A new fintech startup called Soldo aims to initially target families that may want to distribute money to children, split household bills or give a domestic worker an expense allowance; firm has larger vision in launching to businesses; company is not a bank but holds an electronic money license and is regulated by the FCA; Soldo has already partnered with Mastercard and aims to solve the problem of single user wallets and debit cards. 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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The financial technology industry has seen enhanced innovation and financial technology adoption over the past eight years; the industry's growth has accelerated as the US economy has emerged from a financial crisis; during Obama's presidency several innovative sub sectors have grown substantially with significant potential still ahead; Orchard notes the industry's expansion in mobile banking, online lending, retail investing, institutional investing and payments; all areas of the industry with significant growth potential and need for support from the country's next president. Source
National Public Radio has surveyed research on the impact of micro-lending to entrepreneurs around the world; in a number of well-controlled studies, the finding was that the loans were used to expand businesses, but the expansions were modest even by local measures and in none of the studies did the average borrower end up significantly increasing their income; micro-loans did have other benefits such as debt consolidation; one MIT economist, Abhijit Banerjee, found that straight cash grants to global entrepreneurs with low incomes did have a significant effect on long-term income generation, and hypothesized that the strict repayment structure of microfinance might be limiting its potential; the average microloan size is $200 in South Asia and $3,000 in Eastern Europe. Source
Hong Kong Fintech Week began with an announcement from SuperCharger Fintech Accelerator of eight finalists; the companies provide a range of services including solutions for wealth management, regulatory technology, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and blockchain; the eight companies will participate in a 12-week program which includes access to SuperChargers corporate partners and mentors. Source
As covered on LendIt News earlier, Malaysia's Securities Commission recently announced licenses for six P2P lending sites; one such site, EthisKapital, claims to be the first licensed platform anywhere that also adheres to Shari'ah law; Islamic Shari'ah law interpreted literally prohibits the payment of any interest on loans based on the term "riba" however modern interpretations allow for modest interest rates and/or the use of a fixed transaction fee rather than accruing interest; EthisKapital's CEO also has co-founded the Islamic Fintech Alliance. Source
Forbes interviews Perry Rahbar, CEO of DV01 on his previous experience at Bear Stearns during the mortgage crisis and how that brought him to start his new firm; DV01 provides insight and transparency to portfolios of marketplace lending loans; DV01 has also been asked to participate in Lending Club's securitizations; according to Rahbar, "DV01 helps people get a transparent view of what's going on, what's causing problems and what's performing well. Historically, you couldn't do this in an easy fashion." Source
Nine new startups spanning blockchain and digital currency are now a part of the FCA's regulatory sandbox; companies added are Billon, BitX, Epiphyte, Govcoin Limited, Otonomos, Nivaura, SETL, Tradle and Tramonex; FCA executive director of strategy and competition, Christopher Woolard, stated, "It has been an intense process for both firms and ourselves and we are grateful for their cooperation and hard work in getting us all to this position. We look forward to these businesses bringing new products and services to market whilst we ensure that appropriate consumer protection safeguards are in place." Source
Thomas Curry, Comptroller of the Currency, gave more insight on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's (OCC) plans for fintech regulation at a banking and innovation conference in London; Curry reported that regulation would be consistent with current banking standards, noting in his comments that, "if the OCC decides to grant a national charter in this area, the institution will be held to the same high standards of safety, soundness and fairness that other federally chartered institutions must meet"; the OCC is continuing with its plans for an Innovation Office and Curry said he would be releasing a white paper on fintech innovation. Source
The Chinese insurance market has doubled in size the last six years and according to China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) it will grow on average 13% for the next four years; these growth numbers will allow for technology disrupters to enter the space and for the insurance market to be transformed; the market is split into three different segments, which include online delivery of traditional insurance, technological upgrades to products and new ecosystem oriented products from insurtech startups; though there is tremendous opportunity, the key question will be, do the state-owned enterprises and traditional insurers create their own tech or partner and absorb these new firms. Source
Leading Chinese insurtech firm, ZhongAn, has announced the addition of a new fintech incubator; ZhongAn Information and Technology Services Co., Ltd. will be focused on technology development in the following four areas: artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing and data; seeks to be a technology accelerator for insurtech. Source