The first head of the CFPB has decided to step down at the end of the month without giving a formal reason; the bureau was established in the wake of the financial crisis in 2011; Mr. Cordray sent an email to all CFPB staff saying he thought the agency made a lasting difference to improve people’s lives and that new leadership will preserve what they have done; he is rumored to be interested in running for Governor of Ohio in 2018. Source.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has shifted back to a softer stance since the Trump administration took office; according to the New York Times the agency is using directives from the interim head to ease back regulations enacted during the Obama administration; the move is part of a wider push to set back financial regulations that some say have hurt banks in recent years. Source.
A recent report by the Cleveland Fed on online lending has caused quite the controversy over its content; the Marketplace Lending Association said the Fed should retract the report; even TransUnion, whose data the report relied upon, took issue with how they presented the material; “We have no understanding of how the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland could have used our data to reach the conclusions they did,” Ezra Becker, SVP at TransUnion, said to American Banker; the Fed stated the terminology used in the report has caused confusion but have yet to retract the report. Source.
In looking for a new CFO the company posted an ad stating that the new officer would help to lead the company through an IPO in 3 to 4 years; Monzo has recently raised capital and talked about global expansion into Asia and the US; the UK based digital bank has also stated they are launching new products in 2018. Source.
One of Ant Financial’s subsidiaries is Zhima or Sesame Credit; it is a private third party credit scoring service and clarified that it does not share user scores or underlying data with any third party including the government without the user’s prior consent; they point out in their response that they also do not monitor the content of users’ social media posts and share how the service works. Source
Square has started to allow some of its Cash mobile app users to buy and sell the cryptocurrency through the app; a Square spokesperson said, “We’re exploring how Square can make this experience faster and easier, and have rolled out this feature to a small number of Cash app customers,” as reported by Crowdfund Insider. Source.
The price of bitcoin is the highest in Zimbabwe which reached $13,500 at the time of the article being published; this is due to the conflicts happening in the country; for people in Zimbabwe bitcoin is seen as a safer option; the US dollar and South African rand also trade for approximately twice their price in the country. Source
China and Hong Kong have raised $3.03 billion in proptech since 2013; this is approximately 41% of the total investment in proptech across the globe; the startups are focused on brokerage and leasing, investment and financing, project development and property management; half of the startups are in brokerage and leasing; article shares what has led to the current robust proptech market in Asia Pacific. Source
American Banker shares their takeaways from their recent conference after hearing from a wide variety of thought leaders in fintech; takeaways include: mobile and mortgages go together, don’t count out banks, the need for simplicity is paramount, small businesses care about digital too and the fintech charter is meh. Source
- House Financial Services Committee Approves Legislation to Help Keep Lending Partnerships Between Banks and Online Lenders
- Cinda International Leads Massive Round In Chinese Fintech Company 9f Group
- YieldStreet Surpasses $200M in Originations, Bolsters Leadership Team and Launches New Website amid Period of High Growth
- $15 Million Investment Round Fuels Accelerated Growth at Goji, the Online Home and Auto Insurance Distribution Platform
- Hornets, LendingTree Announce New Multi-Year Founding Level Partnership Highlighted By Jersey Patch
- Active.Ai raises over $8 million in Series-A round
- TransUnion Expands Credit Access to More Americans with Acquisition of FactorTrust
- LendInvest launches into buy-to-let market