The fund, which was set up as storage for excess cash from online spending, has now reached $165.6 billion in assets under management; this now exceeds the amount of JP Morgan's largest money market fund which is $150 billion; since the fund is so big it allows Ant Financial, Alibaba affiliate, to negotiate better rates with banks for capital; while many believe the likes of Google and Facebook could enter the market they have yet to do so. 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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LendIt China 2017 will include the Lang Di Fintech Conference and LendIt China Executive Tour; the Tour and Conference will take place from July 8-17; the China Executive Tour from July 8 to 15 will include networking activities and meetings in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai; following the Tour, LendIt will host its second annual Lang Di Fintech Conference event in Shanghai from July 15 to 17; Lend Academy provides more details on each of the two events in their article. Source
Wealth managers are beginning to look toward marketplace lending as an asset class; at LendIt USA 2017 we hosted a panel focused on wealth managers with Three Bridge Wealth Advisors, Lending Club and Glide Capital; the panel focused on making wealth managers look toward marketplace lending as a fixed income alternative and removing the fear factor since it is not as well known an asset class; clients of wealth managers are beginning to see this as a high yielding, short duration and low volatility play; thus far originators have not done a great job at providing exposure and understanding to wealth managers, this is beginning to improve; ultimately the asset class is very simple and easy to understand, showing wealth managers this is the key so they can then get clients on board. Source
Mobile app Dave is trying to help consumers manage their expenses and avoid overdraft fees; its technology provides users with their lowest seven day forecasted balance based on previous spending habits; it also allows customers to borrow up to $250 to cover expenses; the app has received investment from Mark Cuban. Source
Chris Lustrino talks with the cofounders of PeerStreet in a blog post interview on Simple.Innovative.Change; Brew Johnson talks about how his legal experience with real estate and work on a tech startup with his brother led him to found the platform; additionally, both founders discuss the PeerStreet platform and its innovative market positioning. Source
Robinhood has announced details of its latest funding round which raised $110 million for the firm giving it fintech unicorn status with a valuation of $1.3 billion; investors in the Series C funding round included DST Global, NEA, Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Thrive Capital and Greenoaks Capital; the firm also announced that it now has over two million users; the firm says: "Our two million users have transacted over $50 billion and saved nearly half a billion dollars in commission fees. Robinhood Gold, our margin and extended hours service, is also experiencing significant growth, with signups surging 17% month over month."; the firm plans to use funds from the Series C funding round for expansion of the platform's products and services. Source
Retail banks have started to digitally enhance their customer experience but when it comes to small business lending they are still stuck in the past; according to a recent report by Bain and SAP only 7% of banks can offer a fully digital experience for credit products; research is starting to show that small businesses want a digital experience for capital and to manage their banking needs; banks can decide to build, partner or buy to ensure they stay competitive; partnerships have continued to form and understanding how best to utilize fintech for the long run will help banks and small businesses. Source
Fintech Breakthrough is a Los Angeles-based organization that seeks to recognize successful fintech companies; their 2017 awards have honored fintech companies in a wide range of categories; platforms awarded for their excellence in lending include Sindeo, LendingPoint, The Money Source, PeerStreet and Ascentium Capital; all of the award winners can be found here. Source
RateSetter Australia was the country's first P2P lending platform for retail investors; it has now announced $100 million in funding; the firm has seen a significant increase in investment from millennial investors seeking yield alternatives to low rate savings accounts and volatile stock markets; concurrently with data on its origination milestone it also released research conducted among RateSetter's investors on millennial investing. Source
Quovo raised $10 million in Series B funding from existing investors FinTech Collective, Long Light Capital and they were joined by F-Prime Capital and Napier Park Financial Partners; "We're excited to see the continued traction and adoption of our services across the financial services and Fintech space," said Lowell Putnam, CEO and co-founder of Quovo; the capital will be used for growth of the platform and building out their bank API and Quovo Connect module. Source