In an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Ant Financial's CEO Eric Jing talked about his plans for growth in payments and blockchain; firm is targeting two billion users by 2027; says it will more deeply integrate blockchain and artificial intelligence. Source
Pepper Hamilton will be hosting a webinar on Tuesday, January 24 at 12:00 PM EST providing insight on the considerations for fintech companies interested in applying for the new fintech charter; topics will include fintech charter advantages, the application process, OCC requirements, OCC oversight and capital requirements; the panel will include Pepper Hamilton lawyers with OCC experience; participants can register here.
Luxury assets lender Borro has raised 5.6 million British pounds ($6.93 million) in new equity capital; firm received Financial Conduct Authority authorization in 2016 and reported business growth of 30%; the funding will help support the firm's balance sheet lending; since 2011, firm has lent 230 million British pounds ($286 million). Source
Tempoe has completed a deal with its financing partner for a $150 million credit facility; the firm provides alternative leasing solutions for durable goods including furniture, appliances and electronics; the additional capital will help the firm to invest in the online shopping market, expand to additional retailers, explore new markets and make strategic acquisitions. Source
Ning Tang, founder of CreditEase speaks about 2016 headwinds faced by Yirendai, the company's P2P lending arm; in August, 2016 the stock declined after new rules were put in place by Chinese authorities on P2P lenders; according to Ning Tang, "We need to do more in terms of investor education and communication as most of the international investors do not have a clear understanding of China's credit market and financial innovation."; 2016 transaction volume was 20 billion yuan ($2.92 billion) in 2016; Tang eyes 100 billion yuan ($14.59 billion) by 2020; looking forward, the company plans to form closer relationships with traditional banks to reach offline customers. Source
Development finance P2P lender Bricks Finance has received Financial Conduct Authority authorization; firm is not planning to launch an innovative finance individual savings account; will instead focus on expanding partnerships with brokers; also announced a new Bricks Bond product for wealth managers and their clients; firm has been lending since May 2015 with loans of more than £5 million ($6.22 million). Source
Firm offers online mortgage loan comparisons and facilitates mortgage loan services through its platform; firm has been in business for nine months with mortgage loans of 50 million British pounds ($62.17 million); the new funding was provided by Ribbit Capital and Mosaic Ventures; firm says it will use the funds to expand its products and engineering team. Source
Payments company Dwolla has received $6.85 million and relaunched its white label API, Access API; the funding was led by Union Square Ventures and Foundry Group; the investment will be used to expand its employees; the new API will now manage same-day transfer services and include a new dashboard for transactions. Source
Credit China Fintech is forming a consortium to acquire a 36.58% equity interest in Ping An Securities Group (Holdings) Limited; upon completion the consortium intends to make a cash offer for all of the issued shares of Ping An Securities; Credit China Fintech's CEO Phang Yew Kiat says, "Ping An Securities' product offerings are valuable resources that we believe will generate significant synergies with our existing businesses." Source
Millennials are becoming more influential in the market for financial advice and investment management; currently a $71 trillion business, baby boomers have been the leading drivers over the past three decades; millennials however are gaining increased consideration since they now account for the greatest majority of the population in the US and UK; while they currently only hold a small percentage of the asset management market with $250 billion invested, venture capitalists are taking bets on their potential influence; the tech savvy generation has greater preference and confidence in tech powered solutions than the baby boomer generation with 85% of UK-based millennials surveyed by Legg Mason Global Asset Management reporting they were comfortable with robo advice while only 37% of investors aged 40 to 75 trusted online advice; leading robo advisors have initially attracted the attention of millennials however it's likely that more traditional asset managers will expand their offerings to capitalize on the growing opportunity. Source