Steve Strongin believes most digital currencies are unlikely to survive in their current form and that investors should be prepared for coins to lose all of their value; Strongin states that they are likely to be replaced by a small set of future competitors; he cites the high correlation of cryptocurrencies, the lack of intrinsic value and speed as reasons for concern; Strongin still is optimistic on blockchain technology. Source
As stock market volatility increased the trading app Robinhood saw deposits jump 20 percent; "We saw a large spike in transaction volume and trading activity on the platform today," a spokesperson told Business Insider. "Retail investors deposited 20% more funds into their Robinhood accounts today than they did on Friday.”; this is a trend the company has seen before, in late 2016 the Dow dropped 8 percent because of issues in Asia and the app saw their biggest net deposits ever. Source.
According to a 2018 identity fraud study, victims increased 8% to 16.7 million US consumers in 2017; this is a record since Javelin Strategy & Research began tracking data in 2003; as chips in cards have become more prevalent, fraud has continued to move online; the research highlighted the increase in intermediary accounts being created by fraudsters which could include PayPal and Amazon accounts; article shares further data on trends in identity fraud. Source
In this guest post Tobias Briegel explores the intersection of blockchain technology and real estate. Source
State regulators are planning to offer a licensing process for money-service businesses which will include fintech firms; this will allow business to operate across multiple states; the initial pilot will be offered in seven states; Charlie Clark, agency deputy director and director of consumer services at the Washington Department of Financial Institutions stated, “This is something that we can do to create licensing efficiencies with these companies, hopefully help get them off the ground and it doesn’t sacrifice consumer protection.” Source
There are differing beliefs on payday loans and how far regulation should go to protect consumers; to better answer the effects of payday lending on consumers many people turn to research; results of a study done in 2014 are now in doubt after a watchdog group found that $30,000 of grant funding came from a payday-industry-backed organization; since these types of studies help shape policy it has brought into question how deep these types of studies should be evaluated. Source
Aspiration has taken their marketing aim directly at some of the biggest banks by offering what they see is a better product and experience; “We’re not going after these banks for the sake of it, we’re talking about their actions and their approaches versus ours,” said CEO Andrei Cherny to TearSheet; the company does not charge ATM fees or monthly service fees and investments are done on pay what is fair basis; Aspiration is going beyond just the user experience by donating 10 percent of revenue to charity and focuses on whether customers spend at companies that are ethical and sustainable. Source.
Citizens Bank of Edmond Oklahoma is a one branch bank who has begun turning their extra space into a co working space for business clients; the space is now called Vault 405 and includes wireless charging stations, conference rooms and a podcast studio; CEO Jill Castilla tells Tearsheet, “The office space will be just as beneficial to the bank beyond loans and deposits, it’ll make us a better small business.”; this isn’t the banks first foray into innovation as they were ahead of their time on social media, video teller machines and mobile payments. Source.
According to new data bank branches in the US decreased by 1,700 over the last 12 months; this is the biggest decline on record; closings are concentrated in big cities and surrounding suburbs and is attributed to less foot traffic; other closures occurring in rural areas are due to some regional lenders leaving the area; the decrease in regional bank branches is something that has accelerated more recently compared to big banks beginning to close branches years ago; Capital One, SunTrust and Regions have closed 32%, 22% and 12% of their branches respectively from mid-2012 to mid-2017. Source
When Digital launched in 2015 the company used chatbots to help users save money; Ethan Bloch, founder and CEO of Digit tells American Banker “We think chatbots haven’t lived up to their promise,” he said. “So we are done believing they will.”; the company has started using graphical interfaces that users tap for information instead of having them type in queries; this is the second change to the app recently, following the recent decision to charge users. Source.