One of China’s largest e-commerce companies has launched a blockchain and AI focused accelerator named AI Catapult; the company said they were looking to test real world applications of their technologies at scale; the initial batch of companies include companies from all over the globe focused on dat, e-commerce, trading, wealth management and more. Source.
New York State Senators held a roundtable last week for NY based blockchain companies to give their opinions on the BitLicense; the BitLicense is seen as being too restrictive, especially for startups, and the listening session was meant to get industry points of view before making reforms; one of the biggest complaints is the current regulations are too one size fits all; it is a good sign to see legislators engage the community but NY’s Department of Financial Services was not invited and so there is skepticism that any change will actually occur. Source.
Rakuten acquired a bitcoin wallet startup in 2016 which now has led to the creation of a new cryptocurrency called Rakuten Coin; the new borderless coin is built on their existing loyalty program which will help consumers buy products across Rakuten’s services and markets; the company hopes the loyalty points will increase transactions from people across the globe. Source
Auxmoney is an online lending platform based in Germany; the platform grew origination volumes by 75% in the year to €316 million across 40,000 loans; the company now has lent around €700 million across 100,000 loans to date; last year auxmoney announced a partnership with digital bank N26 to expand their borrower base; auxmoney was profitable for the first time in the second half of 2017 which sets them apart from many platforms. Source
Online lending has been maturing the last few years with more companies reaching scale and some beginning to be profitable; banks have diversified their partnerships with online lenders and in some cases have launched their own online brands; one of the big shifts in the last few years is that banks and fintech companies are not seeing each other as enemies anymore, they can and do exist together through a number of different means. Source.
Anthony Noto was interviewed on his first day at SoFi; Noto shared that before he makes any changes at SoFi he wants to understand how various leaders are thinking about opportunities and risks; he also touched on corporate culture and strategic focuses in the interview; when asked about a potential IPO Noto said, “We don’t have any specific timetable or commitment to do that, but it something that we think could be possible down the road.”; American Banker also reported that SoFi’s wealth management business has $44.7 million of assets under management across 10,000 accounts. Source
Varo Money has ramped up their marketing campaign to position themselves as a better option than the banks; the fintech company is not going directly at the banks in their ads as some other fintechs have done, they are instead highlighting their own offering; their ads can be seen on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest; they are also focusing on their customers overall financial lives, empowering their users to understand what they make and how they can spend wisely. Source.
Bank of America is the second big bank, following JPMorgan Chase, to announce a big expansion of branches; the bank plans to open more than 500 branches over the next 4 years and hire over 5,400 people; they also said they will redesign more than 1,500 branches with new technologies and layouts; the focus of the plan is to establish more branches in mid sized markets that are typically dominated by regional banks. Source.
The company announced the news in an earnings call; they will begin testing products this year and have invested $53.3 million developing the new bank; Virgin Money is said to have signed an agreement with 10x Future Technologies to develop the platform. Source