According to new data bank branches in the US decreased by 1,700 over the last 12 months; this is the biggest decline on record; closings are concentrated in big cities and surrounding suburbs and is attributed to less foot traffic; other closures occurring in rural areas are due to some regional lenders leaving the area; the decrease in regional bank branches is something that has accelerated more recently compared to big banks beginning to close branches years ago; Capital One, SunTrust and Regions have closed 32%, 22% and 12% of their branches respectively from mid-2012 to mid-2017. 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.
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When Digital launched in 2015 the company used chatbots to help users save money; Ethan Bloch, founder and CEO of Digit tells American Banker “We think chatbots haven’t lived up to their promise,” he said. “So we are done believing they will.”; the company has started using graphical interfaces that users tap for information instead of having them type in queries; this is the second change to the app recently, following the recent decision to charge users. Source.
The only online lender focused on veteran-owned businesses has found a recipe for success. Source
- German digital business bank Penta raises €2.2m in seed funding
- Challenger Bank Tandem Partners with Cognitive Banking Company Personetics
- Equifax launches data sharing solution to support SME lending
- Revolut ditches Wirecard for in-house card issuing
- LendingTree Mortgage Offers Report – January 2018
- Podcast Open banking role models: Fidor, Rabobank and BBVA
- Lloyds Bank cutting 930 jobs
- China is moving to eliminate all cryptocurrency trading with a ban on foreign exchanges
SoFi’s lending goal in 2017 was to lend more than they had in the previous 5 years combined; the online lender fell 26 percent short of the goal and instead lent out $12.9bn in 2017; the company had seen their share of issues in the last year with sexual misconduct claims and their CEO being forced out; SoFi spokesman Jim Prosser said the true goal for 2017 was closer to $13bn and the higher amount was a stretch goal. Source.
Two reports share that the federal government may not profit or break even on their $1.4 trillion student loan portfolio; there has been an increase in borrowing in recent years and some graduate students are opting for income-driven repayment plans; these students are expected to pay back less than they took to pay for tuition; there are concerns that the interest payments of those paying the full amount on their loans may not be enough to offset those that are entering these plans. Source
Prime Minister Theresa May announced the start of the R5-SHCH Connect Partnership between London and China; the partnership will allow banks in China to have access to London’s foreign exchange market; the partnership is between London's R5 and the Shanghai Clearing House; companies involved include HSBC, LSE, BP, Standard Chartered and Standard Life Aberdeen; Jon Vollemaere, CEO of R5 commented to Finextra, “The new service offers benefits for all institutions trading FX. It provides Chinese banks with increased access to the global FX market, it enhances liquidity in major currencies, and it advances the internationalisation of the RMB.” Source.
PayPal saw payment volumes grow by 29 percent and they added 8.7 million new accounts in Q4 2017; the recent announcement that eBay was replacing PayPal with Adyen for processing overshadowed what was another strong quarter by the company; while the Adyen news was not positive for PayPal it could be seen as that in the long term as the company has been diversifying more in recent years; PayPal has seen growth through more partnerships with card networks and banks globally. Source.
Ally Bank is launching an augmented reality game during the Super Bowl to help customers visualize and think about savings; Ally Big Save can be used during Super Bowl commercials to drag bills in a digital piggy bank and they are granted points during the game; the goal is to make people have fun but think about saving money; “While the game is a lot of fun, it’s also a way for Ally to help consumers focus on saving for something bigger to make a more meaningful impact on what matters most to them and those they care about,” said Andrea Brimmer, Ally’s chief marketing and public relations officer, to TearSheet; Ally is not the first bank to experiment with augmented or virtual reality, other banks have started to use the technology as means of innovative marketing to engage customers. Source.
This week’s PeerIQ Industry Update covered the strong job growth reported and the chances of a rate hike in March; Marcus made key hires in an effort to launch a credit card as it builds out their consumer banking businesses; Marlette completed its largest securitization for $464mn and saw the senior tranches of the deal rated AA by Kroll; PeerIQ also highlighted key points from testimony by Nat Hoopes of the Marketplace Lending Association when he testified before the House Financial Services Committee. Source.