After a successful pilot last summer Venmo has started to roll out instant bank transfers; the service will require a Visa or Mastercard debit card and allow for transfers to be done within 30 minutes for $0.25 fee; the free version of bank transfers will remain; PayPal, who owns Venmo, hopes the instant transfers will help with revenues. Source.
Citi’s mobile app users grew by 21 percent the past year to reach 9 million users; this adoption is a lot slower than peers at Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo who see mobile app users over 20 million; Citi’s growth for the past year is higher and their adoption is beginning to increase; Citi was slower to the game of adopting the new digital features but has since started to catch up by launching Citi FinTech; the new unit has helped the company to launch over 800 digital increases in the past year, a 300 percent increase; the company is planning to keep investing heavily in fintech and is optimistic about their future adoption trends. Source.
Citing low usage numbers by customers and retailers the payments company says they will end all bitcoin related payments by April 23rd; "Empirically, there are fewer and fewer use cases for which accepting or paying with Bitcoin makes sense," Stripe product manager Tom Karlo wrote in the announcement reported by Business Insider; the volatility of price and mining fees also played into the decision by Stripe and has been cited by others as an issue that needs be be addressed. Source.
According to the Financial Times 2018 Global Alumni Survey graduates explained they thought finance was taught the best but fintech was near the bottom of the 18 subjects; one of the main reasons for the bad scoring is that fintech is not offered at many schools; Schools are trying to grapple with how to cover the term fintech as it could mean many different things; Schools that do teach courses on fintech see that students want to learn about it and hopeful to see it offered more. Source.
The non-bank lender launched two new initiatives to expand their mello brand; the home improvement venture will launch later this year and will provide loans up to $75,000 at the point of sale.
SoFi is partnering with WSFS financial to roll out free checking account and debit cards this spring; it is calling the new initiative “SoFi Money”; the product will include peer to peer transfers, mobile check deposits and high yield interest rates on deposits; SoFi members will be the first to have access to SoFi Money before a broader rollout. Source
Anthony Noto will become SoFi's CEO effective March 1; American Banker outlines the five challenges that Noto will face as he enters his new role; list includes reforming SoFi’s culture, determining when to go public, deciding how to grow, whether to go forward with a bank charter and proving that he has the right background. Source
Today StreetShares announced a $23 million Series B round; it was led by a $20 million investment from Rotunda Capital Partners, LLC; $3 million came from existing investors; StreetShares offers small business loans and primarily focuses on veteran-owned businesses. Source
A new survey by Bank of America found that 63 percent of millennials are saving money, that is on par with generation X and baby boomers; the survey shows that millennials are a lot more in tune with their financial lives then they are given credit for; the survey also found that millennials are more apt to ask for a raise and they also play into stereotypes by saying they spend too much and don’t save enough when asked by researchers. Source.
Anthony Noto will serve as CEO and Director effective March 1; Interim CEO Hutton stated, “We are simply thrilled to have found someone of Anthony’s expertise and knowledge to lead SoFi. The SoFi board unanimously agrees that Anthony’s deep understanding of technology, consumer, and financial businesses make him the perfect fit to be SoFi’s CEO. We could not be more excited to have someone of his caliber on board.”; Noto has previous experience as COO of Twitter and also worked for Goldman Sachs. Source