Credit Suisse has taken a majority stake in the startup TradePlus24 in a Series A-1 financing round; TradePlus24 is based in Zurich and helps SMEs increase their working capital by leveraging their domestic and export receivables; Credit Suisse recently announced a $200 million revolving credit facility with Kabbage. Source
SWIFT says that digital heists are on the rise as hackers are becoming more sophisticated in their tactics; they are recommending that banks increase security of computers used to transfer money; a Bangladesh Bank lost $81 million back in February, 2016 and there are more recent examples of hacks; the report provides details on the new methods hackers are using. Source
While publishing the results of the latest stress tests on the UK’s biggest banks the Bank of England warned that fintechs could take significant market share; the Bank of England identified three main areas of concern for banks: competition from fintechs, cost reduction while delivering services and low interest rates; these key areas could hurt profitability at banks in the coming years and app based disrupters could be the beneficiaries. Source.
The blockchain insurance consortium B3i has secured 38 members worldwide including Allianz, Swiss Re and AIG; the project would help these insurers move away from their paper based processes and secure contracts on distributed ledgers; right now blockchain is not widely used in insurance and the project is hoping to bring along the change; B3i estimates the changes could help the industry to save over 30 percent of costs. Source.
Lend Academy features two companies, Landed and Fundrise, who are taking a unique approach to building to new homes and providing down payment assistance. Source
Paytm Payments Bank is aiming to have 500 million accounts offering a wide range of financial services products; the bank launched officially on Tuesday; they are unveiling their money market fund, launching a debit card and will have the capabilities for businesses to open up accounts. Source
While the Chinese have been quickly adopting fintech in recent years it has come at a cost to the consumer; the Chinese government is able to view troves of information as payment apps like Alipay and WeChat Pay now need to pass through the central bank; not only in fintech but other areas of tech innovation, like facial recognition, has been a boon to the government; while apps and services are making lives simpler and more efficient, they can also help to make government intrusion a lot easier. Source.
Equbot has created an AI Powered ETF (ticker: AIEQ); it analyzes massive amounts of data to create a portfolio of 30-70 stocks; some of the data sources include regulatory filings, quarterly news releases, articles, and social media posts; a major difference of the fund is that the bot’s methodology can be explained; the fund launched on October 18, 2017 and has about $70 million in assets. Source
Digital banking app Revolut is looking to embrace the cryptocurrency wave and incorporate features into the app; the new features would let users exchange and use bitcoin as well as other digital currencies; there is no set plan for the new features but Head of Mobile, Edward Cooper, tweeted that potential changes were coming on cryptocurrencies as Crowdfund Insider reports. Source.