CB Insights held a webinar discussing fintech trends in Europe; top trends included insurtech expansion, blockchain, open banking and the changing financial services infrastructure; reports that European fintech has raised $2.637 billion in 2017 from 300 deals with record financing in the first quarter of $1.1 billion. Source
Solva, an ID Finance subsidiary that offers personal loans in Georgia, is now on the Mintos platform; Solva has disbursed 28,000 loans totaling EUR12 million ($14.3 million) since late 2016; Mintos provides a platform for retail investors to allocate to various online lenders; Boris Batine, ID Finance co-founder and CEO, stated: "Solva is an innovative product in global online lending. It was developed for prime clients and offers very attractive terms for personal loans. It closely resembles traditional bank loans, but with a focus on transparency, ease and convenience of service. Thanks to our technological innovation and efficient operations, we can offer investors a high annual net return." Source
Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission has entered into a cooperation agreement with the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) to establish a framework to help each other develop the fintech industry; the two regulators will work together on information sharing, innovation projects and referrals of fintech firms seeking to enter one another's markets. Source
Robo advice platforms have commoditized personal investing providing greater automation at lower price points; however AltFi reports that despite increasing innovation in the market, investors are still demanding a human element; specifically, investors are favoring hybrid advice with a survey from Accenture showing two-thirds of high income investors wanting the combined services of robots and humans; mid-scale wealth managers are well positioned to meet this demand and firms such as Charles Schwab and Betterment have already incorporated hybrid services to support customers. Source
Discusses the provisions of the Protecting Consumers Access to Credit Act of 2017; says the legislation which seeks to fix Madden v. Midland will cause increased predatory lending; bill is based on valid when made doctrine and author discusses the consumer protections involved in loans that are transacted after issuance. Source
The platform reported a record month in August after launching the cashback offer, gaining over GBP2.25 ($2.91 million) million of investment; LendingCrowd will extend the offer through September 30, giving investors GBP150 ($195) for every GBP2,500 ($3,257) invested; the platform offers investors access to SME loans and has lent GBP17 million ($21.95 million) since launching in 2014. Source
PitchIt @ LendIt Europe is one of the industry's most popular startup competitions providing eight finalists with unparalleled access to industry expertise and funding opportunities as well as invaluable exposure, branding and more at the event; hosted in partnership with Startupbootcamp, the event also offers fast-track status to the finalist round for Startupbootcamp Fintech Accelerator as one of its prizes; interested startup companies must submit their application by September 4 and finalists will be announced on September 10; more details about the competition can be found here. Source
Dianrong and FinEX Asia have launched Asia's first fintech asset management platform; established in 2017, FinEX Asia connects Asian investors with US consumer lending assets, such as credit card loans, giving Asian investors access to a diverse portfolio of US consumer credit investments; FinEX Asia's fintech solutions offer risk modeling capabilities, blockchain data security, performance monitoring and secondary marketplace liquidity. Source
Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has announced the first members of its new regulatory sandbox: NOW Money and Tramonex; H.E. Khalid Al Rumaihi, chief executive of the Economic Development Board of Bahrain (EDB) explains to AltFi, "In addition to the development of the regulatory sandbox, we have a number of further initiatives we expect to be launched in the coming months including a venture capital fund-of-funds."; NOW Money offers users in the Gulf region mobile banking and Tramonex helps companies process and transfer funds online. Source
Amazon is fast becoming the financial services company of the future; they now have their hands in payments, cash, small business lending, consumer credit and more; partnerships with companies like USAA and Capital One who use Amazon's Alexa digital assistant have emerged; this all shows the threat Amazon poses to traditional banking giants, though there has been no indication they want to become a bank themselves; JPMorgan Chase has started using Amazon's cloud-based AWS service to build a hybrid private-public cloud strategy; AWS sales increased 42% on a year-over-year basis to $4.1 billion for the second quarter; banks are starting to become technology firms and technology firms are helping to change the way banks operate. Source