Fidelity Investments said that it will allow its institutional customers to buy and sell Bitcoin “within a few weeks” according...
A new law has passed in New York to provide support for online lending; the law includes direction for the development of an outreach campaign that will educate small businesses about marketplace lending; educational materials will come from the Department of Economic Development and the Department of Financial Services and will include simple language detailing potential costs and risks including the disclosure of percentage rates, fees, charges and early repayment options. Source
The acquisition aims to combine the tools of both companies to make a reportedly unique app for small business owners.
Barron’s reports that online small business lender Kabbage is shopping for buyers and could fetch more than $1bn; the potential...
Speaking to American Banker fintech firms Chime, Moven, Kabbage and more say the move by Amazon is a net positive; most comments showed surprise that it took the retail giant this long to make a move like this; the overall sentiment was positive, pointing out that the entrance of Amazon will increase knowledge of fintech and validating their thoughts on the need for improved consumer experience in banking; the fear that Amazon would just take over is overblown, there is room for the giant retailer and a lot of fintechs who cater to a specific market. Source.
One of Umpqua Bank’s selling points is they are a people first institution but Business Insider found that the mission...
In an interview in American Banker, Meiler discusses Marlette’s culture which aims to keep employees informed of the company’s goals; their strategy includes quarterly all-hands meetings with the company’s 100 employees to share what the goals are for the next 90 days; Meiler also shares how the company shifted its focus to profits given the changing environment and how this resulted in $11 million in GAAP profits last year. Source
Today was supposed to be the day that the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) rolled out at banks and fintech lenders...
Banks of all sizes and core provider FIS have begun testing Amazon’s Alexa service to complete voice commands in banking; instead of customers logging into their banking app they would simply ask Alexa for a balance or to transfer funds; skills, as they are referred to, are constantly being refined as confusion over pronunciation still occur with the technology only being widely used in recent years; it is still early days for this type of technology to be used in a sophisticated way but the industry is showing that they are willing to test innovative ideas. Source.
The deal would add to market competition for retail credit, specifically competing directly with Wal-Mart credit cards; Wal-Mart plans to begin a pilot program with Affirm that would offer installment loan plans in select locations and for a targeted group of online customers; source reports that the installment loans will focus on costlier items of $200 or more; with an Affirm partnership, Wal-Mart could seek to reach an expanded market demographic, specifically customers with limited credit histories; Affirm uses alternative underwriting methods and its loans average approximately $750 with repayment periods of three to 24 months and fixed annual percentage rates ranging from 10% to 30%. Source