American Banker’s Penny Crossman volunteered as a mentor for Barclays New York Accelerator and found that succeeding as a fintech startup is quite a challenge; she was tasked with helping entrepreneurs deal with the media, she found that most were looking to be featured in the WSJ or FT; she also sat down with Jon Zanoff, managing director, recruiter and top coach of the program to discuss the program; interesting tidbits from the interview include 4 of 9 company founders are female, the program is a lot more in depth than other bank accelerators and the challenge the program presents on a daily basis. Source.
PNC Financial Services Group is looking to launch a national consumer lending product through their mobile app and new branches; they plan to launch into new markets with branches in Minneapolis, Dallas, Kansan City and more; “We're going there to be there with our full-service capabilities, patiently banking the clients that we ultimately want to bank,” Chairman and CEO William Demchak said this week; the new plans will take place in 2018. Source.
A recent review done by the International Monetary Fund found Chinese Banks face capital shortfalls, in particular medium and small banks; the IMF stated that China should consider boosting risk-weighted assets by 0.5 to 1 percent in the next 12 months; Jin Zhongxia, China’s representative on the IMF’s executive board said the assessment was for the most part correct but that they have already begun implementing remedies; the IMF said the problem is manageable but laid out a set of potential reforms to improve the shortfalls going forward. Source
WSFS Financial is working with SoFi to offer the new accounts early next year; the bank will process payments and provide debit card sponsorship services for SoFi Money. Source
The Curo Group targets underbanked consumers through WageDayAdvance in the UK and Speedy Cash in the US; they went public on Wednesday at $14 a share and were up more than 2.4 percent in their first day of trading; the former head of the CFPB led a Industry crackdown on payday lenders but new leadership points to those restrictions being lifted; the company charges about $25 per $100 borrowed and are backed by private equity group Friedman Fleischer & Lowe. Source.
TCF Financial has stepped away from the auto lending business while Regions Financial and Fifth Third Bancorp are tapping the breaks according to American Banker; lenders are concerned with credit, regulation as well as low yields; some expect the trend to continue while creating an opportunity for lenders who stick around. Source
Shares closed Friday at $1.32, above the $1.21 offer price; the company raised a total of $67 million and is now valued at $306.6 million; the IPO was Australia’s biggest tech IPO of the year. Source
Billie is an invoice finance platform that launched earlier this year; the round was led by Creandum with participation from existing investors Speedinvest and Global Founders Capital; the company focuses on complete automation with no human interaction; It was co-founded by Matthias Knecht and Christian Grobe; Billie also secured a refinancing facility from a major German bank.
- Meet Tim Russi, President of Auto Finance at Ally Financial
- London fintech business WorldRemit valued at close to £500 million as it raises $40 million
- Funding Circle passes $5 billion lent globally, including $1 billion lent to US businesses
- KBRA Assigns Preliminary Ratings to Consumer Loan Underlying Bond (CLUB) Credit Trust 2017-NP2
The San Francisco based online marketplace for consumer loans has gone public down under in the biggest tech IPO of the year on the Australian Exchange. Source