Liberty Mutual has announced new personalized offerings within its usage-based insurance strategy; HighwayHero is a driving app launched to track driving and offer driving score discounts; it will be expanding its pay as you drive, ByMile, program to additional states; its usage-based insurance app, RightTrack, is also being expanded to additional states. Source
Unison offers funds for a down payment in exchange for a home ownership stake; in the case of one California homebuyer, the company matched their 10% down payment and required no monthly payments; instead the borrower must repay Unison with the sale of their house plus 35% of any real estate gains incurred from the sale; a handful of companies are offering similar real estate products including Point which offers cash-for-equity arrangements for existing homeowners. Source
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) had meetings with various bitcoin exchanges this week including BTCC, OKCoin and Huobi; along with the meetings two press releases were issued; according to a translation from Coindesk, the document reads, "Bitcoin is not a currency and shouldn't be viewed as such. Those who invest in bitcoin should accordingly be aware of the risks it poses and protect their investment"; officials also reminded exchanges about complying with local state laws and other regulations. Source
PitchBook provides its insight on the fintech market in 2017; cites securitization as a positive factor for the online lending market with marketplace lending securitizations at $5.4 billion through the third quarter of 2016, an increase of 86% from 2015; also notes robust data providers including Orchard, DV01, MonJa and PeerIQ as another positive factor for the marketplace lending industry's growth. Source
Artificial intelligence innovation is an important focus for many companies in 2017. Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance Company has taken a lead in the insurance market with its announcement to replace 34 workers in its payment assessment department with an IBM Watson artificial intelligence solution. The firm says the Watson system will improve productivity and save approximately 140 million yen ($1.21 million) per year. This is one of the first times we've seen a public announcement of how employees have been replaced as a direct result of artificial intelligence. Source
Ripio, previously known as BitPagos, has secured $1.9 million in funding for expansion in South America; the firm's Series A funding investors included Huiyin Blockchain Venture, Digital Currency Group, Boost VC and Draper VC; the company was founded in Buenos Aires, Argentina and will use the funding for expansion to Brazil and Mexico; currently the firm offers bitcoin and digital wallet services; it targets underserved banking consumers through its wallet app which also aggregates data for microloan approvals. Source
Wells Fargo has hired Peggy Mangot for a newly created position in its innovation group; Mangot will join the bank as senior vice president of the design and delivery leadership team; the innovation group at Wells Fargo was developed to focus on innovation in business models, processes and programs and user experience; Mangot previously worked as chief executive officer of a microinvesting startup platform and also brings experience from Visa and Google. Source
Data from Financial Technology Partners reports over 1,500 funding deals from over 1,700 investors in 2016; these deals accounted for $36 billion in fintech financing; data by fintech category can be seen in the chart below with banking and lending companies accounting for 29% of the year's total deals; payments, loyalty and ecommerce accounted for 22%; securities, capital markets and wealth management also reported substantial interest from investors with 19% of the deals funded. Source
Fraud protection is a leading factor for consumers and MasterCard has recognized this demand; it has recently introduced a Decision Intelligence security platform that utilizes artificial intelligence technology; the technology uses a scoring system that seeks to reduce fraudulent charges and falsely declined transactions; the Decision Intelligence platform is one of many services the firm is using to help increase card usage and retain large client relationships. Source