Coverager provides insight on the insurtech investment market with a list of 11 insurtech deals announced in January; Practo in India tops the list with a $55 million investment; firm provides a platform for patients to book appointments and also offers a software as a service solution for doctors. 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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Savings rates are low and markets have always been volatile, P2P platforms in the UK have consistently returned 4.5% to 6.5% according to the AltFi Data returns index and so the question remains why aren't financial advisors recommending the P2P asset class; there has been some movement on this front as firms like LendingWell and Octopus offer solutions to better help P2P firms become more attractive to financial advisors; obstacles remain as many financial advisors do not know much about P2P platforms and it will take time for this asset class to be more widely known to the broader advisor. Source
Hans Morris of Nyca Partners has launched a new venture capital fund; Morris is the founder of Nyca Partners and a former Lending Club chairman; Morris has raised new capital of $125 million for the fund which will invest in fintech startups. Source
LendingRobot has announced the launch of a new alternative lending hedge fund; Lend Academy provides details in their article; the new fund will add to the service offerings at LendingRobot which currently include aggregated marketplace lending investment accounts for both retail investors and financial advisors; the new LendingRobot Series fund will invest in online loan origination platforms and offer multiple strategies for investors with expected net returns ranging from 6.86% to 9.66%; the fund is only open to accredited investors and requires a minimum investment of $100,000; it has a 1% management fee with fund expenses of up to 0.59%. Source
LendingRobot is launching a new fund for accredited high net worth investors and using a basket of new technologies to automate management of the fund; LendingRobot plans to use automated portfolio algorithms and automated platform investing to manage the fund; it will also use blockchain for fund reporting and fund auditing; Kadhim Shubber of Financial Times shares information on recent Lending Club performance as well as thoughts from UK-based fund P2PGI. Source
Some of the industry's top fintech banking strategists are leaving the corporate world to support fintech startups; three of Deutsche Bank's top executives have left the bank for broadened fintech advisory roles; "Everything from M&A advisory to research to money transfer is being disrupted," says Kerim Derhalli, former Deutsche Bank executive who now leads fintech startup Invstr; as the industry evolves it's likely the market will see more corporate fintech experts involved with new fintech ventures in the private markets. Source
IBM has hired Jesse Lund from Wells Fargo to lead its blockchain market development and global financial services departments; Lund will join IBM at the onset of its global blockchain implementation launch; IBM is investing in global blockchain and according to recent comments from Jerry Cuomo, IBM vice president of blockchain technologies, the blockchain that IBM will offer will have special things like regulatory compliance and it will be interoperable with interoperability standards; a large part of IBM's blockchain development will take place through the Hyperledger Project which both Cuomo and Lund will be actively involved in. Source
With the recent news from the OCC and a new administration in Washington, regulation of fintech is top of mind for everyone in the industry. The president of the San Francisco Fed, John C. Williams, joined us at LendIt USA 2016 to discuss fintech regulation in his keynote address.
He believes right now is a critically important time to have an open and honest dialogue about fintech and its role in the financial system. Fintech holds a lot of promise, it can help to improve efficiencies in the current system and can help the overall economy be more successful in achieving its fundamental goals.
The laws of innovation often mirror the laws of physics, for every great stride there is an equal and opposite risk. While he discussed the fact that innovation holds a lot of potential, the regulatory structure needs to asses the risks and ensure correct protections are in place.
Fintech companies are currently lowering costs, increasing access to the underbanked and helping to revitalize impoverished neighborhoods. One of his biggest points was even though fintech is looking to help the impoverished, it can actually hurt them the most as bad actors will prey upon the vulnerable.
Williams covers vigilance and a level playing field, looking at how the industry can help improve many different facets of the financial system but at the same time ensuring those in this burgeoning market do not pose a risk to the financial system. As he was beginning to wrap up his speech to allow for an interactive Q&A with the audience, Mr. Williams said he sees the potency of the possible in fintech.
Check out the full video here:
Artificial intelligence firm Cleo has raised 550,000 British pounds ($626,300) from angel investors; investors included Niklas Zennström, Jason Goodman, Alex Chesterman, Siraj Khaliq, Errol Damelin, Simon Franks, Wendy White and Joe White; Cleo is an AI-powered service working in connection with AI robots like Amazon Alexa to offer consumers personal finance advice; firm plans to use the new capital to further develop its technology and increase its user base of clients which are primarily in the UK. Source
OfferPad is a real estate platform to help homeowners sell their homes; investors include private funds managed by LL Funds, LLC and an investment management firm in Philadelphia; company plans to expand to additional markets; similar to competitor Opendoor, OfferPad buys homes from homeowners; current markets include Phoenix, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Tampa and Orlando; the company has 100 employees and will launch in Los Angeles soon. Source