Amazon is fast becoming the financial services company of the future; they now have their hands in payments, cash, small business lending, consumer credit and more; partnerships with companies like USAA and Capital One who use Amazon's Alexa digital assistant have emerged; this all shows the threat Amazon poses to traditional banking giants, though there has been no indication they want to become a bank themselves; JPMorgan Chase has started using Amazon's cloud-based AWS service to build a hybrid private-public cloud strategy; AWS sales increased 42% on a year-over-year basis to $4.1 billion for the second quarter; banks are starting to become technology firms and technology firms are helping to change the way banks operate. 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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Banks of all stripes have recently shown that a slowdown to the recovery might be coming; total loans and leases by banks and other insured institutions rose by just 3.7% from a year earlier at the end of June; this compared to 6.7% growth in total loans and leases last year; credit-card charge-offs, grew by 24.5% in the second quarter, marking the seventh straight quarterly increase; with the recovery being in its ninth year it isn't too surprising to see, FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg said in a statement; the 5,800 banks that the FDIC monitors are doing quite well though, their combined net profits in the second quarter were up 10.7% from a year earlier. Source
In a press release SoFi shared that members have cumulatively paid off over $5 billion in credit card debt; members reduced their effective interest rate by 42% and saw credit scores rise by 17 points on average; SoFi borrowers can borrow up to $100,000 and choose a term of three, five or seven years; over 70% of borrowers report using funds for credit card refinancing and loan consolidation. Source
Prosper tightened its credit underwriting in July resulting in a shift toward lower risk loans; the changes caused a total portfolio coupon decrease of 45 basis points and a return estimate decrease of 26 basis points; reported lower charge-off levels from 2016H2 loans and higher delinquencies from loans issued in 2016 and 2017; C-rated loans accounted for the greatest portion of the total portfolio at 31.54%; estimated weighted average return for the month was 7.75%. Source
The SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy has issued an alert to investors, warning them about potential scams with companies claiming to be involved with ICOs; according to the report, fraudsters may use new technology such as ICOs to defraud customers in various ways; discusses recent trading suspensions, pump-and-dump, market manipulations and tips for investors. Source
Sources have reported to Crowdfund Insider that the platform has shut down; the online lender was providing lines of credit for up to $1,000; it last raised $3 million in February 2017. Source
Brett Boehm, principal and director of business development for TBF Financial, shares the various options that lenders have for non-performing loans; many firms chase non-performing loans when perhaps selling the loans to a commercial debt buyer is a better option; blog post discusses commercial debt buying, recovery options for the lender, and how to deal with reputable buyers and brokers. Source
Consumer lenders Lending Club and Prosper are reporting growth in originations; for the second quarter Lending Club loan originations reached $2.1473 billion, increasing 10% from the previous quarter and the second quarter of 2016; Prosper originated $774.7 million worth of loans in the second quarter of 2017, an increase from $586 million in Q1 and $445 million in the second quarter of 2016; both companies had high Q1 2016 originations which has kept first half 2017 totals down in comparison to 2016. Source
PitchIt 2017 was a competition for fintech startups, in exclusive partnership with global venture capital fund 500 Startups, the world leader in investing in and mentoring early-stage fintech startups; the platform nurtures emerging talent in fintech throughout the competition, provides selected finalists with unparalleled access to industry expertise as well as invaluable exposure and branding; eight finalists present their businesses to a panel of select judges who then ask questions to determine a winner. Source
Aaron Hughes, Managing Director of Equiniti Riskfactor, provides insight on the growth of the UK receivables market; the market now has 40,000 to 45,000 clients; with a growing number of clients the industry is focusing on new technologies for greater efficiency and processing; Aaron Hughes says Equiniti Riskfactor is also testing a blockchain prototype for receivables finance that can even further advance platform efficiency. Source