Capital One is looking to ensure innovation at the bank is beyond add ons that might solve a particular problem; the bank is looking to take a fuller look at innovation and not just trying to be first to market with a new product; Capital One has rolled out a chatbot, an Alexa skill and more as they look to try and make banking part of their customers everyday experience; Sanjiv Yajnik, president of financial services at Capital One, tells TearSheet “The real power is shifting the way in which you think about the product. Customers today are demanding products and services that are seamlessly integrated into their lives.” Source.
In this week’s PeerIQ Industry Update they cover the latest minutes from the FOMC meeting, the new NY Fed report on mortgage lending and Lending Club’s earnings report; the FOMC is on track to raise rates 3 times in 2018 and the new rates could affect ABS pricing; the NY Fed report on the role of technology on mortgage lending said fintech lenders are reducing processing times by 20 percent and default rates by 25 percent; Lending Club reported record revenue and a net loss, their stock dropped 18 percent on the news; PeerIQ also gives a report on their recent partnership with Cross River Bank. Source.
The french bank is launching a new fund that will invest in fintech startups; the fund will be managed by BNP Paribas’ Capital Partners and will also allocate to venture capital funds in areas such as ai, blockchain, cyber security and blockchain; Jacques d’Estais, BNP Paribas group deputy COO and head of international financial services stated, “At BNP Paribas, we’re firmly convinced that Open Innovation is a powerful driver for the transformation that will help to build the bank of tomorrow and enable us to continue to provide our clients with high value-added products and services.” Source
The new platform will be called easyMoney and they are launching with an Innovative ISA; investors will be able to allocate to peer to peer loans which are backed by property; easyMoney has a return target of 4% and has plans for other personal finance products in the future. Source
- Bringing Credit Invisibles Into Focus with Alternative Financial Data
- PayJoy Partners With Vodacom & CBA to Bring Smartphone Financing to Tanzania
- PayJoy Teams Up With Allied Mobile to Bring More Smartphones to Africans
- AutoGravity Announces Partnership with U.S. Bank
- How the Internet Is Changing Life for the World’s Poorest People (Smartphones Optional)
- Are banks too blasé about mobile security?
- Life beyond cryptocurrencies – Hong Kong and China fintech firms show there is more to blockchain
- New York Lawmakers Open to Revisiting the BitLicense
- Bank of China Moves to Patent Blockchain Scaling Solution
- This 11-year-old just wrote a book on bitcoin that hopefully a kid can understand
- Difficult divorce? RateSetter can help
- This Big Cryptocurrency Acquisition Could Create a Wall Street-Style Financial Giant
According to a New York Federal Reserve report, online mortgage lenders approve loans faster, experience fewer defaults and encourage more refinancing; not surprisingly they are also able to respond to customers as demands shift; the report studied banks and fintechs to better understand the market; lending from fintechs has grown by 30% annually since 2010, from $34 billion to $161 billion, representing 8% of the market. Source
One of the UK’s biggest banks, Lloyd’s Banking Group, is planning to spend $4.2bn on digital transformation over the next 3 years; the bank is looking to go beyond just becoming more efficient as they said they are looking to also make the biggest ever investment in people; the move by Lloyd’s is part of a wider trend in banking where incumbents are investing heavily into digital. Source.
Bank lending is once again off to a slow start in 2018, but signs show the slowdown will only be temporary; the recent tax cuts could help to spur more borrowing; interest rate rises on the other hand could hurt companies looking to potentially borrow; as the economy keeps trending positively banks should see lending pick up in the coming months. Source.
The recent funding of Greenlight Financial Technology is part of a recent trend that has financial services firms as of all sizes focusing on education; according to the Center for Financial Services Innovation 57 percent of Americans are financially unhealthy; one of the biggest issues financial education has had is that it’s hard to define; companies have been trying to offer different types of education through online courses and other tools that help customers to better understand their full financial situation; fintech companies are not the only one’s offering such services, big banks like JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo have recently added focused products and tools to help customers. Source.
UK based Zopa has warned investors that defaults on high risk loans are rising; Zopa increased originations to high risk borrowers in 2016 and introduced their Zopa Core and Zopa Plus Products; the company originally expected default rates for 2016 at 4.14 percent but have revised that number to 4.93 percent; they also raised their estimates for 2017 loans to these borrowers to be 4.86 percent from 4.52 percent. Source.