More than $1 billion has been invested in UK fintech companies this year; the first half of the year brought $564 million of VC investments, up 37% from the prior year period; according to the article, fintech is worth $9.25 billion to the economy and employs 60,000 people. Source
According to data from FT Partners, the third quarter brought the highest financing deal count ever with 412 transactions; banking (including p2p lending) and payments had the most deals in the quarter; transactions of note include Softbank’s $250 million investment in Kabbage and raises by Toast Inc. and Raise Marketplace. Source
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has published their annual report sharing that they are monitoring P2P lending, digital crowdfunding and online advisors; to date the OSC has supported 38 fintech companies with the OSC LaunchPad; the LaunchPad was created for businesses that don’t fit neatly under existing regulation. Source
Carey Olsen discusses offshore corporate structures for fintech companies; these smaller jurisdictions offer many benefits including allowing regulators to be more agile and a broader toolbox of corporate vehicles; Carey Olsen has expertise in advising fintech businesses in the British Virgin Islands, Cayman, Guernsey and Jersey; shares the variations in regulation across these jurisdictions in their blog post. Source
Ahead of his presentation at LendIt Europe 2017, Richard Peers, Director of the Financial Services Industry at Microsoft discusses fintech with Verdict; provides his perspective on artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, challenger banks, why London is a great place for startups, and what firms can learn from the Chinese market. Source
There are many fintech companies who are getting significant traction in changing financial services industry; Business Insider has curated a list of 11 startups that are each worth over $1 billion and shares what each company does; list includes: Clover Health, Kabbage, Robinhood, Avidxchange, Coinbase, Apttus, Avant, Oscar, Credit Karma, SoFi and Stripe. Source
The fourth annual LendIt Europe event was in London earlier this week with around 1,100 people in attendance. Here are...
An opinion piece in American Banker highlights the challenges the marketplace lending industry faced in 2016; Alenka Grealish, a senior analyst at Celent believes that we will see consolidation and more partnerships in the remainder of 2017 and into 2018; discusses the advantages and challenges both fintechs and banks have and what may happen in a downturn. Source
When LendIt was founded back in 2013 we had no idea it would get to the size and scale that...
Former Securities Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt, Sarah Friar, chief financial officer at Square, and Scott Sanborn, CEO of Lending Club recently spoke on a panel about regulation for fintech companies and recent improprieties; Sanborn noted that sound corporate governance is not unique to fintech, referencing the Wells Fargo story; panelists discussed that regulation is always behind innovation and how regulators and fintech companies may strike a balance. Source