According to a study done by the FDIC in 2015, about 25% of US households are underbanked, with about 8% being completely unbanked; according to the World Bank almost two billion people worldwide are still underbanked and access to the traditional banking system is minimal at best; the number is trending down as more fintech companies have arrived on the scene to offer financial products to these segments; these statistics have led a lot of companies to the conclusion that if you offer financial products via mobile devices these numbers will continue to trend downward. 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.
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The marketplace lender has extended the maturity of its credit facility with Deutsche Bank to March 2019; the revised terms also add an additional $52 million to the credit facility; in comments regarding the revised terms, Howard Katzenberg, chief financial officer of OnDeck said, "The closing of this transaction reflects a continued ability to execute our financing strategy for 2017, which includes extending debt maturities and creating additional funding capacity for future loan growth." Source

In November 2016 the New York Fed reported on an increase in subprime auto loan delinquencies putting the sector on watch; a report from Fitch Ratings is now showing continued deterioration in the sector during the second half of 2016 and Mizuho is reporting subprime auto loan loss rates increased to 9.1% in January 2017 from 7.9% in January 2016; Fitch reports that 60+ day subprime auto delinquencies increased to nearly 6% in the fourth quarter of 2016. Source
San Francisco-based Coinbase has received approval for digital currency trading of Ether and Litecoin in New York; the company was also granted approval for a debit card service called Shift Card; with the approval, Maria Vullo and the the New York State Department of Financial Services reiterated their position on the OCC's fintech charter, noting the importance for state fintech oversight. Source

Traditional banks are increasingly investing in financial technology in a number of different ways; banks are developing innovation labs and partnering with fintech companies for new solutions; Digiday provides insight on factors influencing fintech investment at banks in five charts; the chart above shows the areas where banks are most interested in partnering for new developments. Source
At IBM's InterConnect conference this week in Las Vegas the company discussed its plans for cloud, artificial intelligence and blockchain, three areas that it will be increasingly focusing on for the future; the IBM Cloud will be the base of the growth strategy with artificial intelligence and blockchain driving a full range of capabilities. Source
In partnership with Quovo, SoFi has integrated an API for wealth management customer authentication and data aggregation into its platform infrastructure; with the API integration, customers can now link with over 200 financial institutions; the new API allows customers to pull in data from existing accounts for various purposes on the platform. Source
Marketplace lending platforms have offered investors a viable alternative for fixed income market returns however their disclosures and reporting standards are continuing to evolve; while these disclosures can vary by platform, Rupert Taylor from AltFi says lenders should consistently ensure that there is alignment between investors and originators, also noting that, "Lenders should seek platforms that can demonstrate that their overriding motivation is to originate loans at an interest rate that adequately compensates for the risk of default."; appropriately assessing a platform's returns is important for investors and Rupert Taylor advocates for increased demand from investors for platform performance transparency. Source
Capital Float will partner with Amazon India to provide loans for e-sellers; Capital Float will provide the loans through a credit facility called Pay Later which it is already using with e-commerce clients PayTM, Snapdeal and Shopclues; with the Pay Later solution, Capital Float is well positioned to service a fast growing e-commerce market which is expected to grow revenues from $30 billion in 2016 to $120 billion in 2020. Source
Goji is marketing a P2P lending bond product, the Goji Diversified P2P Lending Bond, which is targeting annual returns of greater than 5%; the firm is based in London and offers a range of services for the P2P lending industry including tools and resources for investors and financial intermediaries, an investing platform, IFISA account servicing technology for platforms and now a new P2P lending bond; the Bond will invest in a minimum of 200 loans across all options available in the UK P2P lending sector. Source
