Starting in February, Robinhood will allow users to buy and sell bitcoin and ethereum without any additional fees; they will compete directly with Coinbase who charge 1.5 - 4% in fees; users will also be able to track prices, news and set alerts on many top cryptocurrencies; the company plans to operate this part of the business on a break-even basis. Source
The Financial Times reviews company and loan performance at various online lenders; shares that Shanda Group bought more shares of LendingClub after forecasts were adjusted last week; LendingClub also recently stopped making F & G grade loans available to investors; broadly, delinquency rates have increased across online lenders; valuations of other companies such as Earnest and Prosper have also been affected. Source
Unison offers funds for a down payment in exchange for a home ownership stake; in the case of one California homebuyer, the company matched their 10% down payment and required no monthly payments; instead the borrower must repay Unison with the sale of their house plus 35% of any real estate gains incurred from the sale; a handful of companies are offering similar real estate products including Point which offers cash-for-equity arrangements for existing homeowners. Source
Venmo is reportedly testing a debit card for teenagers that would connect to their parents account; the new card would...
The focus of the weekly update centered around how the Trump administration will try to ease the regulatory environment for banks and an explanation of the risk retention rule that recently went into effect; banks welcomed the executive orders signed by Trump, the regulatory burden has been high and cost of capital has continued to rise to meet the demands of Dodd-Frank; as of December 24, 2016 all asset types are required to adhere to a 5% risk retention requirement or skin in the game; this is meant to align investor interests with sponsor interests and make the securitization deal safer; PeerIQ goes into a detailed explanation and helps to provide answers to some of the questions surrounding the rule's implementation. Source
Goldman Sachs is looking for inspiration from the big tech companies rather than big banks as it considers where to...
Kabbage's study shows the increased usage of mobile devices for loan applications. Source
A new survey from Deloitte and the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center shows that financial firms spend an...
Fintechs have started to follow the Fed and slash rates on savings accounts by an average of 1 percent; the...
The founders of the venture capital firm behind the likes of fintech firms Dave, Digit, Joust, Point and Scratch, has...