PayPal has launched a new service, Money Pools, to allow users to create fundraising pages where their network can contribute; the pages are similar to other crowdfunding sites but with a greater emphasis on social media; the thought is this can become another revenue generating product for PayPal, though they currently are not charging for the use of Money Pools. Source.
Generally banks have the customers but are working with an old tech infrastructure; conversely, fintechs have the new tech, but lack the customers; Tearsheet shares data on how much it costs for large banks and fintech companies to acquire customers and why partnerships often make sense; one personal finance app and lender that is reporting low cost of customer acquisition is MoneyLion; the cost to acquire a customer for them is $5 or less. Source
TrueAccord provides a data-driven debt collection platform; the company uses machine learning to communicate with consumers using the right channel at the right time; Ohad Samet, Chief Executive Officer stated, “It was the personal experience of dealing with a debt collector that made me realize the traditional collections industry was ripe for disruption with technology innovation and a more human approach. With changing consumer preferences, strong regulatory support for innovation, and clients who understand a customer-focused collection process is good for their business, we're experiencing tremendous demand from the market. We are seizing this opportunity to use machine learning to humanize debt collection for good.”; The round was led by Arbor Ventures Fund. Source
Publicly traded companies will soon face new regulatory requirements when it comes to reporting cybersecurity breached to investors; the SEC did not establish a timeline for when these new regulations will be in place or to what level a breach would need to be for disclosure purposes; this is in response to recent breaches of Equifax and the SEC which were disclosed well after the incident. Source.
The KPMG Pulse of Fintech Q3 report pointed to 274 deals worth over $8bn in investment; the hottest areas of investment include artificial intelligence, insurtech, regtech and blockchain; the three biggest countries come as no surprise with the US, China and the UK dominating their respective regions. Source.
SoFi completed a $727mn issuance, entitled SCLP 2017-6, which makes it the largest consumer ABS deal; this is SoFi’s 11th ABD deal in 2017 worth over $6bn; SoFi said the joint lead managers on SCLP 2017-6 were J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and Mizuho Securities. Source.
In an effort to increase security banks have started to move to the internet domain dot-bank; the switch has not been widely adopted but those who have done it say the investment is worth it; “Anybody can have dot-net or dot-com,” said J. Marty Filogamo, SVP and marketing manager of Farmers & Merchants State Bank. “Not everyone can have dot-bank.”; this is part of a wider trend in banking as more banks look to increase digital products and security. Source.
Miles Reidy is a partner at QED and spearheads the VC firm’s regtech initiatives; Reidy talks about his background, why regtech has its origins in the changes brought on by the financial crisis, the differences that regtech is making in financial services today and more. Source
After a wild night of trading the value of bitcoin cash reach $2,500 and total market cap surpassed Ethereum for second place; bitcoin cash split from bitcoin back in august and up until recently was trading between $300 and $500; bitcoin has been coming back down as of late with news of a new split not happening and the rise of bitcoin cash both eating into bitcoin’s overall value. Source.
The Federal Reserve released a report saying that P2P loans resemble predatory loans; the report cautions on the industry’s rapid origination growth and rising defaults; they also say the industry as a whole has the potential to destabilize consumer balance sheets; the research also shows taking out a P2P loan hurts credit scores and credit card balances increase; the report also points to the benefits of taking out a loan as well. Source.