After a yearlong battle trying to convince US regulators about their acquisition of MoneyGram, Alibaba’s Ant Financial called off the deal; having a significant presence in the US is the one area that Alibaba head Jack Ma has yet to succeed; the $1.2bn deal would have helped to establish their Alipay product immediately; this looks to potentially ratchet up trade issues between the two countries as the new administration has taken an aggressive stance towards China. 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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The EU is working on a license for crowdfunding and p2p platforms to operate across multiple countries across Europe; the aim is to simplify the work required in each specific country to operate; AltFi shares perspectives from multiple platforms in Europe on the plans for a license. Source
GreenSky offers a unique type of point of sale financing and has just closed a $200 million round. Source
In a note circulated to clients equity research firm D.A. Davidson said Overstock.com is the clear leader in blockchain technology; "Our research increased our conviction that, today and likely in the near-term, Overstock stands head and shoulders above the others" analyst Tom Forte of D.A. Davidson said as reported by Business Insider; the company was the first retailer to accept bitcoin payments and as a result saw their stock rise 265 percent in the last 12 months. Source.
With tech companies being seen as the better destination for the millennial workforce banks are starting to look at new ways to attract younger talent; helping employees pay down student debt has become one way for banks, who might not offer the same salary range, to stay competitive; as banks look to become more digitally savvy enlisting programs like this can help to go a long way in attracting the new generation of talent. Source.
As banks look to reassess how to utilize their branch space, TearSheet took a close look at the Citizens Bank branch overhaul; the bank is looking to make the branch into digitally connected community centers; they are looking to reduce their branch footprint by 50 percent over the next decade and look to utilize the spaces they have better; less teller lines, more private meetings rooms and digital tools to help engage the different types of customers. Source.
An article in Tearsheet discusses how VCs are more interested in funding companies looking to improving legacy financial systems; Patricia Kemp, partner at Oak HC/FT responded to a comment about the prospects of consumer facing fintech in 2018 stating, “The largest category of successful fintech are the ones that are helping the banks get there.”; while there are still opportunities for new consumer solutions, it is just as important to innovate on back-end systems. Source
- MoneyLion Secures $42 Million Investment to Accelerate Growth
- Business-Loan Growth Fell Off a Cliff in 2017 and No One Can Figure Out Why
- ‘We don’t need to stay in the student market’: How BankMobile wants to grow its offering and replicate its model
- A Fight Over the Credit Score Lenders Use for Your Mortgage
- How banks use behavioral economics to win over customers
- Envestnet Finalizes Acquisition of FolioDynamix for $195 Million
- Prosper Marketplace Appoints Former Bank of America Executive Justine Metz Head of Marketing
- Tradeshift Partners with Infosys to Help Clients Digitize Supply Chain Management
- Commencement of Online Lending Service for Small Businesses That Leverages Accounting Big Data and AI Technology
- 95 Crypto Theses for 2018
- Merrill Lynch blocks bitcoin amid fear that the bubble could pop
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Founders Fund has amasses hundreds of millions of dollars or bitcoin recently; the fund started with about $10mn to $15mn worth of bitcoin and has since seen that initial investment skyrocket; while many traditional wall street names have yet to buy into bitcoin the move by Mr. Thiel and his fund point to their confidence in the currency; during an interview in October Mr. Thiel was reported to say, “While I’m skeptical of most of them, I do think people are a little bit underestimating bitcoin, specifically, because it is like a reserve form of money.” Source.
In 2017 the CFPB saw a ton of regulation and a battle for the successor to former director Richard Cordray; this coming year could be even more tumultuous as acting director Mick Mulvaney looks to undo many of the regulations Cordray put in place and the ensuing court battle over who is the rightful director; recent rule like the arbitration rule have been reversed and they payday lending regulation could be next to go; with a number of regulations in need or more clarity or a court decision the next 12 months could prove crucial for the future of the agency. Source.