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Fintech

·Apr. 21, 2017

MasterCard Announces New Credit Card

The new credit card features a built-in fingerprint scanner that replaces the use of a pin number; the card is currently being tested in South Africa with expansion planned to Europe and Asia and then globally by the end of the year; MasterCard has confidence in the biometric authentication and the firm's chief of security says it can offer customers additional convenience and security. Source

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Fintech News Roundup USA

·Apr. 21, 2017

Ocwen Financial Corp. Receives Enforcement Orders from 22 State Regulators

Ocwen Financial is currently managing enforcement orders from 22 state regulators regarding abuse of mortgage servicing; factors involved with the proceedings include illegal foreclosures, deceptive fees and mishandled customer home loan payments; shares of the publicly traded company have fallen approximately 50%; the enforcement orders prohibit the acquisition of new mortgage servicing rights and the origination of mortgage loans. Source

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Fintech News Roundup

·Apr. 21, 2017

Investment Bank Publishes List of Growing Startups

Boutique investment bank GP Bullhound has published a report on the fintech market identifying 39 global fintech unicorns valued at $1 billion or more and showing global venture capital investment into fintech at $13.6 billion in 2016; in its report the firm also identities a watch a list of 17 companies it expects to exceed $1 billion based on their growth, business models and market opportunity; numerous marketplace lenders are represented on the list including LendInvest, Prodigy Finance, ID Finance, Ebury and Kreditech. Source

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Fintech News Roundup

·Apr. 21, 2017

Billionaire Investor Betting on Bitcoin

Billionaire investor Mike Novogratz has 10% of his money invested in bitcoin; the former hedge fund manager and Goldman Sachs partner began betting on the digital currency in 2013 and has benefited from its one year gain from $500 in 2016 to a current price of over $1,200; to manage some of the risk of bitcoin's price volatility Novogratz suggests sector diversification; he is an investor in cryptocurrency ether which has seen a price increase from $1 to over $48 and is also a proponent of blockchain. Source

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Fintech News Roundup

·Apr. 21, 2017

Nasdaq Launches Nasdaq Ventures

US stock exchange firm Nasdaq has announced the launch of Nasdaq Ventures; Nasdaq Ventures will be a venture capital investment unit of the firm; the business will focus on discovering, investing in and partnering with fintech companies globally; the business unit plans to make minority stake investments of $1 million to approximately $10 million in companies at all stages of development. Source

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Fintech News Roundup

·Apr. 21, 2017

Fintech Leads AI Investment Deals in Q1 2017

41 fintech artificial intelligence deals occurred in the first quarter of 2017; other top industries for investment in the first quarter included sales and client relationship management and health care; overall, there have been 2,320 total deals from the first quarter of 2012 through the first quarter of 2017 accounting for investment of $15.4 billion. Source

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Europe Fintech News Roundup

·Apr. 21, 2017

Follow Up Friday: European Investment Fund Analyzes Venture Capital Investments

The European Investment Fund (EIF) supports venture capitalists across Europe. Its publication, "The European venture capital landscape: an EIF perspective Volume III: Liquidity events and returns of EIF-backed VC investments," studies the investment performance of over 3,600 EIF-backed venture capital investments made from 1996 to 2015. Its primary goal is to identify the effects of the EIF's venture capital activity.

Results across venture capital investments are wide ranging with 4% of exits returning more than five times the investment and generating 50% of the total aggregated proceeds. Among these successful exits are 152 company IPOs of EIF-backed start-ups from 1996 to 2015 on 20 different stock exchanges around the world.

Investment from the European Investment Fund could be an important factor for the UK to manage as it exits from the European Union. Approximately 20% of the EIF's investment has been in the UK and over the past four years the EIF has invested EUR2.8 billion in the UK directly. If funding ceases many venture capital firms may consider moving their headquarters to provide for continued EIF investment in EU locations. Source

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Fintech News Roundup Real Estate

·Apr. 21, 2017

CB Insights Reports on Real Estate Tech Investment

According to CB Insights, real estate tech received $2.6 billion in funding in 2016 across 277 deals; the category is broad including companies providing technology to brokers, investors, lenders, mortgage providers, property owners, managers and buyers; given current run-rates total volume for 2017 is expected to increase; notable financings include Homelink, PropTiger, Placester, Knock, OfferPad and Nested. Source

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Fintech News Roundup

·Apr. 21, 2017

Quint Group Awarded Queen’s Award for Innovation

Quint owns four companies in the consumer credit sector including Monevo, Monevo Data Services, CreditAngel and MoneyGuru; according to the announcement: "The Queen's Award for Enterprise is widely recognized as being the UK's highest accolade for business success. The annual awards recognize British firms that have excelled in exporting, social or environmental good work, or innovation." Source

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Fintech News Roundup

·Apr. 21, 2017

Biz2Credit Partners for Small Business Financing in Puerto Rico

Biz2Credit has partnered with Puerto Rico's Oriental Bank to support online lending for the bank's commercial clients with a specific focus on small businesses; Biz2Credit and Oriental Bank will develop a digital lending platform for business credit cards, lines of credit, term loans, real estate loans, equipment purchases and SBA loans; the platform is reported to be the first of its kind in Puerto Rico. Source

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