Pariti offers an app for consumers that plugs into financial accounts and gives advice on managing debt; it can help consumers better understand their debt levels, interest rates and fees, advising on products such as a consolidation loan to help lower expenses; the app has partnered with Zopa to offer its clients consumer loans and receives a commission from the lender for approved applications; the firm has plans for expansion including additional loan partnerships. Source
Data from Invest Hong Kong's Start-up Profiling Survey shows private market startup business growth for the country; the number of startups in Hong Kong has increased from 1,558 in August 2015 to 1,926 in August 2016; fintech startups operating from co-working spaces and incubator/accelerator programs in Hong Kong have also increased significantly, growing from 86 in August 2015 to 138 in August 2016. Source
Unison offers a unique solution to help homebuyers purchase their home; company provides up to half of the down payment to purchase a home and stands to benefit if the home value increases; product is available in 13 states with 8 lenders and the company is close to one thousand deals completed with an anticipated three thousand additional deals in 2017; chairman and co-CEO Thomas Sponholtz answers other questions about the platform from Crowdfund Insider. Source
The two companies have formed a strategic alliance to help lenders improve collections; Payix will offer integration between its collections tools and the Nortridge Loan System; one advantage of the integration will be increased mobile offerings for borrowers; according to Greg Hindson, Nortridge Software president and CEO, "The integration between Nortridge and Payix makes it easy for borrowers to pay anywhere and anytime – benefiting both borrowers and lenders." Source
As tax day has arrived it is important for investors to understand that real estate crowdfunding has specific tax treatment; investments into syndications are considered passive and there are two types of passive activities, rental activities and business; understanding how your passive activities tally up into income or losses will determine how you will file and if you will need to carry over to future years; another benefit to crowdfunding syndications is favorable long term capital gains tax rates if a property is acquired and held for longer than a year. Source
Speaking at the Treasury's International Fintech conference in London this week, Jenkins explained how 18 months ago he predicted Uber moments that will begin to transform financial services; he now sees a lot of these moments beginning to happen with branch traffic down 50% in the UK in the last few years and Scandinavian countries beginning to look at going completely cashless; he also pointed out that new technologies like distributed ledger, machine learning and AI are becoming more cost effective; his new firm 10X Future Technologies has created a new banking system where you are able to build in this new technology in a seamless way. Source
The Bank of England (BoE) has been active in researching the benefits of blockchain; it says the technology has the potential to save banks tens of billions of dollars in operating costs; the Bank of England governor Mark Carney, has cited securities settlement as one area where blockchain can provide cost savings and efficiencies; the BoE is working on initiatives for securities settlement and also researching blockchain through numerous other channels including involvement with PwC, various Blockchain consortium groups and membership in the Hyperledger. Source
Financial institutions reported decreased bank lending in China in March; according to a report from the People's Bank of China, financial institutions issued new loans of 1.02 trillion yuan ($148 billion) in March, a decrease from CNY1.17 trillion ($170 billion) in February; nonbank lending increased in March, with total social financing reported at CNY2.12 trillion ($308 billion), an increase from CNY1.15 trillion ($167 billion) in February. Source
While China's fintech market has been a global leader, online auto financing has lagged other countries; it is currently only reporting a 30% penetration rate compared to 85% for the US; despite the slower growth, the market is reporting some recent activity specifically from Guazi.com, Kkucar, Didi Chuxing and UCAR; overall the market is expected to grow from RMB1.1 trillion ($159.758 million) in 2016 to RMB1.85 trillion ($268.684 million) in 2018. Source
Hong Kong's Legislative Council Panel on Financial Affairs published a document this week on their digital currency plans; The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), which acts as their central bank and financial regulator is working with banks and R3; according to the document: "The first phase of the research, which explores the feasibility of [central bank-issued digital currency] in performing domestic inter-bank payments, inter-corporate payment in the wholesale market and delivery versus payment (DvP) debt securities settlement, is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year. Subject to the findings of the first phase, HKMA will map out the next steps." Source