After a 17 year career at Goldman Sachs, Tom Jessop, a senior technology executive is joining Chain Inc.; Chain was founded in 2014 and is based in San Francisco; Jessop's new role will be as president and he plans to work on the firm's partnerships; Chain will be opening a New York Office; Chain licenses its own version of blockchain technology that is more secure; it was reported last year the company was working with Visa on a B2B payments solution; company has raised $40 million from Visa, Capital One, Nasdaq and Citi Ventures; Khosla and Thrive Capital are also investors. Source
News Roundup
This page contains an archive of the Global Newsletter summaries and the weekly fintech news roundups.
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Digital only bank Starling Bank and Moneybox, who provides savings and investment services, are teaming up; Moneybox will access Starling Bank customers offering them the tools offered by Moneybox allowing customers to round up purchases and invest the difference; integration is via Starling's API; Megan Caywood, Starling's chief platform officer stated: "People today want to not only manage their everyday money on their phone but their savings and investments too. Working with Moneybox makes this a possibility." Source
The securitization market in marketplace lending continues to strengthen as more lenders utilize this capital route; the LendIt USA 2017 panel on securitization talked through the market conditions and what it takes to do a deal; the panel went through the challenges faced in 2016 and how the industry has come back looking stronger; the industry has gotten back to the fundamentals which are a cornerstone of securitization deals; the vast majority of deals are made up of unsecured consumer loans, but other asset classes including mortgages, student loans and auto have been coming to market; topics touched upon also included barriers to success, vertical versus horizontal interests and the effects of risk retention on the overall market. Source
The two firms have built the Yijian Blockchain Technology Application System; the platform seeks to increase transparency of pharmaceutical supply chain networks by tracking the flow of drugs, encrypting trading records and more easily authenticating transactions; overall it is expected to increase payments efficiency and reduce the payments timing for pharmaceutical retailers; the Yijian System is still in a pilot phase and expects to expand in July. Source
The two companies will offer a suite of point of sale of devices and semi-integrated apps for merchant payment processing; the partnership will also enhance the efficiency of payments for merchants both through better communication from multiple devices and through more efficient connectivity with banks and the payments ecosystem. Source
P2P-Banking has launched an IFISA database to help UK investors compare IFISA providers; investors can filter search criteria by interest rate, term, loan type, minimum investment, account transfers and promotions among other criteria; the focus of the service is on P2P lending IFISAs however the database also includes other types of IFISA investment options. Source
Pariti offers an app for consumers that plugs into financial accounts and gives advice on managing debt; it can help consumers better understand their debt levels, interest rates and fees, advising on products such as a consolidation loan to help lower expenses; the app has partnered with Zopa to offer its clients consumer loans and receives a commission from the lender for approved applications; the firm has plans for expansion including additional loan partnerships. Source
Data from Invest Hong Kong's Start-up Profiling Survey shows private market startup business growth for the country; the number of startups in Hong Kong has increased from 1,558 in August 2015 to 1,926 in August 2016; fintech startups operating from co-working spaces and incubator/accelerator programs in Hong Kong have also increased significantly, growing from 86 in August 2015 to 138 in August 2016. Source
Unison offers a unique solution to help homebuyers purchase their home; company provides up to half of the down payment to purchase a home and stands to benefit if the home value increases; product is available in 13 states with 8 lenders and the company is close to one thousand deals completed with an anticipated three thousand additional deals in 2017; chairman and co-CEO Thomas Sponholtz answers other questions about the platform from Crowdfund Insider. Source
BondMason has launched a new self-invested personal pension (SIPP) service; the service provides for tax efficient retirement investing and the platform allows investors to invest in loans from across the UK's most competitive P2P platforms; "For this SIPP offering, we've worked with pension administrators to create a product which benefits from our due diligence process and the selection of only the best loans from the best P2P platforms," says BondMason CEO Stephen Findlay. Source