Ant Financial Services Group is focused on serving small and micro enterprises as well as consumers. With the vision "to turn trust into wealth," Ant Financial is dedicated to building an open ecosystem of internet thinking and technologies while working with other financial institutions to support the future financial needs of society. Businesses operated by Ant Financial Services Group include: Alipay for payments, Yu'e Bao for money market services, Ant Fortune for wealth management, Ant Check Later and Ant Micro Loans for financing, Zhima Credit (formerly Sesame Credit) for credit reference, Zhao Cai Bao for online lending and MYBank for small business lending. Source
JPMorgan has invested over $10 million in LevelUp, a startup offering mobile payment services to restaurant customers; JPMorgan plans to integrate LevelUp's mobile app restaurant ordering features with its Chase Pay mobile wallet app in an effort to increase acceptance of Chase Pay at restaurants; JPMorgan's Chase Pay was announced a year ago and competes with Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. Source
P2P lending has evolved over the last ten years, with marketplace lenders increasingly offering traditional banking products; the market's first online lender, Zopa, is taking the lead on offering traditional banking products with an announcement reporting the lender's application for UK bank licensing to offer deposit accounts and a broader range of credit products; other marketplace lenders have also expressed interest in offering deposit products including SoFi and Affirm; as P2P lenders become more integrated into the financial ecosystem, it is likely that they will offer a broader range of products with traditional banking characteristics while continuing to be market innovators. Source
Former CIO and Group Managing Director at UBS, Oliver Bussmann, provides his insight on financial services technology and why blockchain matters in a CXOTALK interview; Oliver Bussmann was involved in the early discovery of blockchain and says one of its greatest advantages is transaction speed specifically in securities settlement where it can reduce settlement times from two to three days to seconds; Bussmann also says blockchain will be influential for insurance, trade finance, payments and the internet of things; overall he thinks regulation, consumer preferences and new technology are important factors changing the landscape and outlook for the financial services industry in the near term. Source
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) had a heightened presence in 2016; it was involved in governance for payday lending and marketplace lenders, it also declared a $100 million fine for Wells Fargo and was declared unconstitutional by a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court; the CFPB's structure and authority will be a factor for 2017; a marketplace lending retrenchment in 2016 also included a number of new lessons centered around governance and alternative forms of platform investment; decreased confidence and increasing platform defaults will be factors to watch for marketplace lending in 2017 while increasing credit defaults overall, and specifically in auto loans, could also be influential. Source
In our recent blog post, we share a list of companies who spoke at LendIt USA 2016; companies came from over 20 countries with strong participation from the major markets including the UK, China, India, Canada and Australia; below we share details on our attendee breakdown by country and segment which illustrates the diverse crowd you'll get to interact with at LendIt USA 2017. Source
The Fed made one increase to the federal funds rate in December 2016 and economic market activity appears to be improving with the election of President-Elect Donald Trump; Rohit Arora of Biz2Credit says the outlook is optimistic for small business owners in 2017; with only one rate increase, borrowing rates are still low for small business owners and lenders are approving a higher percentage of loans; Donald Trump's plans to alleviate some of the burdens from Dodd-Frank on banks is also likely to help approval rates for small business owners. Source
Biometric authentication is becoming increasingly utilized; a few factors could help it become more integrated into mainstream technologies; an American Banker article suggests that devices need to be more compatible, consumers would need to be more accepting, multiple options need to be offered and the recognition needs to be simple; big strides have been made in 2016 however barriers to mainstream use still remain. Source
2016 could be the alternative finance industry's first net negative year according to AltFi; uncertainty in capital investment was a substantial factor for the first time causing a renewed focus on retail investment; CEO turnover has been a significant factor with Renaud Laplanche's resignation a catalyst for decreased investor confidence; regulators have also caused market uncertainty with new regulations potentially adding compliance burdens for alternative finance businesses; macroeconomic factors including Brexit and the US presidential election have also increased pressure on alternative finance; despite hardships, sentiment for 2017 is mostly positive with 2016 seen as only a temporary retrenchment. Source
Fast Company looks forward to 2017 after a rough 2016 for fintechs; highlighted in their five fintechs to watch in 2017 is real estate technology firm Cadre which has closed more than $500 million in inventory; wealth management company Stash also made the top five; the company has gathered over 300,000 users and recently raised $25 million from a Series B funding round; Cross River Bank, a community bank which has close ties to the marketplace lending industry, also made the list; the company provides a banking infrastructure to many fintech firms and recently raised $28 million in new capital. Source