Messaging app Symphony will be integrated into OpenFin’s platform in hopes of creating a competitor to Bloomberg; “By enabling Symphony to run on the OpenFin operating system, we are making it easy for our mutual customers to unify the Symphony desktop experience with their other OpenFin-based apps," Mazy Dar, chief executive of OpenFin, said as reported by Business Insider; with the integration they are hoping to create a lower cost product and eat into some of the dominance that Bloomberg has over the market. Source.
P2P Lending Expert reviews The Worthy Bond which is a new investment option created under Reg A+; the investment pays 5% annually and has a $10 minimum investment; Worthy invests in asset-based loans. Source
Goldman Sachs is currently in discussions to buy personal financial management app Clarity Money according to reporting by American Banker; they plan to roll the company in their Marcus brand; this is the latest move by the wall street titan to build out their consumer focus; Clarity Money uses AI to help consumers make better financial decisions by lowering bills, finding better credit cards and creating a savings account. Source.
Radius Bank in Boston has been partnering with fintechs for the last few years in an effort to build relationships for the long term that benefit the bank and fintech company; “We’ve built a culture inside this company that believes in the future of virtual banking, and the demands clients are going to put on us to be an Amazon-like experience for them,” says Radius CEO Mike Butler to American Banker; the bank is looking to use fintech companies to build this experience as they are unable to build all of this in house. Source.
Recent research shows that younger consumers are uncomfortable with carrying credit card balances; consumers are more comfortable with products like personal loans that are more transparent and easier to understand; there has been an increased interest in point of sale financing; one company driving this trend is GreenSky which partners with banks to fund loans; the proportion of consumer loans going to point of sale financing has increased significantly at banks that partner with GreenSky including Regions, Synovus and Fifth Third. Source
Overstock has been building out their FinanceHub for the past few months to include Overstock credit cards and insurance products, loans by LendingTree, Prosper and SoFi, a robo-adviser for automated investing and a discounted trading platform; Raj Karkara, Overstock VP of loyalty and financial services, tells TearSheet, “Consumers don’t want to sit and sign 50 documents, they just want to go online and get through the steps they need to take to move forward.”; the moves made are part of a broader strategy for the retailer to become a full service fintech firm that caters to their clients needs. Source.
There are unique tax implications when it comes to investing in marketplace lending and investors should consider investing through an IRA; LendingClub is currently offering a bonus for IRA investments and is working with a new preferred custodian. Source
Venmo currently accounts for about 39 percent of PayPal’s digital p2p payments business; PayPal and Venmo only charge users a fee when they use their credit cards, though Venmo has started to diversify their offerings to help PayPal’s bottom line; Venmo has expanded Pay with Venmo and started a instant cashout service which both have fees associated with them; they have seen fast adoption with both and the hopes are that a breakthrough year is coming soon. Source.
According to the WSJ, Goldman Sachs is in talks to offer financing on Apple products; this would be alternative to a consumer financing devices on a credit card; both companies didn’t comment on the story, but if a deal came together it could propel Goldman’s Marcus further into consumer finance. Source
Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, the heads of the SEC and CFTC said they are keeping an eye on the market but might need help from Congress; “We should all come together, the federal banking regulators, CFTC, the SEC — there are states involved as well — and have a coordinated plan for dealing with virtual currency trading markets,” SEC Chairman Jay Clayton as reported by American Banker; CFTC Chairman Christopher Giancarlo said the technology behind cryptocurrencies should be considered differently that the currencies themselves; they also noted they are talking with global counterparts to learn their views on the market. Source.