Rob Pfeifer has been appointed to chief risk officer at Affirm; was previously chief financial officer; Pfeifer has been with Affirm since March 2013; prior to Affirm, Pfeifer worked in various financial analysis roles; he has extensive experience in forecasting, reporting and deal transactions.
MoneyLion’s new feature is called Grow Your Stack; will help customers see a visual representation of their account balance as ‘cash’ over the real world; the feature will leverage iOS 11’s ARKit technology; Tim Hong, Chief Marketing Officer at MoneyLion stated, “If I write that you spent $350 on coffee as text, versus if I show you that in terms of a [visual] stack, you may be more likely to change your habits,” he said. “Not everyone learns in the traditional way.” Source
Writing a guest post for FT Alphaville Victor Basta, managing director of boutique investment bank Magister Advisors, says 2018 will be a year of falling valuations. The drop could hurt aspiring companies looking to go public soon, though a correction in valuations could be a long term positive for the market. Source.
In its annual banking report McKinsey & Co. said there is the potential for 40 percent of revenues that could be at risk by 2025 from firms like Amazon entering the space; Asheet Mehta, one of the authors of the McKinsey report, said in an interview reported by American Banker "E-commerce and tech giants are under pressure to keep increasing revenue, and financial services is a large pool they can go after. We're starting to see that." Source.
While banks might have been a bit slow to react to online lenders they are certainly taking notice today and changing how they operate; fintech companies originated about 30 percent of unsecured consumer loans in 2016 according to TransUnion, up from 1 percent in 2010; banks have started to take notice and compete with fintech companies head on and in some cases partner with them as well; banks hold significant advantages over online lenders in cost of capital and customer acquisition costs which could erode that 30 percent market share that fintechs have built. Source.
Dave Girouard is the founder and CEO of Upstart; Girouard spent almost his entire career working for tech firms including Apple and Google and a lot of Upstart's team actually comes from Google; given that they lean heavier towards the 'tech' side of fintech, Girouard has a unique perspective; shares the general trend of software disrupting every business and that every business will become a tech business; discusses the history of marketplace lending, attributes of a marketplace and the evolution of the marketplaces; reports on how artificial intelligence and machine learning can help in a number of ways including creation of real time analysis, development of customized credit scoring, expanded access to credit through broader underwriting variables and faster processing; also discusses some of the challenges that currently keep machine learning solutions from the mainstream including adverse selection, loan stacking, fraud and regulatory concerns; ends with the benefits of alternative machine learning technology including more inclusion, lower rates, lower costs and greater financial support for consumers. Source
The CEO of OppLoans discusses non-prime lending, what is needed for these consumers to have a good experience, the unique...
Ron Shevlin writing in Forbes gives his perspective on Plaid’s launch of Plaid Exchange or PX; According to the press...
Crowdfund Insider compiles a list of responses from fintech firms and how they are handling the current crisis; while fintechs...
U.S. Bank plans to use the upcoming Super Bowl to build brand awareness; being based in Minneapolis, home to this year’s Super Bowl, will allow the company to utilize the game to increase local exposure; the company plans to run local ads during the game along with sponsored videos on social media channels; they also plan to use local Minneapolis space in coffee shops for example to have people interact with technology and compete for prizes; “We want to get people in the space, and help them get exposed to the brand and learn a little bit and get engaged in a fun activity,” said Chris Lee, head of sponsorships for U.S. Bank, to TearSheet. Source.

