Open banking is a significant factor for fintech industry growth; it allows fintech companies to access customer data for fintech services; the Consumer Financial Data Rights (CFDR) coalition has been established to focus primarily on this issue; there initiatives include: lobbying regulators for open access to data, promoting fintech's rights to use data and serving as a resource center for open access regulation; Business Insider also suggests considering the UK's open access and regulatory examples and has published a report entitled, "The Fintech Regulation Report." Source
In an opinion piece, William Mougayar who wrote, "The Business Blockchain" provides thoughts on initial coin offerings (ICOs); dozens of startups are planning ICOs and funds are also feeding an investment and speculation frenzy according to Mougayar; he notes that ICOs are a good alternative funding model but warns of potential issues outlined in the article. Source
Bank service provider Misys is looking to bring an end to alternative lending by giving banks a solution that is similar to that of marketplace lenders; "There's clearly a demand for banks to take back that piece of the lending market," explained Misys Senior Product Officer Jean-Cedric Jollant in a discussion with PYMNTS; Misys believes this solution would give banks more lending options and they would no longer have to partner with an online lender; Jollant goes on to say that 90% of the online lending market will collapse and only the top names will survive a decade or two. Source
Aviva, Hillhouse Capital and Tencent have announced plans for a new digital insurer, Aviva Hong Kong; Aviva and Hillhouse will own 40% with Tencent owning the remaining 20%; the new platform will focus on selling digital life insurance in Hong Kong and will also offer additional investment products. Source
Over $300 million has been invested on RealtyShares into residential and commercial real estate projects; the company crossed $200 million in September 2016; individual investors can invest a minimum of $5,000 per project; the company also has multi-billion dollar institutions participating on the platform; to date 550 real estate deals have been done across 1,000 properties, spanning 35 states; RealtyShares has a network of 38,000 accredited investors. Source
Bitcoin exchanges BTCC, Huobi and OKCoin have implemented a 0.2% trading fee for both buying and selling; according to CoinDesk, volume has decreased after the fees were put in place but prices remain stable thus far; fees were put in place to help curb market manipulation and volatility. Source
A study by Citigroup shows China as the world's investment leader in fintech; says investment is being led by success from "Chinese dragons" including Ant Financial, Lu.com, JD Finance and Qufenqi; in the first nine months of 2016 fintech venture capital investment increased to 46% of the global total; the full Citi report can be found here. Source
Investment in regtech companies has reported a 38.5% compound annual growth rate over the past five years with a record $678 million invested in 70 companies in 2016; globally London has taken the lead reporting the greatest number of investment deals from 2012 to 2016 at 39; anti-fraud companies have been increasingly receiving greater investment with $334.8 million in 2016 accounting for 49.4% of total regtech investment. Source
Online loan marketplace LendingTree has released its third quarter list of top customer-rated network lenders; the platform has a network of over 450 lending partners; top lenders from each of the list's four categories included: Veterans United Home Loans, Lending Club, rateGenius and Credibly. Source
TrustPilot, a Denmark multi-language online merchant review platform, has raised 5.5 million British pounds ($6.9 million); platform allows for communication between merchants and consumers; funding was provided by Draper Esprit which now doubles its equity stake in the company to 11 million British pounds ($13.71 million). Source