The CEO and Founder of Better Mortgage tells us how his company is revolutionizing the home buying process. Source
Cambridge Bancorp in Massachusetts formed an innovation group in 2016 and is now positioned to compete against bigger banks; head of the innovation Group Scott Chamberlin tells American Banker, “We spent a couple years proving … we could win business externally and, more importantly, internally from a credit standpoint. We’ve proven that out. This is year we start to add scale.”; the bank is looking to be an alternative to the likes of Silicon Valley Bank and Square 1; they see a differentiating characteristic being their local reputation and that they are in it for the long haul. Source.
Codispoti is a JPMorgan executive who helped create the Chase Sapphire Reserve card; in this Business Insider Q&A she talks about her perspective on millennials, a new bank branch Chase is launching and the learnings from her time creating the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Source
Budgeting app Moven is planning to buy a small bank so they can become a more direct competitor in the banking space; the company’s new partner, SBI Holdings, is investing in Moven to create two entities MovenBank and Moven Enterprise; “We’ll do a digital direct challenger bank without having to run branches,” Moven CEO Brett King said to TearSheet. “That was really the thing we were waiting to see if we could solve because we’re just not interested in doing branch banking.”; the company will look continue allowing banks to leverage their technology with Moven Enterprise then use MovenBank to be a true digital bank alternative. Source.
President Trump’s pick to head the FDIC, Jelena McWilliams, has spoken favorably about ILC charters in the past; ILC charters exist in a handful of states, most notably Utah who has seen a spike in inquires about applications; charters can allow fintech companies to bypass state by state licensing; ILC charters are an controversial way for fintech companies to act like banks and with the national charter proposed by the OCC in limbo more companies might look to take this route. Source.
Immigrants face challenges when it comes to accessing credit when they come to the US; while in their home country they may have established a solid credit history, they now have to start from scratch; several fintech companies tackling this problem include Nova Credit, CreditStacks and Petal. Source
Income sharing agreements aren’t new and there were some early fintechs who have attempted this type of model; however there are new companies looking at income sharing agreements to help those with student loans tackle their debt. Source
A record number of Americans experienced identity fraud in 2017, that represents an 8 percent increase from 2016; according to a study by Javelin 16.7 million people were hit by identity fraud; the rate of increase for identity fraud has slowed from 2016 but Americans that were notified about a breach also went up 30 percent; fraud prevention has become one of the main topics in fintech and banking as companies look to leverage new technologies like AI and blockchain for solutions. Source.
Banks like Capital One have been investing in creating a cafe style space where people can come to drink coffee and work while also having interaction with a bank but not in the traditional branch way; the idea is to have the bank maintain a presence, get deposits but not have a full branch; “If you can imagine people popping these things up — the competition for community banks would get overwhelming,” said Robert Mahoney, CEO of the $2.5 billion-asset Belmont Savings Bank in Massachusetts, to American Banker. Source.
Zelle has quickly made a name for themselves in p2p payments, now BNY Mellon is looking to leverage the company for business payments; "There are rapid changes in the payments space," Carl Slabicki, director and product line manager for immediate payments at BNY Mellon, said to American Banker. "If you want to remain relevant and allow your clients access to new payment systems, you need to be quicker to market with a faster payment solution.”; b2b payments have no been easier to automate but BNY is hoping to help move the process in that direction. Source.