Citi has reduced their branch network by more than 16 percent in the last two years and has plans to continue this trend; the bank has seen their retail banking revenues grow despite less branches as their digital channels have picked up the slack; digital users grew 13 percent and mobile users grew 21 percent as the company looks to expand their digital footprint; “We’re making investments in digital, and growing our franchise through digital rather than the physical footprint,” said CFO John Gerspach on an earnings call; the company has also looked to retool branches by rolling out digital aspects in the branch using computers and iPads. Source.
Realty Shares Advisors and Amplify Trust ETF both launched blockchain ETFs yesterday; both focus on blockchain based companies and invest in companies with a market cap over $200 million; CoinDesk shares more details about the ETFs. Source
Zelle, the banking p2p payments app, saw an 84 percent jump in year over year growth with Bank of America; the app saw over 68 million transactions in 2017 through their Bank of America partnership; Zelle recently started a marketing campaign to provide more exposure to the brand as many users might not realize they are using Zelle since it is integrated with their banking app. Source.
JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo announced their earnings late last week and digital channels continue to be a growing force at the banks; JPMorgan Chase saw a 13 percent jump in active mobile customers to over 30 million; Wells Fargo’s growth was not as pronounced at 3 percent to over 21 million active mobile customers; this points to a broader industry trend where according to Business Insider’s Mobile Banking Competitive Edge study 83 percent of respondents use mobile banking; some recent trends the study has also seen include more attention to security, mobile transfers and users asking for more advanced features. Source.
While the recent revisions to the tax code were done along party lines, the newly proposed updates to Dodd-Frank have the backing of a bipartisan group of legislators; the bill is looking to target banks in the $50bn to $250bn range who many feel have been disproportionately effected by the 2010 Dodd-Frank law; changing the definition of the banks from systemically important financial institutions or SIFI’s will free up the banks from certain requirements; while their is optimism for a deal that crosses party lines, Congress has a ways to go as they look to get this done later in the month. Source.
While speaking on Business Insider’s podcast “Success! How I Did It” Affirm CEO Max Levchin shared the story about how he started PayPal; Levchin moved out to Silicon Valley after starting a business that didn’t succeed and was sleeping on his friend’s floor; he saw Peter Thiel deliver a lecture and stayed after to chat with the then hedge fund manager; they met the next morning for breakfast and Thiel liked one of his two ideas, he decided to invest and that was the company that became PayPal. Source.
Cumulative issuance for marketplace lending securitization now totals $28.2 billion across 106 deals; Q4 2017 issuance totaled $4.4 billion which was another record quarter; SoFi issued the largest consumer and student lending deals ever; PeerIQ shares other highlights in their quarterly report. Source
In this week’s PeerIQ Industry Update they look at the record levels of consumer debt, some regulatory changes, new securitizations and give an update on recent hirings; consumer credit is now at an all time high surpassing $1tn, though per capita levels remain below peak; the Trump administration is looking to revise the Community Reinvestment Act rules to include small business loans; Marlette’s newest securitization, MFT 2018-1, consists of loans originated by Cross River bank for over $390mn and it has received ratings from Kroll; PeerIQ also announced the hiring of 6 new employees as the company continues to grow. Source.
Wells Fargo has seen customers become more adept at using digital and plans to accelerate their branch closure plans; the company is looking to close more than 800 branches by the end of 2020; “Our vision of satisfying our customers’ financial needs remains unchanged, but how we execute this vision has evolved; this evolution includes developing new ways to more efficiently serve our customers and create a better customer experience,” said CEO Tim Sloan on a conference call as reported by TearSheet; the closures are expected the save the bank about $4bn. Source.
This past weekend p2p payments platform Zelle started a marketing push in 6 major US markets; Early Warning, Zelle’s owner, started the ads during last weekends NFL football games and has plans to further advertise during the Grammy Awards, the NBA All-Star Game and more upcoming events; while Zelle has past Venmo in volume the platform is not nearly as widely known and it isn’t entirely clear how many users they have because it is integrated with your banking app; the company also plans to do a push in print and digital ads over the coming months. Source.