As we continue to hear more from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) about their new fintech charter, the question comes to mind: is the regulator taking the right approach?; fintech companies are beginning to disrupt many different facets of the financial system, coming up with a singular charter could be limiting and hurt innovation; the OCC has stated that this new charter from their point of view is just one of many options a firm can choose when looking at regulation; having regulators at every level think outside the box will help innovation overall and this also can help to discover an approach not yet seen. Source
Crain's talked with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon this week as he toured the Midwest, meeting with bank employees; Dimon discussed the credit market; also gave his perspective on online lending, noting some of the risks from depending on investor capital versus bank capital. Source
FinSight Ventures, a global venture capital firm focused on fintech companies, is seeking a portfolio manager for investing in real estate loans; the position will first be on a consulting basis which may lead to a permanent role; the firm has invested in companies such as Earnest, Dianrong, Lending Club and Financeit.
JPMorgan will soon be using robot technology to execute trades across its global equities algorithms business; the artificial intelligence, also known as LOXM, will be launched across Asia and the US in the fourth quarter; LOXM's job is to execute client orders with maximum speed at the best price, by using lessons it has learned from billions of past trades; one possible evolution of LOXM is teaching the machine how to get to know individual clients, so that it could consider their behavior and reaction as it decides how to trade. Source
Small business lender Kabbage has announced a new milestone with total lending originations of over $3 billion; firm has provided loans for over 100,000 small businesses; helping to reach the new high, the firm provided 20,000 loans in March and reports $1 billion in funding serviced in less than a year. Source
Dorsey was recently interviewed at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View; Dorsey is bullish on the future of blockchain describing it as the "next big unlock"; believes that people need to be thoughtful in the applications of blockchain, focusing on what are the best applications of the technology; also discusses bitcoin and how it is beginning to reach more people. Source
According to a report from GlobalCapital, Jefferies and Lending Club are partnering on a new securitization for Arcadia Funds; the portfolio is expected to include approximately $300 million of prime consumer loans from Lending Club. Source
Experienced fintech expert, John Sculley talked about investment opportunities he sees in the market at LendIt USA; former president of Pepsi and former CEO at Apple, Sculley says he is interested in transformative opportunities; in the fintech sector, Sculley recently joined the board of directors at Lantern Credit after becoming an investor; Lantern Credit is positioned to provide transformative technology with machine-learning services for financial institutions that allows for a broader assessment of a borrower's creditworthiness. Source
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was established as part of Dodd-Frank reform following the 2008 financial crisis to focus on financial law pertaining to the protection of consumers in the financial marketplace; in 2016 a three-judge D.C. circuit panel declared the CFPB unconstitutional in the PHH vs. CFPB case and gave full director accountability power to the president; an appeal by the CFPB overturned that ruling and called for a rehearing of the case before a broader panel of judges which is set for May 24, 2017; on Friday, March 17 the US Justice Department filed a brief requesting that the federal appeals court restructure the CFPB; the brief appears to be focused on the fact that the CFPB director was setup to have no accountability to the president; in the case of PHH vs. CFPB, lawyers from PHH reported that the CFPB should be dissolved; the Justice Department's brief appears to focus just on the CFPB director's accountability. Source
Kabbage's chief technology officer Amala Duggirala has taken a new role with Regions as the bank's chief investment officer; Amala Duggirala has been with Kabbage since November 2016 leading the firm's technology platform efforts; prior to Kabbage she worked as executive vice president of application development at payments technology company ACI Worldwide; her technology experience in lending and payments will help to support and enhance product development and innovation in her new chief investment officer role at Regions. Source