Earnings season has begun for fintech and it is not looking very good so far with Affirm and Adyen both sinking after lackluster reports. Also making news is Goldman Sachs with a big new fund, Robinhood is not happy with the SEC, Kraken is ending staking in the US and Pipe has a new CEO. Here are what I consider to be the top ten fintech news stories of the past week.
Job cuts and missed targets: Affirm’s earnings call from Fintech Nexus – Earnings season is well underway now for fintech and Affirm provided a disappointing report. Both the top line and bottom line numbers were below analysts’ expectations and the company also announced it is laying off 19% of its workforce.
Goldman Sachs Raises $5.2 Billion for Private Equity Growth Fund from Bloomberg – Goldman Sachs announced this week they have raised a sizable new fund to invest in private high-growth companies. The $5.2 billion fund is the largest first-time fund in history and will focus on enterprise software, fintech, and healthcare.
Robinhood Hits Back at SEC, Warns of Threat to Zero-Commission Trading from The Wall Street Journal – The SEC announced proposals in December to overhaul stock trading and not surprisingly, Robinhood is not happy about it. In their first public comments, the company said it is a backdoor attempt to ban payment for order flow and will negatively impact investors.
Crypto Exchange Kraken Ends Staking Program in $30 Million SEC Settlement from Bloomberg – The SEC has also decided to attack the crypto market again, this time focusing on Kraken and their staking program. Kraken will pay $30 million to settle with the SEC and immediately end the staking program in the US. Coinbase shares sank almost 20% on this news as they have an almost identical program.
Pipe has a new CEO from Block, months after founding team announces departure from TechCrunch – After a months-long search Pipe now has a new CEO. Experienced fintech leader Luke Voiles will be taking over the job later this month, coming from Block where he led the Square Banking division. Before that, he was the CEO and president of Quickbooks Capital at Intuit.
Citing current ‘strong-footing’ for PayPal, CEO plans succession from Fintech Nexus – PayPal reported earnings this week with a record quarter of revenue and a solid profit. But the earnings call was overshadowed by the news that CEO Dan Schulman will be stepping down at the end of the year, a year earlier than expected.
Apple Expands Testing of ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Service to Retail Employees from Bloomberg – Apple’s new BNPL service called Apple Pay Later is getting ready for launch. Thousands of Apple employees will be testing the service indicating that it is nearing its public release.
The Atlanta Billionaire Behind Goldman’s Latest Consumer-Lending Push from The Wall Street Journal – David Zalik is the founder and CEO of GreenSky which is now part of Goldman Sachs. While Goldman is mostly closing down its Marcus offerings, its GreenSky unit had a record year in 2022 and is looking to continue that growth.
Hiring spree dents profits at payments group Adyen from The Financial Times – Global payments company Adyen reported earnings this week and it was also an ugly report. Profit was way below estimates and topline revenue also missed. Shares tumbled 15% after the report was made public due to the numbers and the fact that the company is continuing to hire.
The Digital Pound Moves Forward: HM Treasury and Bank of England Launch Consultation on CBDC, No Decision on DLT from Crowdfund Insider – The UK government has announced a new consultation on the digital pound. The Chancellor and the Bank of England governor had positive things to say about the prospect of a digital pound although nothing is expected in the short to medium term. The consultation is open for comments from the public until June 7.
Every Thursday afternoon, the Fintech Nexus News team and a special guest discuss the news of the week live on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter. We have now made the show available in podcast format – click on the audio player below.
