With tech companies being seen as the better destination for the millennial workforce banks are starting to look at new ways to attract younger talent; helping employees pay down student debt has become one way for banks, who might not offer the same salary range, to stay competitive; as banks look to become more digitally savvy enlisting programs like this can help to go a long way in attracting the new generation of talent. Source.
In a note circulated to clients equity research firm D.A. Davidson said Overstock.com is the clear leader in blockchain technology; "Our research increased our conviction that, today and likely in the near-term, Overstock stands head and shoulders above the others" analyst Tom Forte of D.A. Davidson said as reported by Business Insider; the company was the first retailer to accept bitcoin payments and as a result saw their stock rise 265 percent in the last 12 months. Source.
GreenSky offers a unique type of point of sale financing and has just closed a $200 million round. Source
Cleaver stated, “If we fail to act on fintech, we are setting ourselves up for problems down the road. Not because the fintech folks are evil…but because we are behind the curve.”; Cleaver also discussed the importance of understanding what is going on in fintech so the proper safeguards can be put in place; he proposed that fintech companies should speak before the Financial Services Committee and that more meetings should be held. Source
First proposed in June and recently signed by Governor Cuomo the 7 person task force will be focused on reviewing online lending activities in NY; the task force will be chosen by the governor, president of the senate and speaker of the assembly; they will report their findings on small business and consumer lending back to the governor. Source.
YieldStreet Co-Founder and CEO Milind Mehere knew what is was like to be shut out of investment opportunities; after successfully scaling and selling his previous business he started YieldStreet to provide real estate, litigation funding and more to a wider group of investors; the company has returned over $80mn of principal and interest to investors; seeing litigation funding as one of the more interesting parts of the portfolio is an opportunity they feel is unique and can help to set the company apart. Source.
Kevin McPartland, the head of research for market structure and technology at Greenwich Associates put together his list of the top ten trends that will define finance in 2018; some of the highlights from the list include alternative data become less alternative and more part of the norm; regulators are better at getting things done as opposed to congress; continued innovation in the fintech space and the fear of a potential cyber breach in the space; banks will begin to focus more attention to cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Source.
Roostify CEO Rajesh Bhat sat down with TearSheet to discuss the online mortgage market and stated we are still in the first quarter of the game; Roostify is an enterprise mortgage origination platform and has secured deals with JPMorgan Chase and Guild Mortgage; topics discussed include why mortgages are so hard to digitize, how banks have addressed the move to digital mortgages and how did Roostify come to be. Source.
The Financial Stability Oversight Council's annual report includes a section discussing the risks of marketplace lending. Source
Chris Larsen, Ripple’s co-founder and executive chairman is benefiting from Ripple’s (XRP) recent rise; CNBC reports that his net worth climbed to $59.9 billion yesterday, at least on paper; this puts him high on the Forbes 400 list, just head of Larry Ellison; Larsen owns 5.19 billion of the digital currency and has a 17% stake in the company; he was previously a founder of Prosper. Source