China’s fintech market has been booming in recent years and now the industry has another concern regarding data privacy; Zhang Yi, chief executive of iiMedia Research, told the FT, “For the most part, these platforms aren’t selling data as their main business or they wouldn’t be able to survive. But employees who manage the data are the main source of data leaks.”; data is being sold on the black market and in most cases it comes from employees of the lender; most lenders say they sell data to third parties but the practice is opaque and not regulated very well. Source.
Junheng Li, founder of an independent research firm focused on Chinese companies provides an update on lending in China with the recent news of tightening regulation. Source
The fund expects to provide a dividend of 15p per quarter by the end of the second quarter of 2018; this would represent a yield of 7.8%; the fund shared that it had a pipeline of attractive yielding assets of £400m and will increase share buybacks. Source
Credit Suisse has taken a majority stake in the startup TradePlus24 in a Series A-1 financing round; TradePlus24 is based in Zurich and helps SMEs increase their working capital by leveraging their domestic and export receivables; Credit Suisse recently announced a $200 million revolving credit facility with Kabbage. Source
Lend Academy features two companies, Landed and Fundrise, who are taking a unique approach to building to new homes and providing down payment assistance. Source
Paytm Payments Bank is aiming to have 500 million accounts offering a wide range of financial services products; the bank launched officially on Tuesday; they are unveiling their money market fund, launching a debit card and will have the capabilities for businesses to open up accounts. Source
SWIFT says that digital heists are on the rise as hackers are becoming more sophisticated in their tactics; they are recommending that banks increase security of computers used to transfer money; a Bangladesh Bank lost $81 million back in February, 2016 and there are more recent examples of hacks; the report provides details on the new methods hackers are using. Source
While the Chinese have been quickly adopting fintech in recent years it has come at a cost to the consumer; the Chinese government is able to view troves of information as payment apps like Alipay and WeChat Pay now need to pass through the central bank; not only in fintech but other areas of tech innovation, like facial recognition, has been a boon to the government; while apps and services are making lives simpler and more efficient, they can also help to make government intrusion a lot easier. Source.
While publishing the results of the latest stress tests on the UK’s biggest banks the Bank of England warned that fintechs could take significant market share; the Bank of England identified three main areas of concern for banks: competition from fintechs, cost reduction while delivering services and low interest rates; these key areas could hurt profitability at banks in the coming years and app based disrupters could be the beneficiaries. Source.