Consumer lending Platform Affirm is looking to move beyond lending and into the financial advice space; currently Affirm works with retails to offer consumers a credit option when making a purchase; they are exploring ways to help customers better understand their debt and offer a way to help them reduce interest payments; Affirm has lent over $1bn to date Source.
Adam Ludwin responds to comments made by Jamie Dimon recently in a lengthy letter; explains his perspective on the market, breaks down his definition of cryptocurrencies and more. Source
Shares of Qudian surged almost 48 percent on the first day of trading; the share offering raised about $900mn, making it the largest Chinese listing in the US this year; reaching as high as $35.45 the company ended the day at $29.86; Qudian extends loans to millennials and students for small ticket items like smartphones or concert tickets. Source.
Tezos raised $232 million in their initial coin offering; according to sources there is a dispute happening behind the scenes between the two founders (Arthur and Kathleen Breitman) and the president of a Swiss foundation (Johann Gevers); the two founders helped create the foundation to handle the ICO and to develop the Tezos network; the Breitmans made accusations of self-dealing, self-promotion and conflicts of interest against Gevers in a letter to other members of the board; Gevers refutes the claims made by the couple. Source
Gabriella Kinder, head of alternative credit at NN Investment Partners, writes a piece in AltFi focusing on where the lending gap is since the end of the financial crisis; she explains that the lending gap has been reduced and alternative lending has opened up opportunities; while banks are in better shape they still face challenges on the digital front and credit has been increasing since the start of 2015; overall the gap has reduced and new opportunities have opened up as finance has become more diversified and digital in recent years. Source.
Banks speaking at the BankAI conference this week talked at length about what artificial intelligence means in consumer banking; “We have to keep up and we have to stay ahead,” said Diane Morais, president of consumer and commercial banking products at Ally Bank according to American Banker; the banks also talked through current use cases for AI and what the future might look like for banking. Source.
PayPal has helped to secure the ability for Venmo payments to be accepted at over 2 million retailers; users will be able to make purchases in store and online using the Venmo app; the move will help PayPal to get merchants interested in other products and allows them to begin monetizing Venmo; the strategy is another piece of good news for PayPal as just this week they surpasses Amex in market cap. Source.
The partnership is with Bud through first direct and will offer an integrated offering of financial services products and tools across the market; Raman Bhatia stated, “At HSBC we recognise that the sector needs to innovate to meet changing customer needs and we’re investing significantly in digital innovation, including working in partnership with fintechs such as Bud” Source
- Climb Credit Enters Into $130 Million Loan Purchase Agreements
- Blockchain KYC Startup Raises $1.6 Million in Seed Funding
- Amid Brazil’s persistent economic crisis, fintech startup GuiaBolso raises $39 million
- Florida Fintech Finova Financial Secures $102.5 Million In Equity & Credit Facility Funding
- Fundrise Growth eREIT Files to Raise $45.7 Million
- Roostify Unveils New Decision Builder to Improve Pre-Application Consumer Experience and Drive Leads
- Enterprise Ethereum Alliance Adds 48 New Members
- Othera, ?blockchain ?fintech, ?announces ?new ?contract ?with ?U.K.’s ?Lendhaus, ?to ?digitise ?syndicated lending ?of ?commercial ?real ?estate ?on ?their ?blockchain ?platform
- AlphaPoint and Intel Announce TrustedVM Product for Confidential Smart Contracts
- Harvard Partners LLC Announces Investment Interests in Commercial Finance
JP Morgan Chase made their first fintech acquisition with the purchase of payments company WePay; financial terms were not disclosed but the WSJ reports the price was above their 2015 valuation of $220mn; this deal points to a larger trend in the payments space with 2017 seeing deals for 166 companies worth $29.3mn. Source.