This week’s PeerIQ Industry Update covered the strong job growth reported and the chances of a rate hike in March; Marcus made key hires in an effort to launch a credit card as it builds out their consumer banking businesses; Marlette completed its largest securitization for $464mn and saw the senior tranches of the deal rated AA by Kroll; PeerIQ also highlighted key points from testimony by Nat Hoopes of the Marketplace Lending Association when he testified before the House Financial Services Committee. Source.
Ally Bank is launching an augmented reality game during the Super Bowl to help customers visualize and think about savings; Ally Big Save can be used during Super Bowl commercials to drag bills in a digital piggy bank and they are granted points during the game; the goal is to make people have fun but think about saving money; “While the game is a lot of fun, it’s also a way for Ally to help consumers focus on saving for something bigger to make a more meaningful impact on what matters most to them and those they care about,” said Andrea Brimmer, Ally’s chief marketing and public relations officer, to TearSheet; Ally is not the first bank to experiment with augmented or virtual reality, other banks have started to use the technology as means of innovative marketing to engage customers. Source.
PayPal saw payment volumes grow by 29 percent and they added 8.7 million new accounts in Q4 2017; the recent announcement that eBay was replacing PayPal with Adyen for processing overshadowed what was another strong quarter by the company; while the Adyen news was not positive for PayPal it could be seen as that in the long term as the company has been diversifying more in recent years; PayPal has seen growth through more partnerships with card networks and banks globally. Source.
Two reports share that the federal government may not profit or break even on their $1.4 trillion student loan portfolio; there has been an increase in borrowing in recent years and some graduate students are opting for income-driven repayment plans; these students are expected to pay back less than they took to pay for tuition; there are concerns that the interest payments of those paying the full amount on their loans may not be enough to offset those that are entering these plans. Source
SoFi’s lending goal in 2017 was to lend more than they had in the previous 5 years combined; the online lender fell 26 percent short of the goal and instead lent out $12.9bn in 2017; the company had seen their share of issues in the last year with sexual misconduct claims and their CEO being forced out; SoFi spokesman Jim Prosser said the true goal for 2017 was closer to $13bn and the higher amount was a stretch goal. Source.
The only online lender focused on veteran-owned businesses has found a recipe for success. Source
When Digital launched in 2015 the company used chatbots to help users save money; Ethan Bloch, founder and CEO of Digit tells American Banker “We think chatbots haven’t lived up to their promise,” he said. “So we are done believing they will.”; the company has started using graphical interfaces that users tap for information instead of having them type in queries; this is the second change to the app recently, following the recent decision to charge users. Source.
According to new data bank branches in the US decreased by 1,700 over the last 12 months; this is the biggest decline on record; closings are concentrated in big cities and surrounding suburbs and is attributed to less foot traffic; other closures occurring in rural areas are due to some regional lenders leaving the area; the decrease in regional bank branches is something that has accelerated more recently compared to big banks beginning to close branches years ago; Capital One, SunTrust and Regions have closed 32%, 22% and 12% of their branches respectively from mid-2012 to mid-2017. Source
Citizens Bank of Edmond Oklahoma is a one branch bank who has begun turning their extra space into a co working space for business clients; the space is now called Vault 405 and includes wireless charging stations, conference rooms and a podcast studio; CEO Jill Castilla tells Tearsheet, “The office space will be just as beneficial to the bank beyond loans and deposits, it’ll make us a better small business.”; this isn’t the banks first foray into innovation as they were ahead of their time on social media, video teller machines and mobile payments. Source.
Aspiration has taken their marketing aim directly at some of the biggest banks by offering what they see is a better product and experience; “We’re not going after these banks for the sake of it, we’re talking about their actions and their approaches versus ours,” said CEO Andrei Cherny to TearSheet; the company does not charge ATM fees or monthly service fees and investments are done on pay what is fair basis; Aspiration is going beyond just the user experience by donating 10 percent of revenue to charity and focuses on whether customers spend at companies that are ethical and sustainable. Source.