The Hong Kong-listed company is, according to one banker at HSBC, the answer to Facebook, WhatsApp, Spotify, Kindle and ApplePay, but all under one roof; based in Shenzhen, considered the Silicon Valley of China, they employ 3,000 people where over half are focused on research and development; they also have a multi-billion dollar investment portfolio; they are one of the top three companies in China and have successfully expanded worldwide with apps like WeChat. Source
Leading UK consumer organization, Which?, has published new research showing in the last two years 1,045 branches have closed; HSBC has closed 27% of branches, Lloyds has closed 14% and Co-operative Bank has closed 53% of branches; the banks have said the rise of digital banking has moved their customers away from in person branches; while the move to digital banking is continuing, research by Bain also shows that 40% of global customers would consider a new bank if their branch was closed. Source
Consumer and small business credit scoring platform, Nav, will now offer its small and medium-sized enterprise customers loans and financing services by Bank of America; Nav uses its MatchFactor algorithm to help show borrowers their chances of approval and have thus far helped to facilitate funding to over 160,000 companies; Nav CEO and Co-Founder Levi King said, "We are proud to partner with Bank of America, giving business owners even more ways to access the financing they need." Source
K-Bank has gained authorization to open South Korea's first online bank; firm is an affiliate of Alibaba-owned Ant Financial; Kakao Bank is also involved in the final approval process to open the country's second online bank. Source
After an initial $50 million investment in Personal Capital, IGM Financial has invested an additional $25 million in the company; the $25 million was contingent on an assets under management goal which they have now surpassed; the company has added $1.5 billion under management in the last year bringing their total to $3.4 billion; this amounts to 80% growth; valuation of the company is approximately $500 million. Source
Socure has added $13 million from a funding round led by Flint Capital; Socure provides software as a service solutions that increase customer acceptance and reduce uncaught fraud; according to Flint Capital Partner Sergey Gribov, "The company supplements market deficiencies in which current identity verification solutions fall short, including millennials, who largely avoid the use of credit, or abroad, where credit systems don't exist at all." Source
Chinese internet finance business, Lufax, is developing an online trading platform for Chinese investors that will allow them to invest in assets anywhere in the world; the firm is the world's second largest financial technology company; the trading platform it is developing will launch in 2017 and seeks to meet a demand from Chinese investors to diversify away from a depreciating yuan. Source
The founder of Metro Bank, a UK challenger bank, says app-only banks are "all hype" and sees them more as a provider of solutions and not banking; Vernon Hill told Business Insider in an interview that Metro Bank has been around for six years, has a market cap of $3.2 billion but only started to become profitable now; he went on to say: "No mobile-only bank can deliver anything I can't deliver in the next minute and a half. What they're offering you is a tool, not a solution. The customer wants the best of every channel and my job is to deliver them the best of every channel." Source
One, Inc. has announced the closing of a Series B funding round which raised $20 million for the firm; the Series B funding follows a Series A funding round in 2014 and brings total capital raised to $36.7 million; investors in the Series B funding round included AXA Strategic Ventures, MassMutual Ventures and H&Q Asia Pacific; over the past three years the company has tripled its annual revenue and quadrupled its number of customers; offers a full Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that provides for all the core functions an insurance company needs; provides solutions for both new market entrants and large insurance providers seeking new technology platforms; it plans to use the new capital to add products and business lines as well as for global expansion. Source
Insurtech company, Hippo, has raised $14 million in a Series A funding round led by Horizons Ventures; firm provides online home insurance offerings at a more affordable market price due to its online business model and direct to consumer offerings; says its policies are customized to meet the needs of modern lifestyles; plans to use the funding for product development and marketing for its launch to customers in California in 2017. Source
