Roofstock has hired Jason Altieri as its chief legal and compliance officer; Altieri served as general counsel at Lending Club until October and still remains an advisor for the firm; in his new role he will lead the legal and compliance efforts for the emerging real estate company; the firm matches sellers of single-family rental homes with interested investors and facilitates all of the transactions through a digital marketplace. Source
President Trump is set to sign two executive actions on Friday that take aim at reversing the new financial regulations that were put in place as a result of the 2008 financial crisis; the executive actions will give the labor secretary power to rescind the fiduciary rule and ask the Treasury secretary and regulators to come up with a plan to replace Dodd-Frank; the fiduciary rule was set to go into effect in April and was meant to ensure advisors had their client's best interests at heart; Dodd-Frank was passed in 2010 and began implementation in 2012; the law was meant to limit the chance of another financial crisis like we saw in 2008; uncertainty exists with what will end up happening, but signals show that the fiduciary rule will be struck down and Dodd-Frank will be replaced. Source
Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada's third largest bank, also known as Scotiabank, has announced a $1 billion investment in digital technology over the next three years; the initiative will focus on bringing more digital technology solutions to clients who are making fewer transactions in branches; 45% of the firm's investment will be focused on foreign markets including Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Chile; it will also be investing in new facilities for blockchain and artificial intelligence development; the firm expects the investment to help reduce costs and improve future profitability. Source
Manatt provides an overview of some of the comments received by the OCC on the proposed fintech charter; the New York Department of Financial Services was critical of the charter; the American Bankers Association is supportive of the charter "...as long as existing rules and oversight are applied consistent with those for any national bank"; the Financial Services Roundtable also spoke in favor of the charter, commending the OCC for its development of the proposal; also highlighted are responses from the Consumer Bankers Association and the Independent Community Bankers of America. Source
Lend Academy provides details on IBM Watson's acquisition of Promontory Financial Group, a firm used to help navigate complex banking regulations; IBM has acquired Promontory to train Watson on Dodd-Frank which includes 22,000 pages of regulation; Promontory has experience from a long list of banking veterans and will help train Watson on financial risk modeling, surveillance, anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC); the result will be an artificial intelligence solution that can be implemented for all aspects of compliance, regulation and monitoring; Brian Walter, Watson global industry leader for banking and financial markets at IBM will be speaking at LendIt USA 2017 in a featured keynote discussing how financial firms are using artificial intelligence and how it's expected to evolve. Source
OnDeck Capital's chief operating officer, James Hobson will be leaving OnDeck; according to Reuters, Hobson will be taking a new role as chief executive at online insurance company Attune; Hobson will remain in the role until March 15. Source
Dan Loeb of Third Point is the latest hedge fund to invest in marketplace lending; the hedge fund manager has reported a 10% allocation to marketplace loans and says that he will be reducing his investment in structured credit and specifically residential mortgage backed securities to allocate to the fixed income alternative; Loeb says he is working with marketplace lenders on securitized portfolios and is excited about the investment opportunities available in the marketplace lending market; the firm also has a venture capital business, Third Point Ventures, which is invested in SoFi, Upstart and Swift Capital. Source
As more and more countries begin implementing biometric technology at their borders, banks are also beginning to use fingerprint analysis and retina scans to verify identities; Canada has used their NEXUS program to track travelers and India has used the Aadhaar program to identify their population; banks have begun testing out these technologies to see what fits their customer best: fingerprints, retina or facial recognition; with the new technology still comes age old issues of theft; stealing a fingerprint then changing it can happen just like the changing of a password; banks are still trying to figure out how to address the new technology and learning lessons from border patrol is one way for them to ensure the best solution. Source
Originators of all stripes are using machines in the underwriting process. Understanding the capabilities and how best to underwrite in a more automated way is something lenders are still working on.
At LendIt USA 2016 Douglas Merrill of Zest Finance discusses the credit and underwriting process and how consumers are really looking for an experience that automates the choice of loans for them based upon the existing data available.
Douglas believes that speed matters but nobody knows that it matters, when consumers come to the lender for a loan they are not looking for a loan but for life certainty. The loan is just a product, a seamless and improved experience is what the borrower wants.
We should be discussing loans in seconds and microseconds, not days or weeks. Machines can help to automate the process based on your existing data set and a borrower should not need to fill out a loan application. Computation, storage and bandwidth are free and infinite. The things we can do with data are exciting and seemingly endless.
The current underwriting has been stuck in the 70's. Data has enabled us to change underwriting and develop new types of products; machines can help to make this happen. Why do lenders make you apply for a loan? Lenders know enough about you to know what you should need and they don't need you to fill out an application at all.
An automated underwriting process and the amount of data available through traditional and nontraditional means will help to continue the advancement in credit. At LendIt USA 2017 we will be covering the latest innovations in credit and underwriting. Learn what is coming next from the top originators, credit bureaus and service providers.
Check out the full video here:
IBM Watson will be further expanding in financial services by partnering with H&R Block's 70,000 tax professionals at 10,000 locations; Watson has learned 74,000 pages of tax code through its natural language processing capability and will be able to help tax professionals at H&R Block's branches; the new services have been tested at 100 locations and will begin being used in February; overall, IBM plans to market Watson as a business service solution with its capabilities offered to consumers through innovative business partnerships. Source