Facebook has partnered with TransferWise for international money transfers as the firm continues to increase its financial services activity on the platform; TransferWise has internally developed a Facebook Messenger chatbot that will facilitate the international money transfer service; the service will expand on Facebook's current domestic money transfer capabilities. 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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Plum uses artificial intelligence to suggest and automate savings for its customers; the RateSetter Plum partnership will add a new savings option for Plum customers; through the platform customers can now choose to automate investment to a RateSetter account with an average return of approximately 4.7%. Source
LendIt will be hosting a webinar today at 2:00 PM EST; the Lendit Forum will feature Aaron Peck from Monroe Capital and Tim Ranney from Clarity Services; the speakers will discuss the profile of non-prime borrowers and where the best investments are in the non-prime space; other topics will include how alternative data can be used to better assess the borrower's risk, interest rates for non-prime borrowers and the types of return investors can get when making this investment; register here and join the webinar today. Source
The company has now increased its total capital raised to $300 million; Unison helps make homeownership affordable by providing capital in the form of equity in the home that tracks with the value of a home and is payable upon its sale; firm has added Ron Suber from Prosper Marketplace as an investor and strategic advisor; also announced several new leadership appointments and promotions. Source
Bitbond has raised $1.2 million in new equity capital to grow its user base and further its product development; the firm offers loans globally to small and medium-sized enterprises and uses the bitcoin blockchain for global cross-border lending; since its launch the platform has originated over 1,600 loans worth approximately $1.2 million; it currently has 76,000 registered users in 120 countries. Source
AutoGravity has added Westlake Financial Services to its network of financing companies; AutoGravity launched its app in 46 states in January; the platform allows consumers to shop for a car online, apply for financing and receive up to four auto financing offers. Source
Data from KPMG's Q4 2016 The Pulse of Fintech report showed US fintech funding decreasing to $12.8 billion in 2016, down from $27 billion in 2015; deal flow was also lower with 489 deals in 2016, a decrease from 615 deals in 2015; globally, funding was lower at $25 billion versus $47 billion in 2015. Source
Bob Kerrey highlights positive factors resulting from an OCC fintech charter in an American Banker opinion editorial; notes the regulatory perspective of both democrats and republicans; says the charter will lower prices and result in better products while also promoting competition; Kerrey also suggests a continuation of state and attorney general enforcement of civil and criminal laws against fraud and unfair and deceptive practices which would ensure the charter does not allow businesses to escape set standards. Source
Silver Lake Partners is leading the next financing round for SoFi that is expected to add $500 million in new capital for the growing alternative finance company; investors include Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. and several other Asian investors along with DCM Ventures and Third Point; with the completion of the fundraising, SoFi will be valued at approximately $4.3 billion; recent acquisitions and product introductions have helped the firm expand its offerings from student loan refinancings to personal loans, mortgages, wealth management, life insurance and digital banking. Source
Sentient Technologies has been developing an AI powered hedge fund for over a decade; Co-Founder Babak Hodjat has played a significant part in developing the company's AI powered system; Hodjat has 21 patents and his experience also includes development support for Apple's virtual assistant Siri; while many firms in the hedge fund space have been utilizing AI, Sentient is one of the only firms to build their entire business around it; the firm's AI system can analyze billions of data points, spot trends and adapt as it learns; in addition to developing investment decisions the AI system also facilitates trades which helps investment opportunities to be identified and acted upon faster; according to Hodjat, the vast amounts of publicly available data in the financial industry make AI ideal for investment management; the Sentient portfolio is highly diversified with a wide range of US stocks and trades hundreds of times per day; while the firm is becoming more well known for its AI focus it has yet to publicly disclose its performance; the company has received approximately $143 million and is owned by Li Ka-shing, and the Tata Group. Source