eOriginal has appointed Brian Madocks as the firm's new CEO; co-founder Stephen Bisbee will become president of the firm working directly with Madocks on eOriginal's digital documentation offerings and the company's growth; Madocks brings 25 years of business technology and application software experience with work in executive roles at Rivitas Inc., Vitalyst Inc. and SunGard Higher Education. Source
ConsenSys has hired Tyler Smith as its new director of energy and consulting; the firm has its headquarters in New York and focuses on global blockchain development; Smith joins the firm from BHP Billiton where he was the head of blockchain for the world's largest natural resources company; he has also been involved with numerous activities involving blockchain development; his work at ConsenSys will focus on Ethereum blockchain solutions for the energy industry. Source
Survey provides insights on investors preferences for investing in real estate and demand for technology; the report shows only 2% of participants are very familiar with real estate crowdfunding providing opportunity for greater awareness of real estate investment platforms; additional highlights include statistics on investment performance perception, interest in real estate technology and thoughts on house flipping investments. Source
Robo adviser Wealthfront has announced in a blog post that it will expand its product offering to include loans; the firm is one of the premier robo advisers in the US; through a partnership with RBC Capital Markets, Wealthfront has uniquely designed a lending product for its current clients with at least $100,000; loans can be issued for approximately 30% of a client's account value. Source
According to a report from UN-based Better Than Cash, between Alibaba's Alipay and Tencent's WeChat, customers sent over $3 trillion in payments in 2016; the chart above shows how far the services have come since 2012; percentage of digital payments (online & mobile) went from 3.5% to 17% of all transactions over the same time period; Alipay and WeChat own 63% of the market for digital payments. Source
Orange is a large French telecom company located in France; users will be able to create an account in an Orange store or completely online; service will be open to non-Orange customers; there will be no monthly fees provided users use their attached payment card; Orange has also partnered with IBM's Watson to provide user support and is also working to add insurance products and loans to the service. Source
The FCA regulates approximately 56,000 firms in the UK; its 2017/2018 business plan outlines three main objectives: 1) protect consumers 2) enhance integrity and 3) promote competition; the annual business plans shows the FCA's commitment to foster fintech innovation but notes that the sector presents some of the broadest risks; its business plan states it will continue to focus on fintech initiatives such as Project Innovate and sandbox development; the FCA also plans to actively engage with international regulators for growth of the sector as well; the entire business plan can be found here. Source
Emmanuel Marot writes about the hybrid robo advice model in a blog post for Lend Academy; says he is not in favor of the hybrid model since machine learning can take care of the needs of investors noting that complexity nor human whims have proven to bring any value. Source
Loyal3 recently announced the service would be shutting down effective May 22, 2017; the company provided commission free investments with a minimum investment of just $10; also offered investors a chance to access some IPOs; Loyal3 is offering several options to investors including moving securities to FolioFirst, transferring shares to another brokerage or selling shares; many people speculate that the shutdown will be a boon to Robinhood's business which offers similar services. Source
Forbes reports on new technology in the automotive sector; says internet of things connectivity will allow users to connect their bank accounts with their vehicles; Forbes talks with industry experts about the market's evolution. Source