In a week when the whole world was pretty much focused on one thing, there was actually a lot of big fintech news. Here are what I consider to be the top 10 most important fintech news stories of the past week.
Justice Department Files Antitrust Lawsuit Challenging Visa’s Planned Acquisition of Plaid from The Wall Street Journal – The DOJ made it official this week that they will be suing to block the Visa acquisition of Plaid.
How an avalanche of rules buried Ant Group’s US$39.5 billion stock sale and looks set to reshape China’s fintech landscape from The South China Morning Post – This was absolutely shocking news this week. Ant Group was all set to conduct the world’s largest ever IPO when it was suddenly postponed indefinitely the day before listing.
Q: Why did China block Ant Group’s IPO? A: Jack messed up from The Finanser – I am including a second perspective on the Ant IPO, this one from Chris Skinner, because it is such an important story.
Upstart Files for $100M IPO – Reveals Financials from deBanked – Interesting timing from Upstart. They filed to go public on Thursday, hoping to raise $100 million in an upcoming IPO.
What a Biden administration could mean for fintech from FinLedger – While the election still has not been called as of this writing, a Biden Administration looks likely, here is a good perspective on what it could mean for fintech.
CFPB grants safe harbor to Bank of America for small-dollar loans from American Banker – The CFPB issued a No Action Letter to Bank of America on their small dollar loan program that was announced just last month.
LendingClub Shows Continued Recovery in Q3 2020 Results from Lend Academy – LendingClub reported Q3 earnings this week and while originations are still much lower year over year they are up dramatically from Q2.
How The US Could Achieve 100% Financial Inclusion Through Local Public Banking from Forbes – Interesting piece by Nik Milanovic on the concept of public banking, providing examples from Philadelphia and North Dakota.
Revolut set to hire a CCO to lead new division amid profitability push from Sifted – Revolut is hiring their first head of sales (in the UK called chief commercial officer) as they pursue a new revenue stream selling services to medium and large retail merchants.
How much longer will consumer credit hold up? from American Banker – This is the big question for all consumer lenders. So far in 2020 consumers have proven to be resilient but if there is no stimulus for several months this could change dramatically.
