In Europe, slowing venture capital investment in fintech has caused increased reliance from the industry on traditional banks; as Brexit concerns have affected the fintech industry, traditional banks have increased their investment with more corporate and strategic participation in venture capital deals in Europe for the third quarter of 2016; over the last five quarters significant large bank investors in fintech have included Citigroup Inc., Banco Santander SA and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.; as the European market evolves with a number of regional factors continuing to affect both fintech companies and banks it is likely that more banking partnerships and fintech acquisitions will occur. Source
Orchard has announced a new data services partnership with investment bank, Sandler O'Neill; Sandler O'Neill provides investment banking advisory services for clients in the financial services industry; the partnership will provide access to Orchard's full suite of marketplace lending data analytics services for Sandler O'Neill and its clients making Sandler O'Neill a leading investment advisory service for financial institutions considering bank partnerships. Source
Emerging online lending platforms from traditional banks could be the market's disruptors with their ability to offer low fees; few banks have emerged with proprietary online lending platforms however the fee structures offered by Marcus from Goldman Sachs have caused some industry participants to fear the emergence of similar models; other speculators believe traditional banks are not agile enough to build and offer market leading online lending capabilities in a competitive timeframe; Orchard says competition will be fierce but the end result is likely to produce improved and expanded access to capital for customers. Source
Since Lending Club announced the first bank partnership in 2013 banks have been increasing their involvement in the marketplace lending...
Non-bank lenders in the Netherlands have been capitalizing on the global financial crisis and decreased lending from banks; Jeroen van Hessen's Dutch Mortgage Funding Company has been a leader in non-bank mortgage lending, a market that now attributes 20% of the 662 billion euros ($693 billion) mortgage market to non-bank lenders; Hessen was a market leader in the non-bank lending movement which has attracted interest from institutional investors willing to bypass traditional channels for higher returns; the effects from non-bank entrants have begun to show more significantly in the mortgage lending market where market share for mortgage originations from the region's top three banks fell below 50% for the first time in 2016; non-bank lending in the Netherlands has also increased interest from surrounding European investors familiar with non-bank platforms. Source
Deutsche Bank has hired Elly Hardwick as head of innovation and Philip Milne as chief technology officer for innovation; both will help to improve internal and external communication and integration of new technologies for the bank; Hardwick will lead the bank's innovation activities and manage the Deutsche Bank Labs; Milne will facilitate communication between the Deutsche Bank Labs and the bank's internal technology organization. Source
Fitch Ratings has upgraded its outlook for Canadian banks from negative to stable; cites solid risk management, increasing profits and better than expected capital positioning as factors for the upgrade; says recent regulatory changes, slow GDP growth, high household debt and decreasing home prices are still concerns for 2017. Source
New regulations in China tightening controls on P2P lenders will now require P2P lenders to partner with a custodian bank; Chinese banks are not eagerly partnering with the alternative lenders as fraud has been rampant in the industry; less than 5% of the country's 2,534 P2P lenders currently have a partnership with a custodian; custodians will add another layer of authentication for the P2P lending industry since they have high standards for money transfer and safekeeping; currently none of China's big four banks have partnered with P2P lenders for custodian services; smaller banks are getting involved and bank to platform relationships are taking on various forms. Source
Business Insider released the below chart this week highlighting what banks fear the most; for 2016, banks view existing large incumbents as their biggest threat followed by fintech startups; BI posits this is due to the incumbents having large customer bases and significant capital to fund projects; the perception of threats from fintechs increased from 14% in 2015 to 18% in 2016.
Banking-as-a-service, banking-as-a-platform, platform-as-a-service, open banking and open application program interfaces (APIs) are all terms being used by fintech companies who are building innovative products for banks; the long term question is will the banks buy or partner with this technology and in a banking system like the US how wide will adoption need to be for the banking system as a whole to change; recent surveys by Cornerstone Advisors of 300 community banks, regional banks and credit union CEOs shows the current economic environment and presidential election has them very optimistic; when they are making money, they innovate less. Source