Nav Athwal was a founder and CEO of RealtyShares; the company has raised over $500 million for real estate deals and is one of the leaders in the real estate crowdfunding space; Crowdfund Insider spoke to Athwal who stated, “RealtyShares is in the strongest position it’s ever been in. The company is moving from the build phase to the scale phase of its lifecycle. To best position RealtyShares for the future, I made the decision to transition out of my role as CEO to a new role on the Board of Directors. I asked Ed Forst to take on the role of interim CEO, while we look for a permanent CEO who will fit the culture and profile we’re seeking. I am still very much a part of RealtyShares and will be actively involved in strategic decision-making. I am looking forward to supporting the company in this new capacity and getting back into principal real estate investing and agribusiness. As I begin to work on additional projects, I will be sure to let you know.” Source
The CFPB has laid out principles around the sharing of data between banks and fintechs; while the principles are non binding they are meant to provide guidance on the level of information sharing when a customer grants access to their banking details to a third party; there are still a few points of contention around screen scraping, informed consent and accountability when issues arise. Source.
The student focused digital bank, BankMobile, has created an online magazine entitled Paradigm Money; the effort is an attempt by the bank to build brand awareness and help current customers manage their money; the site has news, opinion, interviews and advice for customers; Ash Exantus, BankMobile’s director of financial education, tells TearSheet “We wanted to create a site that was independent from the bank that’s not promoting our products or services, but as a place other people can go for financial news and financial literacy.” Source.
Low wage workers have always had a difficult set of expensive options when they try to cash their paychecks; bank accounts are costly because they cannot maintain certain balances and check cashing shops are not exactly cheap; WiseWage, a North Carolina based non profit is looking to offer another option; the company has struck partnerships with Regions Bank and Varo Money, among others, to offer a lower cost direct deposit; the prepaid cards have set fees which can be waived if enough is loaded each month; the program is meant as a test to see if they can enlist those who have dropped out of the financial system because of a lack of options. 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
Upstart Co-Founder Dave Girouard talks with Forbes about alternative credit data modeling and his firm Upstart; Girouard's inspiration for Upstart came from his experience at Google where he was involved in developing algorithmic models for evaluating candidates and their potential success as Google employees; a third of Upstart's management team comes from Google and the firm is now building advanced credit models that utilize machine learning and modern technology to make credit more accessible for borrowers; the firm is targeting loan originations of $1 billion in 2017; Upstart will be at LendIt USA 2017 and is announcing a new white label software as a service product called Powered by Upstart. Source