Two new working groups were created yesterday, Innovate Finance and City of London Corporation created Fintech Strategy Group and a consortium of fintech companies in Italy creating ItaliaFintech; the groups are meant to help fintech companies collaborate with traditional financial firms and work alongside regulators who want a better understanding of new business models; the working groups come after the European Commission laid out their Fintech Action Plan last week. 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.
To join our newsletter community please subscribe here.
The challenger bank will be a standalone digital bank aimed to compete against Monzo and Revolut; according to Sky News, the project is so confidential that very few people are familiar with the project internally; sources state that Mark Bailie, the bank’s former COO is leading the new venture with tens of millions of pounds of backing for the new platform. Source
VersaBank is a digital only Canadian bank and has created a cryptocurrency vault similar to a safety deposit box; the bank shared that it has signed two memorandums of understanding with a cryptocurrency exchange and a crypto fund; the new vault called VersaVault is expected to roll out in June. Source
- Mortgage Rate Competition Index Widens
- Fintech referral platform bags series A fundraise
- Monzo Milestone: Challenger Bank Hits Half A Million Current Accounts (Video)
- SoFi prices 1st student loan ABS with medical residency refis
- Airbnb Now Features RealtyShares as First Multifamily Financing Solution
- Affirm, a startup founded by PayPal co-founder, just launched Apple Pay Credit Card without the plastic
While the focus of the new bill that recently passed the Senate has been on banks, it could effect fintech is a big way; the bill releases restrictions on banks, especially smaller one’s, where they can better leverage technology and potentially hurt the market share of fintechs; banks were heavily restricted after the financial crisis when many of these regulations went into effect; if the bill were to be signed then fintechs would have to start ensuring they can be long term sustainable businesses. Source.
The 2018 Joint Economic Report included a section dedicated to cryptocurrencies and blockchain for the first time; the report provides an overview of the nation’s economic status and provides ideas for the next year; this is a big sign for the emerging market as the report is put together by members of the House and Senate; the report says blockchain can be used to help fight cybercrime and protect the nation’s economy and infrastructure; it also states that congress, regulators and the public need to better understand the new technologies. Source.
Victory park Capital is partnering with the International Finance Corporation on a new fund to invest in fintech startups in emerging economies; the IFC is a private sector sister organization to the World Bank; "The reliance on mobile devices for day-to-day life is more prevalent in emerging markets and that creates a big opportunity," Brendan Carroll, a senior partner and cofounder of VPC, told Business Insider; while the size of the fund is not disclosed they plan to work on about 3 to 4 deals a year. Source.
LendUp aims to improve the financial health of their customers through various products and initiatives; the interview covers a wide variety of topics including the subprime customer in the US, who they lend to today, their 2018 plans, their proprietary technology and more. Source
This week’s WeiyangX’s Fintech Review in Crowdfund Insider covers a Reform plan by China to combine the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) & the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) into one entity; Ant Financial struck an agreement with Pakistan’s Telenor Group to acquire 45 percent of Telenor Microcredit Bank for more than $184mn; JD Finance is raising more than $2bn for license acquisition, research and marketing; China is also looking to establish a standardization committee for uses of blockchain technology. Source.
American Banker outlines Amazon’s current offerings in financial services and the recent rumors around new products including checking accounts, small business credit cards and mortgages. Source