As more and more countries begin implementing biometric technology at their borders, banks are also beginning to use fingerprint analysis and retina scans to verify identities; Canada has used their NEXUS program to track travelers and India has used the Aadhaar program to identify their population; banks have begun testing out these technologies to see what fits their customer best: fingerprints, retina or facial recognition; with the new technology still comes age old issues of theft; stealing a fingerprint then changing it can happen just like the changing of a password; banks are still trying to figure out how to address the new technology and learning lessons from border patrol is one way for them to ensure the best solution. Source
News Roundup
This page contains an archive of the Global Newsletter summaries and the weekly fintech news roundups.
Every day the Fintech Nexus news team scours the globe for the most important stories of the day to include in our daily newsletter.
Then every Saturday we bring you our weekly news roundup of the top 10 fintech stories of the week with commentary from Peter Renton.
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Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada's third largest bank, also known as Scotiabank, has announced a $1 billion investment in digital technology over the next three years; the initiative will focus on bringing more digital technology solutions to clients who are making fewer transactions in branches; 45% of the firm's investment will be focused on foreign markets including Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Chile; it will also be investing in new facilities for blockchain and artificial intelligence development; the firm expects the investment to help reduce costs and improve future profitability. Source
Dan Loeb of Third Point is the latest hedge fund to invest in marketplace lending; the hedge fund manager has reported a 10% allocation to marketplace loans and says that he will be reducing his investment in structured credit and specifically residential mortgage backed securities to allocate to the fixed income alternative; Loeb says he is working with marketplace lenders on securitized portfolios and is excited about the investment opportunities available in the marketplace lending market; the firm also has a venture capital business, Third Point Ventures, which is invested in SoFi, Upstart and Swift Capital. Source
President Trump is set to sign two executive actions on Friday that take aim at reversing the new financial regulations that were put in place as a result of the 2008 financial crisis; the executive actions will give the labor secretary power to rescind the fiduciary rule and ask the Treasury secretary and regulators to come up with a plan to replace Dodd-Frank; the fiduciary rule was set to go into effect in April and was meant to ensure advisors had their client's best interests at heart; Dodd-Frank was passed in 2010 and began implementation in 2012; the law was meant to limit the chance of another financial crisis like we saw in 2008; uncertainty exists with what will end up happening, but signals show that the fiduciary rule will be struck down and Dodd-Frank will be replaced. Source
During the week I share the latest marketplace lending news on Twitter...
OnDeck Capital's chief operating officer, James Hobson will be leaving OnDeck; according to Reuters, Hobson will be taking a new role as chief executive at online insurance company Attune; Hobson will remain in the role until March 15. Source
Roofstock has hired Jason Altieri as its chief legal and compliance officer; Altieri served as general counsel at Lending Club until October and still remains an advisor for the firm; in his new role he will lead the legal and compliance efforts for the emerging real estate company; the firm matches sellers of single-family rental homes with interested investors and facilitates all of the transactions through a digital marketplace. Source
Property crowdfunding platform Brickowner has completed its first investment for a real estate property in Abbeygate, Chester; their second listing will offer investment in a new housing development; the platform is open to all investors and requires a minimum investment of 100 British pounds ($124.46); it seeks to offer low-risk alternative investments with targeted returns of 8%. Source
RateSetter has announced new terms for its lenders which will go into effect on March 1; the new terms provide increased transparency for lending activities; they also give greater flexibility to the Provision Fund through a new stabilization period; changes made to the lender terms since October 2015 can be found here. Source
LendFoundry provides insights on the global fintech market opportunity in their featured blog post; the firm launched its fintech lending operating system at LendIt USA 2016; provides marketplace lenders with a comprehensive solution for loan originations, marketing, acquisition, underwriting and servicing. Sponsored Blog Post