Chime raises $18mn in a series B fundraise from Cathay Innovation, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, Crosslink Capital and more; Chime is a digital banking app focused on millennials by not charging monthly fees or overdraft charges; they make money on transactions and thus far have over 500,000 customers. Source.
Banks of all sizes have been trying to figure out how to adapt to the changing landscape and at LendIt USA 2017 we hosted a panel to look at the future of digital banking; panelists cover how they see the future of banking, is it mobile only or mobile first, how do millennials help to guide strategies and when life becomes more complex how many different devices do people use; panelists focused on how to leverage social networks and how important digital strategies are to grow your audience; when doing partnerships who really owns the customer, is it the bank or does the customer feel more ownership to the social network or other type of partner; how do you compete with larger incumbent banks and how are smaller more nimble players able to gain market share; the panel also touches on different types of fees, how to make money in the digital age and how smaller firms can keep costs lower as they scale. Source
UK digital bank Monzo is nearing completion of a new funding round that will add 20 to 30 million British pounds in capital for the firm; the investment round is being led by Thrive Capital; sources also report that the firm is planning an equity crowdfunding campaign later in the year; Monzo is led by CEO Tom Blomfield and the firm was granted a UK banking license in August 2016; it currently has 100,000 users with activity driven by pre-paid Mastercards and mobile applications; the firm recently declined an acquisition offer from an incumbent bank and says it still has a lot it plans to accomplish. Source
P2P lending has evolved over the last ten years, with marketplace lenders increasingly offering traditional banking products; the market's first online lender, Zopa, is taking the lead on offering traditional banking products with an announcement reporting the lender's application for UK bank licensing to offer deposit accounts and a broader range of credit products; other marketplace lenders have also expressed interest in offering deposit products including SoFi and Affirm; as P2P lenders become more integrated into the financial ecosystem, it is likely that they will offer a broader range of products with traditional banking characteristics while continuing to be market innovators. Source
UK millennial banking app, Loot, has raised $2.5 million from backers that include SpeedInvest and Global Founders Capital; Loot is an app for millennials to monitor spending and transactions; an account is setup using a photo, ID/passport and a UK address. Source
UK digital Bank Starling Bank is seeking to raise $54mn in a new funding round for international expansion; the capital will help the bank to move into other European markets and continue development of the technology; the bank recently acquired a passport via Ireland to allow them to access the European markets since Brexit is on the horizon. Source.
In Austin last week American Banker hosted their annual Digital Banking Conference where banks of all sizes gathered to discuss...
Digital-only bank N26 has launched a new credit product for its customers as digital-only banks struggle for profits due to high operating costs; the new credit product will offer credit lines of up to 25,000 British pounds ($26,810) for 5 years with varying interest rates; the product launch occurs as many digital banks seek expanded offerings to offset some of the high costs associated with deposit accounts. Source
Uber, the driving service, has launched a debit card product in Latin America, in conjunction with innovative bank, Bankaool; the continent as a whole demonstrates 1.1 mobile phone connections per capita, yet only 14% of the overall population has a traditional savings account; it's difficult to obtain a debit or credit card without being able to link it to a bank account with savings; Bankaool claims to be the first Mexican-based bank where you can fully open a bank account or obtain a card via an online application; Uber acknowledged that a payment card was essential for riders using its service. Source
A new study entitled the World FinTech Report (WFTR) from Capgemini and LinkedIn finds that half of the banking customers worldwide use at least one fintech service or product; the report shows that younger customers and emerging markets adopt fintech more frequently, as China and India lead the way with 75% of customers using fintech; other important statistic from the report show that 17.4% of investment management customers rely on fintech solely, 46% of banking customers use more than one fintech firm and 60% of traditional financial firms view fintech companies as long term partners. Source