PwC is out with new research saying alternative asset volumes will double by 2025; alternatives will make up about 15 percent of global assets under management by 2025 because investors are looking for diversification and reduced volatility; Rob Mellor, PwC asset management partner, tells AltFi, “We have seen the rise of the multi-strategy alternative manager and an increasing trend for traditional active managers looking to add alternative strategies to their product range.” Source.
Peter Renton, Founder of Lend Academy reports on the potential of Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple being the fintech leaders of tomorrow. Source
According to data from TransUnion, financial technology groups originated $15 billion of personal loans in the first half of 2017; this represents nearly a third of the total US market for new personal loans; John Wirth, vice-president of fintech strategy at TransUnions stated, "fintech business model appears to be working nicely. Their use of the latest technology . . . has likely helped them become leaders."; Source
Writing an opinion piece in American Banker Jonah Crane, a fintech advisor, points out that the CFPB and other regulators need to keep a watchful eye on the data sharing guidance; the rules are currently non binding but offer the regulators a chance to use current oversight power to enforce egregious violations; ensuring a level playing field and working with industry players can help not only consumers but regulators better understand how data sharing can be done is the most beneficial way. Source.
Facial recognition startup Megvii Face++ raised $460mn in their most recent investment round led by China State-Owned Venture Capital Fund and the China-Russia Investment Fund; Ant Financial was also involved in the round and the company did not disclose valuation, though their most recent round valued the company at $1.5bn; Face++ uses facial recognition to identity people and counts Ant Financial and the Chinese government as two of their biggest clients. Source.
Orange is a large French telecom company and recently announced plans to launch their own bank; the company is hoping to capitalize on the movement to online banking and is the first telecom company to launch a bank; they are targeting 2 million clients in ten years which would represent 25% of the online banking market; 25,000 of their current customers have expressed interest in the new offering (out of its 21 million mobile clients). Source
Financial Times highlights TransferWise and Funding Circle who are growing their market share in the UK; Transferwise has collected $280 million from investors and Funding Circle has surpassed high-street banks in net new lending; Funding Circle lent £114 million in the three months to September; Samir Desai, co-founder and chief executive of Funding Circle stated, "If I was a big bank, I would be really worried about this..." Source
The real time payments network Zelle has added new tech partners to their growing network; partners include ACI Worldwide, CGI, D3 Banking Technology and IBM; the new partners will help to accelerate technology, reduce risk and control costs for Zelle as their payments network grows over time. Source.
Brokerage app Robinhood is unveiling a new web based platform; the company currently has over 3 million opened accounts and is growing daily; Business Insider reports that co-founder Baiju Bhatt said, "When people are buying stocks, they are comparison shopping and they want an experience that's built for that."; the company has reached the size of Etrade and are working on building additional features. Source.
- 6th Avenue Capital secures $60M from Merchant Cash Advance Funding
- CEO switch for online lender Patch of Land
- A new fund uses A.I. to invest in consumer and retail products with the best chance of success (CircleUp)
- Lendio Provides More Than $25,000 in Loans to Over 1,200 Small Business Owners Through Lendio Gives on Kiva
- Mintos Scraps Secondary Market Fees
- Amazon just bought three domain names related to cryptocurrency
- Alex Tapscott's Crypto VC Firm Going Public With $100M CAD Falsely Touted 4 Blockchain Stars As Advisors
- Foundation Capital Leads CoverWallet Series B Financing. Welcome and Congrats!
- One of the Most High-Profile Initial Coin Offerings Has Crashed 50%
- Another Chinese P2P lender! Senmiao Technology files for a $20 million IPO
- Small Business Borrower Sues Kabbage
- Citigroup Bets Millions on U.K. Mortgage Lender (LendInvest)