Digital only banking startups are finding it hard to scale as their offerings are similar to incumbent banks but with some better tech; with the amount of companies starting to increase these banks should think of focusing on a particular niche to get greater traction says Satya Patel, a partner at VC firm Homebrew; customer acquisition costs and a viable revenue model are two of the biggest barriers for companies; online lenders like SoFi have started to offer banking services on top of lending as a means to offer customers more products after providing an initial service. 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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- Fintechs’ charter hopes may lie with new FDIC board
- Revolut becomes first British challenger banking app to break even
- Revolut hits 1.5 million customers as break-neck growth continues
- Equifax is partnering with a digital ID verification company
- P2P and marketplace lending equity investments recover in 2017 to set new record
- British banks ordered to help people pay off credit card debts
- ID Finance brings behavioural biometrics to fraud fight
- Mintos Adds First Loan Originator From the UK
Nomad Credit provides their perspective on the large international student lending industry. Source
Pagaya is an asset manager based in New York; they announced that they have received $75 million in debt financing from Citi; the funds will be used for its Opportunity Fund to invest in loans by online lenders such as Prosper and LendingClub; the company uses machine learning to determine loans worthy of investment. Source
One of the key pieces to the new MIFID II regulations is more transparency around investment fees; robo advisors have made their products more transparent and less complex, seeing that traditional advisors are now forced to be more transparent robo advisors might begin seeing business headed their way; before MIFID II investors incurred costs which were not required to be disclosed for buying and selling of shares, taxes, custody, slippage and more; implementation has been slow as incumbents try to adjust to the new regulatory requirements. Source.
The emerging blockchain industry is starting to look like the rest of the tech industry, predominantly male; it is estimated that only 4 to 6 percent of blockchain investors are women; there are a number of women who are looking to change this culture and have started forming clubs and conferences to attract more women to the space; “We have an opportunity to rebuild the financial systems,” entrepreneur Brit Morin said to the NY Times. “Women want to be part of that.”; there has been numerous incidents at industry events and from ICO marketing campaigns that have been discouraging to say the least for blockchain women enthusiasts; with the industry still in its infancy there is plenty of time to build a more inclusive culture for all those interested in the potential of blockchain technology. Source.
The company announced the news in an earnings call; they will begin testing products this year and have invested $53.3 million developing the new bank; Virgin Money is said to have signed an agreement with 10x Future Technologies to develop the platform. Source
Bank of America is the second big bank, following JPMorgan Chase, to announce a big expansion of branches; the bank plans to open more than 500 branches over the next 4 years and hire over 5,400 people; they also said they will redesign more than 1,500 branches with new technologies and layouts; the focus of the plan is to establish more branches in mid sized markets that are typically dominated by regional banks. Source.
Varo Money has ramped up their marketing campaign to position themselves as a better option than the banks; the fintech company is not going directly at the banks in their ads as some other fintechs have done, they are instead highlighting their own offering; their ads can be seen on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest; they are also focusing on their customers overall financial lives, empowering their users to understand what they make and how they can spend wisely. Source.
Anthony Noto was interviewed on his first day at SoFi; Noto shared that before he makes any changes at SoFi he wants to understand how various leaders are thinking about opportunities and risks; he also touched on corporate culture and strategic focuses in the interview; when asked about a potential IPO Noto said, “We don’t have any specific timetable or commitment to do that, but it something that we think could be possible down the road.”; American Banker also reported that SoFi’s wealth management business has $44.7 million of assets under management across 10,000 accounts. Source