A study by Citigroup shows China as the world's investment leader in fintech; says investment is being led by success from "Chinese dragons" including Ant Financial, Lu.com, JD Finance and Qufenqi; in the first nine months of 2016 fintech venture capital investment increased to 46% of the global total; the full Citi report can be found here. Source
Investment in regtech companies has reported a 38.5% compound annual growth rate over the past five years with a record $678 million invested in 70 companies in 2016; globally London has taken the lead reporting the greatest number of investment deals from 2012 to 2016 at 39; anti-fraud companies have been increasingly receiving greater investment with $334.8 million in 2016 accounting for 49.4% of total regtech investment. Source
Aviva, Hillhouse Capital and Tencent have announced plans for a new digital insurer, Aviva Hong Kong; Aviva and Hillhouse will own 40% with Tencent owning the remaining 20%; the new platform will focus on selling digital life insurance in Hong Kong and will also offer additional investment products. Source
Over $300 million has been invested on RealtyShares into residential and commercial real estate projects; the company crossed $200 million in September 2016; individual investors can invest a minimum of $5,000 per project; the company also has multi-billion dollar institutions participating on the platform; to date 550 real estate deals have been done across 1,000 properties, spanning 35 states; RealtyShares has a network of 38,000 accredited investors. Source
TrustPilot, a Denmark multi-language online merchant review platform, has raised 5.5 million British pounds ($6.9 million); platform allows for communication between merchants and consumers; funding was provided by Draper Esprit which now doubles its equity stake in the company to 11 million British pounds ($13.71 million). Source
Lemonade provides part two of its 2016 Transparency Chronicles with statistics on its first quarter in the market; notes some positives and negatives including confusion around marketing the firm as a peer-to-peer insurance provider; says they are an artificial intelligence and behavioral economics company or a tech company doing insurance; highlights from the first quarter include: average homeowners and renters premiums of $165.5; 123 homeowners policies; 63% of customers 25 to 34 years old; males accounting for the majority of customers at 76.5%; a claim managed in three seconds by artificial intelligence. Source
Venture capital firm QED Investors has partnered with Fifth Third Bank to advise the bank on its fintech strategy; QED Investors has worked with Fifth Third Bank on previous fintech acquisitions; Fifth Third Bank will work with QED Investors to identify new opportunities for fintech innovation and promote growth of US fintech companies. Source
The registered investment advisory business reported 138 transactions in 2016 setting a record for industry merger and acquisition (M&A) activity; since 2009 the industry has reported a compound annual growth rate of 16% for M&A deals; increased regulatory oversight from the Department of Labor has been one factor; the market data provided by Echelon Partners also provides additional information on the industry landscape for the registered investment adviser market. Source
China Merchants Bank is exploring biometric solutions for client identification; it has launched face recognition at ATMs as an option for identification; the bank has 1,000 ATMs in 106 cities and plans to offer face recognition at all of its Shanghai ATMs by the end of 2017. Source
Millennials are becoming more influential in the market for financial advice and investment management; currently a $71 trillion business, baby boomers have been the leading drivers over the past three decades; millennials however are gaining increased consideration since they now account for the greatest majority of the population in the US and UK; while they currently only hold a small percentage of the asset management market with $250 billion invested, venture capitalists are taking bets on their potential influence; the tech savvy generation has greater preference and confidence in tech powered solutions than the baby boomer generation with 85% of UK-based millennials surveyed by Legg Mason Global Asset Management reporting they were comfortable with robo advice while only 37% of investors aged 40 to 75 trusted online advice; leading robo advisors have initially attracted the attention of millennials however it's likely that more traditional asset managers will expand their offerings to capitalize on the growing opportunity. Source