Investment in Canadian fintech increased in 2016 while slowing in the US and UK; data from Thomson Reuters says investment in Canadian fintech reached $197.41 million, an increase of 74% from 2015; in comparison, fintech investment in the US was down 30% and fintech investment in the UK was down approximately 25%; the Canadian market is much smaller than the US and UK however its infrastructure and ecosystem are growing; political changes were also less of a factor for Canada in 2016 while the US election and UK Brexit vote created uncertainty for investors. 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.
To join our newsletter community please subscribe here.
Artificial intelligence (AI) solutions are emerging in the wealth management space as a rival for robo advice; AI solutions are providing more sophisticated investment portfolio options than robo advisors using machine learning data optimization capabilities; there are a number of AI solutions supporting investment management that are already being used broadly within wealth management including Watson, Alladin, Kensho and Sqreem; these artificial intelligence systems and others under development have the capability to develop investing portfolios based on a range of technological data inputs while also using machine learning to analyze, interpret and act on information obtained from various sources such as news articles and social media; it's predicted that these AI solutions could evolve into offering more robust portfolio advice directly for retail investors. Source
Consumers are increasingly relying on voice technology for messaging and also through services like the Amazon Echo Alexa and Apple Siri; in voice technology, innovators are now seeking new ways for systems to more broadly understand context and speak coherently in conversations; however as the technology evolves, privacy and security have become concerns; overall, demand from consumers for voice technology is likely to continue because of the convenience it offers. Source
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has cited fintech as a risk for traditional banks in its "Semiannual Risk Perspective for Fall 2016"; the semiannual OCC report discusses risks for national banks and federal savings associations with data through June 30, 2016; says strategic planning is important for banking innovation and that banks who do not innovate to meet evolving needs may be at a competitive disadvantage. Source
Chinese fintech company CreditEase has announced it will use Verint Systems, Inc. for customer service; Verint will provide speech analytics, call recording, quality management and customer reporting support services; according to CreditEase, the service provider will help the company reduce operating costs by approximately 45% annually. Source
Scalable has reached 100 million British pounds ($121.72 million) in assets under management for its robo advisory services; the firm has been averaging new business of 5 million British pounds ($6.09 million) per week and has over 2,500 customers; it offers low fees and daily investment monitoring with risk focused algorithms. Source
Commercial real estate marketplace lending platform Money 360 originated loans of $35.6 million in December; the bridge loans ranged from $2.5 million to $12.5 million with durations between one and two years; according to Founder and CEO Evan Gentry, the firm expects momentum to continue in 2017 with performance from the platform a factor of increased demand from borrowers and investors for commercial real estate financing. Source
LendIt, in conjunction with Cadwalader and Lending Times, will host a forum on securitization this Wednesday, January 11th at 2:00 PM EST; the webinar will focus on key factors to consider in choosing the optimal risk retention structure, commercial considerations related to sponsors including brand and investor relationships, requirements necessary to establish a majority owned-affiliate including the amount of equity that must be retained by the sponsor versus an investor and other related topics; speakers include Philip Bartow of River North, Bruce Bloomingdale from Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft, Rupert Chisholm from One William Street Capital, Abe Kahan of CommonBond, Dylan Schuler of CommonBond and Gregg Jubin from Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft; learn more by registering here today.
Activehours, a startup focused on payment processing, has raised $22 million in a funding round led by Matrix Partners; workers can request portions of their paycheck through the app which helps workers avoid overdrafts and late fees; the firm does not charge fees and earns revenue through tips. Source
OneMain has rejected an unsolicited exchange offer from IEG Holdings; on January 6, 2017, IEG submitted an offer to buy shares of OneMain, a consumer finance company offering personal loans; IEG is an online consumer loan provider with stock trading on an over the counter market exchange; OneMain says the offer does not reflect the value of the company or the best interests of its shareholders. Source