JPMorgan Chase, American Express and HSBC said they are leading a $40mn round into Menlo Security; banks are usually a lot more secretive about security investments but they see a wider industry potential in using isolation technology; the technology can better defend against phishing attacks which account for most breaches as employees click on a fake link that then causes malware to infect the computer; when a user clicks on a link they open a browser that really is a one time instance in the cloud and prevents malware from downloading onto a computer; while some big banks have started using the technology more there has not been a significant rush yet. Source.
Data scientists have become one of the top needed professions in banking and big tech; banks are finding it harder to compete with the likes of Google, Facebook for a number of key reasons; compensation and data structures, big tech is able to pay over a million dollars a year for premier talent and data at big tech firms is not structured like banks so they are able to work more freely; Gurjeet Singh of Ayasdi says banks can make strides by creating competitions for data scientists when they leave school and investing more in all levels of the bank to cater to talent better. Source.
CBOE CEO Edward Tilly told the Financial News that recent criticism about bitcoin futures was “uncalled for”; “I think letters like that and cheap shots to our regulator, the CFTC, are uncalled for to make it seem this was an overnight self-certification without the proper amount of CFTC involvement,” explained Mr. Tilly; he explained that the Options Clearing Corporation clears the contracts for the CBOE and was comfortable with their decision of bitcoin. Source.
The statement provides considerations for main street investors and market professionals; investors should be aware of the risks of these types of investments which have less investor protections compared to the traditional securities market; to date no coin offerings have been registered by the SEC; the statement notes, “A change in the structure of a securities offering does not change the fundamental point that when a security is being offered, our securities laws must be followed.” Source
Online lender SoFi closed their 12th securities for $769mn of private student loan notes; total issuance in 2017 reached $6.9bn which was up from $4.2bn in 2016; the deal featured 38 investors and joint lead managers were Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs; SoFi is in the top ten of ABS issuance in 2017 as they continue to utilize the markets better than any other online lender. Source.
US Bank saw a 104 percent increase in Zelle transactions the past four months and a 50 percent increase in customer enrollment in the peer to peer payment offering; this is another success story for Zelle as they have seen significant usage in their product with $33.6bn in volume versus $14.8bn by Venmo; Zelle is integrated with over 40 banks and has reached over 85 millions users. Source.
The partnership will allow N26 to offer consumer credit in France; N26 currently has similar features built out in other European markets where users answer a few questions within the app; the app then provides a quote that allows users to adjust the term of the loan or the payback amount; users will not be required to signup through Younited Credit as everything is managed through an API. Source
Barclays, Standard Chartered and BNP Paribas, along with three fintechs and professors from University of Cambridge are expected to announce a new way to leverage blockchain technology at One Planet Summit; the tech would allow the banks to get insight into what borrowers are using environmentally sustainable practices and offer them better lending terms. Source
CarbonX is a peer to peer personal carbon trading company; it was formed in a joint venture between ConsenSys and a co-founding group which includes Don and Alex Tapscott who authored the book Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin is Changing Money, Business and the World; according to Blockchain Daily News, “The company plans to purchase carbon credits, or invest in reduction projects, and re-cast the offsets as ERC20 tokens on an Ethereum-based blockchain, then distribute them through an open-loop style loyalty rewards program.” Source
Affirm has raised $200 million in its latest round led by GIC, a Singaporean sovereign-wealth fund; the valuation of the company is between $1.5 and $2 billion according to sources, which is about double the valuation of the company last year; Khosla Ventures and Spark Capital also participated in the round. Source