The National Crowdfunding Association of Canada (NCFA) has published a report providing insight on the country's crowdfunding market; identifies a need for regulation that will help support the industry's growth while also setting standards for the market overall; predicts transaction value of $190 million for 2016; says the industry has grown 48% from 2013 to 2015. Source
FinSight Ventures, a global venture capital firm focused on fintech companies, is seeking a portfolio manager for investing in real estate loans; the position will first be on a consulting basis which may lead to a permanent role; the firm has invested in companies such as Earnest, Dianrong, Lending Club and Financeit.
Even Financial has been rapidly growing its business, now reporting over $1.5 billion in loan requests through its technology offerings; firm says loan originations from its services have been growing at a quarterly rate of 205%; the growth has been the result of increased interest in its offerings and expanding partnerships with lending businesses; firm provides technology for publishers seeking to build online solutions that compare lenders; it also offers its technology services to merchants for helping their clients identify the best financing options for purchases. Source
First Republic Bank has acquired Gradifi, a student loan repayment technology platform; the platform offers technology that allows employers to make contributions to the student loans of their employees; an increasing number of employers have been integrating student loan contributions with their benefit plans; Gradifi will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Republic Bank and the acquisition will help it to meet the increasing demand for its technology. Source
Microsoft has partnered with AMIS and the Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan to form Asia's first blockchain consortium; the partnership will build on the success of Microsoft's Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) on Microsoft Azure which it announced in April; the consortium will focus on blockchain solutions that provide increased efficiency and cost savings for companies in Taiwan. Source
Deloitte surveyed 308 senior executives at companies with revenue of $500 million or more to gain a better understanding of the corporate market's blockchain technology positioning; survey finds widespread interest across all industries; 61% of surveyed respondents had broad to expert knowledge of blockchain and the majority of these respondents said blockchain adoption would be important for their business; while attention for blockchain innovation has mainly been focused on the financial services industry, Deloitte's survey finds significant innovation and progression across multiple industries; most notably, the consumer products and manufacturing industries have reported the greatest number of patent filings, with 38% of respondents reporting blockchain patents filed by their company. Source
Greenland Financial is expected to report a profit after one year of business; the internet finance company is a newly developed business unit of Greenland Group which is known for its focus on real estate; Greenland Financial offers three main services 1) a wealth management platform with various investment products 2) professional asset allocation and wealth management services and 3) a cloud platform for internet technology and data analysis services; contributing to the success of China's real estate conglomerate, Greenland Financial's president, Yang Xiaodong, had the following comments about the company and its future growth: "The company's revenue and profit will double each year over the next two to three years. I am confident about that. And I hope after three years, the company will seek listing on the capital market." Source
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a study analyzing the UK's mortgage industry; study will focus on the industry's tools for consumers and the partnerships among mortgage lenders; the FCA will specifically seek to identify ways to better utilize technological solutions within the industry; the FCA will be obtaining information from a range of market participants and plans to release the results of the study in an interim report in 2017 followed by a comment period and final report in 2018. Source
Juniper Research has released a study titled, "Fintech Futures: Market Disruption, Leading Innovators & Emerging Opportunities 2016-2021"; study finds that fintech platform revenues generated from supporting the insurance industry will total approximately $175 billion in 2016; the analysis projects that these platform revenues will grow at an annual rate of 34% with revenue of $235 billion globally by 2021; Juniper Research says growth will be driven by machine learning, increased use of mobile apps and blockchain technology. Source
Anju Patwardhan is researching the potential for financial technology to increase financial inclusion for small businesses at Stanford University; Anju was previously chief innovation officer at Standard Chartered Bank and currently is a venture partner at CreditEase; in an interview on the Pacific Exchanges Podcast, she talks about collaboration between banks and fintech firms as well as her research at Stanford University. Source
