During the week I share the latest marketplace lending and fintech news on Twitter as it happens. Then every Saturday I take the most interesting news items and blog posts from the past week and share them here.
Visa to acquire Plaid, the fintech powering Venmo and other banking apps, in $5.3 billion deal by CNBC – Big news in the fintech space this afternoon. Plaid is being acquired by Visa for a reported $5.3 billion.
Alternative data is not the enemy of underwriting by American Banker – Op-ed in American Banker by the CEO of Cross River expounds on the virtue of alternative data. The data has always existed but “fintechs have simply found a way to optimize this data to better predict a consumer’s ability to make a payment”.
Quicken Bets Consumers Will Pay For its New Personal Finance App Simplifi by Forbes – Quicken is releasing a new personal finance app called Simplifi that will cost $4 a month. With so many free tools out there it will be interesting to see if this gets any traction.
Fundbox Hires First CFO as Fintech Startup Eyes Future IPO by The Wall Street Journal – After seven years small business fintech startup Fundbox is getting their first CFO. He will be getting their financial house in order so they can be ready for a potential IPO.
Nav Co-founders Step Down From C-Level Positions by deBanked – The CEO and founder of Nav, Levi King, has resigned and is becoming executive chairman, saying the company needs “a more qualified leader” to take Nav to the next level.
Former Regulator Known as ‘Crypto Dad’ to Launch Digital-Dollar Think Tank by The Wall Street Journal – Former CFTC officials are forming the Digital Dollar Foundation, a think tank that will study converting the dollar into a fully electronic currency based on blockchain. We certainly don’t want China to take the lead on digital currency.
Goldman curtailed personal lending after launching Apple card by American Banker – Interesting look behind Goldman Sachs numbers by Kevin Wack, showing that personal loan volume slowed dramatically as Goldman ramped up the Apple Card.
LendIt Fintech and The Fintech Power 50 Meetup by LendIt Fintech – I am going to be in London next week where I will be sitting down with Tom Bull of EY discussing the fintech trends that will shape the coming decade. Please join us.
Banks that shun risky borrowers offer rosy view of U.S. consumer by American Banker – While it is proving to be a good business decision for banks to go after mainly prime consumers, I find it disappointing. At least fintech companies serve almost the entire credit spectrum.
The New Banking Lexicon For The 2020s by Bloomberg Quint – A look at the terms, with explanations, that will dominate banking this decade.
