JPMorgan Chase has been active in fintech partnerships with firms like Truecar, OnDeck and Roostify; they are now partnering with Bill.com in an effort to eliminate paper checks; JPMorgan spent $600 mn last year building fintech solutions and partnering with firms according to a letter CEO Jamie Dimon sent to shareholders in April. Source
On CNBC's Squawk Box Ray Dalio, the founder of the world's largest hedge fund spoke negatively about bitcoin stating "It's not an effective storehold of wealth because it has volatility to it, unlike gold. Bitcoin is a highly speculative market. Bitcoin is a bubble."; he went on to say that it could be a currency and work conceptually but the speculation going on hurts it. Source
10x Future Technologies will soon announce a new funding round of over $40mn from China's Ping An and global consulting firm Oliver Wyman; the funds, according to Banking Technology, will help to speed up technology development and expand the company into Asia. Source.
Coinbase announced a new customer support like to help users and expand customer service operations; according to Business Insider the call agents can only handle verification issues and unlocking accounts; the company has seen their user base skyrocket but at the same time the amount of issues and complaints have also gone up dramatically; adding more support is something they hope will help to provide an overall better experience. Source.
Tiger Brokers, a Chinese online securities brokerage start-up backed by Wall Street billionaire investor Jim Rogers, has landed an investment from Interactive Brokers Group, the amount of which Tiger Brokers did not disclose; Tiger Brokers offers an app to allow Chinese investors to trade on US stock markets and the Hong Kong exchanges and in Chinese A shares. Source
Younited Credit is a marketplace lending platform that operates in France, Italy and Spain; the round included the French public investment bank Bpifrance among several other investors; total funding is now €103 mn for the company; François Fournier, chief innovation executive of Bpifrance stated, "We were attracted by Younited Credit’s team and by its unique positioning built in Europe. Its innovative digital platform model, great product agility thanks to big data, as well as its solid regulatory strategy, inspire confidence and sustainability." Source
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is beginning to give community bankers in the US headaches; the law applies to all companies processing and holding data of people who reside in the EU; if a EU citizen visits your website you could be subject to the law; community banks are starting to enlist legal help to better understand how they can protect themselves from steep penalties. Source.
The Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), J. Christopher Giancarlo, told government technology executives at an event that blockchain technology is in our national interest; Coindesk reports that the chairman said, "Distributed ledger and blockchain technologies ... are going to challenge orthodoxies that are foundational to our financial infrastructure."; he also discussed agencies moving beyond just talk of implementation but to actually try to use the tech within their agency's. Source.
Martin Kissinger, the founder of Lendable is just 28 years old; he has built Lendable into a successful business that has lent £80 mn to 20,000 borrowers; the company had a growth rate of 430% in the last year and provides funds to borrowers in as little as two hours; article profiles Kissinger’s past work experience and more about Lendable. Source