leverage AI to predict how customers might redeem rewards points; the bank is looking to market specific offerings to the person so they get a tailored experience; the bank has partner with Maritz Motivation Solutions who uses technology to suggest categories to cardholders based on their likeliness to redeem the rewards; with so much competition in the market the bank knows they need to better tailor their experience to the different types of customers they have. Source.
The institutional investor-focused spot bitcoin private trust will track the price of the cryptocurrency.
JPMorgan Chase finds itself overhauling their digital strategy team as they leaders in the unit have moved on to other...
China's online brokerage market for retail investors is growing rapidly; Barron's suggests investment in China's Huatai Securities (6886.HK) which is one of the online brokerage market's best positioned companies; the firm is China's largest brokerage by trading volume and offers low commission rates; its business is also diversified with its wealth management unit increasing assets under management by 44% in 2016; Barron's cautions investors on the firm's earnings, with comparable net profit down 44% in the first three quarters however analysts are expecting an earnings increase of 21% in 2017. Source
FIS now has a venture arm and aims to invest up to $150 million in fintech in the next three...