What has been a standard feature at big banks for some time, real time messaging is now being offered by community banks who see the value in reaching customers more efficiently; the digital feature could also help the bank to reach more people who they would normally not have access to; “We can use it as a counseling tool to help strengthen relationships and improve a customer's financial health," said Ron Strand-Sorrell, EVP and COO at Axiom Bank, to American Banker as they recently rolled out the messaging; becoming more digital can also help the banks to better position themselves to attract millennials. Source.
Louis Beryl was co-founder and chief executive of Earnest; he left the company this week; Navient Corp purchased Earnest back in October 2017 for $155 million; Earnest co-founder Ben Hutchinson remains at the company as chief operating officer. Source
Tim Draper spoke at the event Blockchain Connect Conference today; he stated, “In five years, if you go to a Starbucks or McDonald's and try to buy a burger or coffee with fiat currency, the person at the counter is going to laugh at you. There's a real need for a currency that's global.”; Draper was an early backer in companies like Skype and Baidu; his interests have since turned to bitcoin and ICOs. Source
SoFi originated $12.9 billion and sold more than $2 billion in loans in 2017; Ashish Jain, senior vice president of capital markets provides some insight into how hard the team worked to ensure their success in 2017 stating, “We were willing to do calls at any hour, to assure them the quality of product was high, and that there weren't any issues on these loans they were buying. Synovus and Citizens were among the banks that bought SoFi loans last year.”; Jain reports that all of their investors are still buying and they have brought in new investors after Mike Cagney left the company. Source
Includes data from the UK, EU and the US; AltFi projects €2.8 billion to be lent in Europe in 2018 and £7.5 billion in the UK; this would represent a year over year increase of 73% and 43% respectively; overall 2017 was a bounce-back year for the marketplace lending industry across the globe. Source
Mr. Clayton is chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Mr. Giancarlo is chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; in a Wall Street Journal article they share their perspective on regulation as it relates to cryptocurrencies; they discuss trading, listed bitcoin futures products, ICOs and more. Source
Mastercard said all consumers will be able to use biometric identification when they shop and pay by April of next year; banks offering Mastercard branded cards will have to have biometrics alongside the typical PIN and password; the company cited consumers preference for this type of authentication and new regulations like PSD2 in Europe; Mark Barnett, president, Mastercard UK and Ireland, tells Banking Technology: “It will make the purchase much smoother, and instead of having to remember passwords to authenticate, shoppers will have the chance to use a fingerprint or a picture of themselves.” Source.
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
Bank of America’s Cathy Bessant says the bank’s talent is just as important as the technology they implement; the bank plans to spend more than $600mn on cybersecurity alone and says to TearSheet, “Sometime’s theres a misunderstanding that cyber defense is somehow all technology, and it’s not,” she said. “It’s judgment and how to assess a threat and think about mitigation every single day.”; technology is not only making the bank more efficient but it has also forced the bank to retrain employees for new technology skills, making the bank stronger overall; the bank is making a big push into AI and currently has more than 80 patents related to the new technology. Source.
US banks closed more than 2,000 bank branches in 2017, an 18 percent increase form the year earlier; Wells Fargo is one of the leading banks as they closed 194 branches and plan to close more than 800 more by 2020; other banks like Citizens Financial is reducing square footage at branches but not closing as many; Banking Technology lists the top 10 banks by branch closures. Source.