Marcus has originated more than $3bn of loans since inception, recently it has become know that more than 10 percent of the loans were sub prime; they have said this is a natural evolution of the loan business and they are being very selective in approving of applications. Source.
Bank of America’s digital investment product, Merrill Edge, has seen their assets under management grow with the help of branches to serve clients; Merrill Lynch has plans to add 600 new investment centers within Bank of America branches to help with this strategy; the combination of using technology and human advice for high net worth clients is a growing trend among bigger banks as they compete with new robo entrants. Source.
NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has launched a fact finding mission into 13 cryptocurrency exchanges; the information requested focuses on the use of bots, outages, consumer protections, and other issues. Source.
Business Insider recently sat down with with Lori Beer, JPMorgan's chief information officer, about the bank’s strategy for working with companies in the fintech market; they have chose to work with fintech firms of all different sizes through a residence program for younger companies to partnership or acquisitions with maturing companies; the bank sees fintech as a core component of their offering. Source.
Coinbase has acquired Earn, a startup that allows for sending and receiving or digital currency for microtasks; Finovate reports the deal to be worth $100mn and Earn CEO Balaji Srinivasan will now serve as Coinbase’s first CTO. Source.
New Resource Bank has been offering asset based loans through a partnership with P2Bi and the agreement could help to establish a template for smaller banks working with fintechs; the partnership is a win-win for P2Bi with more leads and the bank as they get to more efficiently work through customer relationships that might normally take more time and energy than it would be worth. Source.
With bank earnings season upon us we have seen a continued growth among mobile users at some of the biggest banks; JPMorgan Chase saw active mobile customers jump 13 percent and Wells Fargo saw total active digital users jump 3 percent; mobile banking has become a priority for all banks as the focus has shifted from just offering mobile to increasing engagement on mobile. Source.
Marcus by Goldman Sachs announced it had bought PFM app Clarity Money, their 16th fintech acquisition in the past three years; the company is looking to create a digital storefront for the Marcus brand; Marcus believes the acquisition will help it to give them a competitive advantage and build revenue. Source.