Raisin is looking to expand on their deposit marketplace by offering a term deposit product to European SMEs; this will allow SMEs to earn money on their cash instead of dealing with negative interest rates that have been prevalent across Europe; currently Raisin has enlisted Banco BNI Europa from Portugal, Younited Credit from France and Greenhill Bank from Germany in the product. Source.
Google is expected to launch a mobile payments app in India next week; Google Tez, which means fast in Hindi, will offer a comprehensive set of payment options beyond existing products like Android Pay according to Banking Technology; it also plans to support Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Paytm and MobiKwik. Source.
The recent regulatory crackdown on cryptocurrency markets, specifically in China, has dropped the worldwide market cap to $98.95bn; as recently as two weeks ago the market cap was up around $180bn; while the size of the market continues to fluctuate, it remains to be seen where prices will head when regulatory crackdowns pass. Source.
Hong Kong-based TNG FinTech Group Raises a $115mn series A round; the round was led by New Margin Capital, with participation from Nogle Group and Infinity-KBR Group; the funds will be used to expand globally and invest in new technologies including blockchain. Source.
deBanked has taken the Inc 5000 list and provided a table of the top alternative small business companies by revenue; the top 5 include Square, OnDeck, Kabbage, Swift Capital and National Funding. Source
Target Global, based in Berlin has closed a new fund; the fund will focus on Seed and Series A rounds and expects to fund 20 companies primarily in Germany and Israel; Shmuel Chafets, General Partner at Target Global stated, “Target Global’s Early Stage Fund will serve as a bridge connecting Tel Aviv and Berlin. Germany in general and Berlin more specifically have been able to produce great companies, but if Berlin truly hopes to become a global tech hub it must open itself up to real innovations and groundbreaking technologies. On the other hand, If Israel wants to continue to be the “start up nation” , it has to create sustainable, long-term companies and efficient business processes. We already see some early signs of collaboration taking place, but we believe we can help expand it to other industries.” Source
Eugene Danilkis, CEO & Co-Founder of Mambu shares his perspective on how banks can continue to compete with fintech companies. Source
The worst week in SoFi‘s history is coming to an end. The company announced today that Mike Cagney has stepped down as CEO effective immediately. This follows the news on Monday that Cagney would be stepping down as CEO by the end of the year. But the bad news this week kept escalating and the board decided it needed to take action now. Source.
The no-action letter shows that the CFPB is open to alternative data being used to expand access to credit data; Upstart will report lending and compliance information to the CFPB to mitigate risk to consumers and aid in the Bureau’s understanding of the real-world impact of alternative data on lending decision making; the no-action letter relates to enforcement of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Regulation B; Upstart shares in their application how powerful using data points outside of just credit reports is in reducing borrowing rates. Source