Seed offers small businesses of all stripes the ability to open an account in less than 5 minutes on their website or mobile app; they now offer banks software to help them digitize account openings; they are one of a handful of fintech companies offering banks a white label solution to increase small business deposits; Seed comes with KYC procedures but has the ability to adapt to the bank as they know banks need customization. Source.
Content marketing has become a widely used trend among financial firms to build brand awareness about products; what most companies find is cutting through the noise is quite hard as most companies share content that can seem the same from the user perspective; some are trying different techniques like having users write content or testing different visuals; companies need to figure out the types of pieces that work best for their particular segment. Source.
Both Marlette and LendingClub now have their own securitization platforms which has broadened their investor base; Sid Jajodia, chief investment officer at LendingClub spoke at the Structured Finance Industry Group’s conference in Las Vegas this week and discussed the importance of brining LendingClub’s loans in-house; he also spoke about their new whole-loan structured product announced in December as well as changes that might make sense for the company in the future; Karan Mehta, head of capital markets for Marlette discussed changes they are making to their whole-loan program. Source
Jason Gottlieb, a partner at Morrison Cohen, told Crowdfund Insider that, in his opinion, “Despite its firm view that most (and maybe all) ICOs were unregistered securities offerings, the courts have not yet decided whether the “coins” or “utility tokens” are truly securities.”; the reports point to the SEC investigating at least 12 ICOs and their gatekeepers; regulators have been increasing their understanding of the space in the last year as the ICO market has taken off. Source.
The CEO of the U.S. Network of Accion gives us the CDFI perspective on small business lending in underserved communities. Source
In this week’s PeerIQ Industry Update they cover the rising volatility in credit markets and the recent Q4 economic numbers; while at SFIG in Vegas PeerIQ shared comments from investors which show a lot of optimism and demand for MPL; they also talk about their recent product offerings and the continued push by banks to work with fintechs. Source.
American Banker has released their inaugural “Best Fintechs to Work For” list; they highlight some of the unique perks fintech companies are offering their employees; some of the names making the list are Best Egg, PeerStreet, nChino, SmartBiz Loans, Nav, Cross River Bank, Jumio and Oportun. Source
Initially started as a pet project The Girl Banker blog by Natalie Bartholomew of Grand Savings Bank has caught on as an industry sensation; her blog talks about the accomplishments of women in banking; “I realized I had a voice in terms of being a woman in banking or a woman in business,” Bartholomew said to American Banker; she has discussed eventually talking about pressure women feel in the workplace and the choice between family and careers; she is also looking at monetizing her success with speaking engagements, partnerships and sponsorships. Source.
Stash is now letting customers invest in single stocks as it looks to broaden their product offerings; the company allows customers to by portions of shares for a minimum of $5; the new offering allows investors to invest in single companies as opposed to single strategies as they have with themed ETFs; the average investor on Stash is 29 years old and has a household income of $45,000 a year. Source.
Citi thinks startups are missing out on a big opportunity and is inviting startups to disrupt institutional banking; Citi has taken a close look at thousands of fintech startups so far and has taken a position in about 30 so far; “Contrary to the common belief, I think there is more opportunity for collaboration with fintech than disruption,” Naveed Sultan, global head of treasury and trade solutions for Citi said during a fireside chat reported by TechCrunch. “Particularly on the institutional side.” Source.