Creditas recently closed one of the largest rounds in Latin American history and has originated more than $100mn in loans since 2011; they company offers loans backed by collateral, charging 17 to 25 percent for their home equity loan and 23 to 50 percent for auto equity loans; this is unique as banks typically charge 120 percent APR on unsecured loans and 480 percent APR on revolving credit cards; having a lower cost, more secure loan has seen them keep defaults around 1 percent and grow the company workforce threefold in the past year alone. Source.
- Wunder Capital's 2017 Year in Review
- ID Finance Raises $8.5m via Exchange-traded Bonds to Support Growth
- RateSetter’s Australian business hits $200m milestone
- Avoka celebrates $12M raise
- State Street backs UK fintech start-up PensionBee
- LendingUSA Secures $60m Credit Facility
- iZettle Grabs $47M Additional Funding, Eyes Market Expansion
- First National Bank Plans Online SMB Lending Portal
- South Korea considers cryptocurrency tax as regulators grapple with 'speculative mania'
- Aspiration Taps $47 Million for Conscientious Banking
Data scientists have become one of the top needed professions in banking and big tech; banks are finding it harder to compete with the likes of Google, Facebook for a number of key reasons; compensation and data structures, big tech is able to pay over a million dollars a year for premier talent and data at big tech firms is not structured like banks so they are able to work more freely; Gurjeet Singh of Ayasdi says banks can make strides by creating competitions for data scientists when they leave school and investing more in all levels of the bank to cater to talent better. Source.
The statement provides considerations for main street investors and market professionals; investors should be aware of the risks of these types of investments which have less investor protections compared to the traditional securities market; to date no coin offerings have been registered by the SEC; the statement notes, “A change in the structure of a securities offering does not change the fundamental point that when a security is being offered, our securities laws must be followed.” Source
US Bank saw a 104 percent increase in Zelle transactions the past four months and a 50 percent increase in customer enrollment in the peer to peer payment offering; this is another success story for Zelle as they have seen significant usage in their product with $33.6bn in volume versus $14.8bn by Venmo; Zelle is integrated with over 40 banks and has reached over 85 millions users. Source.
Through a partnership with MicroVentures, Indiegogo will allow investors to participate in ICOs; accredited investors will be able to buy Simple Agreements for Future Tokens (SAFTs) where tokens are delivered on a certain date; the first ICO being advertised is the Fan-Controlled Football League. Source
JPMorgan Chase, American Express and HSBC said they are leading a $40mn round into Menlo Security; banks are usually a lot more secretive about security investments but they see a wider industry potential in using isolation technology; the technology can better defend against phishing attacks which account for most breaches as employees click on a fake link that then causes malware to infect the computer; when a user clicks on a link they open a browser that really is a one time instance in the cloud and prevents malware from downloading onto a computer; while some big banks have started using the technology more there has not been a significant rush yet. Source.
CBOE CEO Edward Tilly told the Financial News that recent criticism about bitcoin futures was “uncalled for”; “I think letters like that and cheap shots to our regulator, the CFTC, are uncalled for to make it seem this was an overnight self-certification without the proper amount of CFTC involvement,” explained Mr. Tilly; he explained that the Options Clearing Corporation clears the contracts for the CBOE and was comfortable with their decision of bitcoin. Source.
Online lender SoFi closed their 12th securities for $769mn of private student loan notes; total issuance in 2017 reached $6.9bn which was up from $4.2bn in 2016; the deal featured 38 investors and joint lead managers were Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs; SoFi is in the top ten of ABS issuance in 2017 as they continue to utilize the markets better than any other online lender. Source.
The partnership will allow N26 to offer consumer credit in France; N26 currently has similar features built out in other European markets where users answer a few questions within the app; the app then provides a quote that allows users to adjust the term of the loan or the payback amount; users will not be required to signup through Younited Credit as everything is managed through an API. Source