HSBC has announced a partnership with Tradeshift that will connect the Tradeshift network of companies to working capital lending at HSBC; Tradeshift has over 1.5 million companies on its platform; it offers HSBC the advantage of seeing the whole supply chain which can add insight for lending decisions; the partnership follows a significant investment in Tradeshift by HSBC last year; Business Insider also notes other fintech bank partnerships and the increasing interest from banks to partner with fintechs for innovative solutions. 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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SeekingAlpha reports on the valuation of Square, Inc. citing several factors that have led to an overvalued stock price of $17.37; the author reports that assumptions on the growth of its customers is overestimated; says it will have difficulty when expanding to higher value customers and internationally also reporting that the business model is at risk to lower cost market competitors; also says that its reliance on Square Capital lending to retain customers and balance attrition of gross payment volume is unlikely primarily due to market competition. Source
Bank of America says it will invest $1.5 million in a Charlotte fintech initiative over the next three years; the investment is the first for the city from a financial services company; regarding the investment, Cathy Bessant, Bank of America's chief operations and technology officer, said: "Charlotte has proven to be a place where a sustainable company can be founded, emerge and grow. Fintech is a significant, new opportunity for Charlotte that connects our strong finance and technology infrastructure with innovatively minded people, creating tech jobs and new paths to economic mobility."; Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts is expected to publicly announce more details on the initiative in the next few months. Source
Innovative banks and fintech companies are disrupting the traditional one-stop banking model; a 2016 report from Accenture says bank customers are purchasing low margin products but looking elsewhere for brokerage accounts, auto loans and home mortgages; in 2016 nonbank mortgage lenders reported a significant milestone with 51.4% of the market's loan issuance an increase from 9% in all of 2009; as the trend continues, banks will have to increasingly monitor customer activity and offer new products that match nonbank competition. Source
The US Senate's Banking Committee majority leader says a full reform of Dodd-Frank is unlikely but the Committee will seek to pass targeted reforms; the Banking Committee majority leader also sees larger regulatory changes coming mainly from the independent agencies; the outlook means the Financial Choice Act led by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling is also unlikely to be passed in the Senate; "The Choice Act is our omnibus legislation, but we will also reintroduce its component bills," says Hensarling; a previous executive order from President Trump which halts new federal regulations or requires regulators to repeal two rules for every new one issued is also slowing the regulatory process. Source
During the week I share the latest marketplace lending news on Twitter...
Company has closed their first investment in Lithuania last month; other countries of operation include Estonia and Latvia; CEO and Co-Founder Marek Partel stated: "Lithuanians are the third biggest community of investors at EstateGuru and now they have the chance to invest into loans closer to them and our international investor base have even more options for diversification. The burgeoning Lithuanian real estate market is stable and mature while small and medium sized businesses are still often underserved by the banking sector like in many other European countries. With businesses already familiar with the concept of P2P lending and have been utilizing this option for some time, this represents a ripe opportunity for EstateGuru to join." Source
MarketInvoice has appointed Shaun Alexander to head of risk; Alexander joins MarketInvoice from Santander and will be the firm's first head of risk directly overseeing the underwriting unit of the business; the new hire is another example of a fintech firm adding traditional banking risk oversight experience; MarketInvoice expects Alexander will help improve risk management for the firm by providing broader insight on sector risks and market risk factors. Source
UK peer-to-peer lender FundingSecure is a pawn broker providing loans against secured assets including jewelry, property, classic cars and fine art; its representative APR for borrowers is 35.4% and it markets interest of 16% annually for investors with a minimum investment of 25 British pounds; with the FCA approval it plans to offer IFISAs in the next two months. Source
The UK online lender was launched with a focus on secured aviation lending and has expanded to other types of transactions including secured capital equipment and property lending; it says the authorization will help it to expand and further concentrate efforts on its technological development; the firm has reported an 850% increase in loan volume in the last year; the firm has plans to launch in Australia and also expand to other regions. Source