Here are what I consider to be the top 10 most important fintech news stories of the past week (in no particular order).

Wirecard: the timeline from the Financial Times (free to all) – Detailed timeline of the history of Wirecard and the spectacular fall of one of Europe’s (formerly) most valuable fintech companies.

Zopa primes credit card as long-awaited full banking licence granted from AltFi – It has been a long, hard road that started in 2016 but Zopa finally has a full UK banking license.

OnDeck Capital in high-stakes talks with creditors from American Banker – These are challenging times for small business lender OnDeck as the company tried to stay afloat.

With the PPP Fintech Comes of Age from Lend Academy – Fintech lenders reacted quickly to the PPP and have helped save millions of small business job.

Digital investing platform for women, Ellevest, expands into banking from TechCrunch – Ellevest becomes the latest fintech company to launch a bank account with a no-fee debit card and FDIC-insured savings account.

The Tiny Bank That Got Pandemic Aid to 100,000 Small Businesses from The New York Times – Great profile of Cross River Bank and how they became the fourth largest bank lender in the country for PPP loans.

Mastercard To Buy Financial Data Provider Finicity For $825M from PYMNTS – The M&A door remains open with Mastercard acquiring real time data provider Finicity for $825 million.

Checkout.com, the UK payments startup, raises another $150M, now valued at $5.5B from TechCrunch – London-based checkout.com, an API-based payments platform, became one of the most valuable fintech companies in Europe with this latest round.

Dear Monzo, Starling and co; We’re still a long way off the perfect neobank from Sifted – We are still a long way from seeing a perfect digital bank. It should have unified payments, simple access to credit and a robust savings and investment tool.

Regulators update Volcker, swaps and rate-cap rules from American Banker – While there are three updates in this article the one that is of most interest to fintech is about the Madden Fix. The FDIC issued a final rule, which applies to state nonmember banks, that reaffirmed the doctrine of “valid when made.”

We are making a change this week in how the weekly news roundup is presented. What we will be doing from now on is sharing what I consider to be the top 10 most important news stories of the past week (in no particular order).

Upgrade raises $40 million at a $1 billion valuation from Techcrunch – You have to hand it to Renaud Laplanche and his Upgrade team. Raising money at twice the valuation of the previous round, during an economic calamity, is very impressive.

Credit Sesame acquires Canadian digital bank Stack from PYMNTS – The fintech M&A deals continue with Credit Sesame
acquiring their Canadian bank partner Stack as they look to roll out more banking products and grow internationally.

These are the 2020 CNBC Disruptor 50 companies from CNBC – the annual CNBC Disruptor list has, as usual, many leading fintech players including Stripe, Klarna, SoFi, Better, Lemonade, Affirm, Kabbage, Tala, Marqeta and Robinhood.

‘Banking While Black’: How Cashing a Check Can Be a Minefield from The New York Times – While banks require employees to complete annual diversity programs there are many examples of negative experiences at banks for black customers.

Wirecard CEO Resigns After Banks Say Missing $2 Billion Doesn’t Exist from The Wall Street Journal – The story of the missing $2 billion at Wirecard feels like a Hollywood movie and the mystery keeps deepening.

Small Businesses Get Easier Path to Relief-Loan Forgiveness from The New York Times – With less than two weeks remaining until the PPP expires the forgiveness rules have changed again, making it an even better deal for most small businesses.

Metro Bank in Talks to Buy RateSetter from AltFi – UK peer to peer lending pioneer RateSetter is in exclusive talks to be acquired by Metro Bank in what would be the first acquisition of a major platform by a bank.

Americans Skip Millions of Loan Payments as Coronavirus Takes Economic Toll from The Wall Street Journal – More than 106 million loans have been enrolled in some kind of forbearance program, with the vast majority being for student loans.

Kabbage lets Uber drivers apply for PPP loans from their phones from American Banker – Kabbage continues to innovate around the PPP, this time with a special app for Uber drivers.

LendIt Fintech Launches New Fintech Job Board from Lend Academy – We launched our fintech job board this week to help the industry recover from the crisis.

During the week I share the latest marketplace lending and fintech news on Twitter as it happens. Then every Saturday I take the most interesting news items and blog posts from the past week and share them here.

Square: Why Its Stock Is Soaring And How It’s Threatening Banks by Forbes – Another fascinating piece from Ron Shevlin on Square and why it continues to do so well. He argues that Square is a bigger threat to banks than Amazon or Google.

Early wage access providers see usage spike during pandemic by TearSheet – While people still need to do better financial planning there is just no compelling reason why they should wait two weeks (or longer) to receive their earned wages. This is even more important in a crisis.

What Are Fintechs and How Can They Help Small Business? by The New York Times – Excellent piece in the New York Times confirming what we have been saying all along: “…these fintechs held their own or bested more established financial service firms that struggled to roll out promised programs.”

Amazon unveils small business credit line with Goldman in latest tie-up between tech and Wall Street by CNBC – It is now official. After being rumored earlier in the year CNBC is reporting that Goldman Sachs is partnering with Amazon to provide small business credit lines.

My next act. Closing the curtain on P2Bi. by LinkedIn – If you have been wondering what happened to Krista Morgan, the former CEO of P2Binvestor, she has finally penned a LinkedIn piece on her experience and what is next.

Goldman Sachs closes Marcus account to new UK savers by The Guardian – Marcus has done such a great job in the UK of attracting deposits that they are coming close to a £25 billion regulatory limit, so they have closed down to new customers.

SoftBank-backed Lemonade files to go public by Techcrunch – Leading insurtech player Lemonade has filed to go public so we all get to see their financials now and as Techcrunch points out they are not pretty.

The World’s Best Banks 2020 by Forbes – Statista surveyed more than 40,000 customers from 23 countries for their opinions on their current and former banking relationships to create the list of world’s best banks.

During the week I share the latest marketplace lending and fintech news on Twitter as it happens. Then every Saturday I take the most interesting news items and blog posts from the past week and share them here.

Buy now, pay later startup Affirm just launched a high-yield account with an eye-popping rate. by Business Insider – The buy now pay later space is doing well in the pandemic and market leader Affirm keeps moving forward. Now, they are launching a high yield savings account.

‘Banks Let The Past Hold Back Their Future’: Mark Cuban On The Launch Of PPP.Bank by Forbes – Great piece by Ron Shevlin on the new PPP.bank initiative from Mark Cuban and Jill Castilla with some interesting comments from Cuban on community banks and the PPP.

Varo Money Raises $241 Million As It Moves Closer To Becoming A National Digital Bank by Forbes – I continue to be impressed with Varo Money and with this new funding round they are on the cusp of becoming a fully regulated digital bank. They will be a force to be reckoned with in digital banking.

PNC starts using OakNorth Covid-19 credit framework by Finextra – In this country Oak North is making inroads in middle market business lending. They announced today they have added PNC Bank as a partner here with their new Covid-19 credit framework.

Alibaba launches interest-free financing for U.S. small businesses by American Banker – This is an interesting new offering from Alibaba B2B. They are offering 60 days of interest free financing to small businesses on their platform that “meet Alibaba’s qualification standards”.

In First Move as Acting Comptroller, Brian Brooks Clarifies the Madden Rule that Impacts Online Lenders by Crowdfund Insider – The new Acting head of the OCC is the first comptroller with significant fintech experience. He has already made his presence felt by clarifying the Madden rule on his first day.

During the week I share the latest marketplace lending and fintech news on Twitter as it happens. Then every Saturday I take the most interesting news items and blog posts from the past week and share them here.

The Future Of Fintech: The New Normal After The Covid-19 Crisis by Forbes – In his regular Fintech Snark Tank column Ron Shevlin gives his perspective on what the new normal might look like for fintech companies and banks. He is quite optimistic (surprisingly) about the future of fintech.

Borrower, Beware: Credit-Card Fraud Attempts Rise During the Coronavirus Crisis by The Wall Street Journal – In April there was a 35% increase (year over year) in credit and debit card fraud as the fraudsters up their game during the crisis.

Payments Startup Marqeta More Than Doubles Valuation To $4.3 Billion by Forbes – I think Marqeta has become one of the biggest success stories in all of fintech. They just closed another big round ($150m) at more than double their valuation from 15 months ago. That would be impressive in normal times.

LendingClub Launches COVID-19 Focused Member Center to Help Members Regain Control of their Finances (press release) – This week LendingClub launched a new Member Center to provide “one centralized location where personal loan members can find assistance and support while managing their financial lives through the novel coronavirus”.

SoFi CEO says investor accounts have doubled in 2020, with 40% of stock trading in fractional shares by CNBC – In an interview on CNBC this week SoFi CEO Anthony Noto said that the number of SoFi Invest accounts have doubled since the start of the year and 40% of the trades are for fractional shares.

Mark Cuban and a bank CEO who first connected over Twitter built a free site to make it easier to apply for PPP loan forgiveness by Business Insider – It is impressive that Mark Cuban keeps pushing us all forward. Here is another partnership with Jill Castilla of Citizens Bank of Edmond that will help small business owners figure out the forgiveness part of the PPP.

Existing backers put another £40M into UK challenger bank Starling by Techcrunch – It was a good week for fintech fundraising with UK digital bank Starling Bank joining the fray with another sizable round.

Washington Warned: Launch Digital Fiat or Say Goodbye to USD Dominance by cryptonews – I have been following the Digital Dollar Project with great interest and they are now out with their first white paper with Accenture, it is a compelling read.

During the week I share the latest marketplace lending and fintech news on Twitter as it happens. Then every Saturday I take the most interesting news items and blog posts from the past week and share them here.

Lendit Fintech Digital – First Impressions by CrowdFund Insider – We launched LendIt Fintech Digital last week and Timothy Li provides his first impressions of our new initiative.

U.S. Expected to Revise Small-Business Aid Program by The Wall Street Journal – The drama of the PPP Loan program continues. According to the WSJ it now appears likely that the government will change the rules around forgiveness which is good news for the millions of businesses who have taken out loans.

Kabbage Is Revived By Processing PPP Loans by PYMNTS.com – Even though Kabbage did not really get their PPP Loan program going until Round 2, they have already helped 110,000 small businesses with a median loan size of just $14,000. Great going Rob Frohwein, Kathryn Petralia and team.

Plaid Launches API Exchange To Accelerate Open Banking And Digital Transformation by Forbes – Today Plaid has launched Plaid Exchange, a new platform that provides banks with “API connectivity in a box”. Ron Shevlin has the lowdown on the new platform and what it means for banking and fintech.

SoFi just cut 7% of staff based on performance reviews, and is eliminating a team by automating it away. The moves come a month after the fintech announced a $1.2 billion acquisition. by Business Insider – It looks like SoFi is the latest fintech company to cut their workforce. They are laying off 7% of their workforce or just over 100 people.

Shopify Launches Debit, POS Credit Tools For Merchants by PYMNTS.com – At their virtual Reunite conference today Shopify announced the launch of a new business bank account and a buy now pay later product. It is becoming more of a fintech company every day.

Monzo co-founder Tom Blomfield moves from UK CEO role to president by TechCrunch – More big news out of Monzo. Founder Tom Blomfield is stepping down as CEO and will take on the President role while the US CEO will become the new leader of the UK digital bank.

Aspiration, the LA-based fintech focused on conscious consumerism, raises $135 million by Techcrunch – Aspiration is a  socially conscious digital bank with 1.5 million customers and now a big cash war chest after this $135 million raise.

Brian Brooks will become acting comptroller of the currency by American Banker – On May 29 Joseph Otting is stepping down as head of the OCC, to be replace by Brian Brooks, who came from Coinbase and was also an advisor to Avant and Spring Labs. So he knows fintech.

During the week I share the latest marketplace lending and fintech news on Twitter as it happens. Then every Saturday I take the most interesting news items and blog posts from the past week and share them here.

Fintechs For Sale: Post-Covid, It’s Partner Or Perish For Many Startups. Here’s A Buy List. by Forbes – This is a sobering article for fintech enthusiasts. There will likely be more losers than winners as many of the former leading companies in the space will be forced to sell.

$1.9 billion fintech Marqeta is on a hiring spree and eyeing M&A as its partners like Square, DoorDash, and Instacart rely on virtual card issuing by Business Insider – Then there are companies like Marqeta for whom this crisis has been a net positive. They are seeing record payment volume, continue to hire and are looking for acquisition targets.

BankThink The Fed should tailor its business loan programs for consumers by American Banker – An important op-ed from Nat Hoopes, head of the Marketplace Lending Association, on the need for the Fed to include personal loans in an expansion of the TALF program. This will allow more credit to flow to consumers.

Starling and Funding Circle to provide £300m in small business loans by CityA.M. – Great to see two leading UK fintech companies partnering to help small business. Starling Bank is teaming up with Funding Circle UK to provide £300m in loans under the CBILS program.

Insights: COVID-19 Performance Report, Volume 4 by dv01 – The latest COVID-19 Performance Report from dv01 Inc is out. It explores the latest origination volumes, the credit characteristics of loans issued since the outbreak, and credit box changes.

Affirm CEO Max Levchin on lending to consumers during pandemic by CNBC – It is always interesting to hear insights from Max Levchin. Here he is on CNBC yesterday talking about the impact of the pandemic on Affirm ‘s consumer lending business.

Monzo faces near 40% valuation drop in latest fundraising by the Financial Times – Leading UK fintech bank Monzo is close to agreeing to a funding deal that will value the company at £1.25b compared to more than £2b in its previous round last June.

Battered by coronavirus crisis, online lenders face reckoning by American Banker – All of the leading online lenders are struggling as the economic crisis continues to get worse, many have cut originations dramatically and laid off workers and their survival is certainly not guaranteeed.

The Reality of the Struggle: What is Really Happening? by LendIt Fintech Digital – I am excited to join the godfather of fintech himself, Ron Suber, on Monday for a virtual roundtable as part of LendIt Fintech Digital. We will be having an honest discussion as to what is really happening in the market today. Please join us.

During the week I share the latest marketplace lending and fintech news on Twitter as it happens. Then every Saturday I take the most interesting news items and blog posts from the past week and share them here.

The Looming Paycheck Protection Program Forgiveness Nightmare by Forbes – For the last month most of us have been (quite rightly) focused on how to get badly needed PPP Loans to small businesses. Ron Shevlin takes a look at the other part of this process, loan forgiveness, and finds confusing rules and a lack of clarity.

Peter Thiel-backed digital bank N26 raises another $100 million, bracing for coronavirus uncertainty by CNBC – Leading digital bank N26 raised another $100m in their never ending Series D round (they raised $300m in Jan ’19, added $170m to it in July). Given the uncertain times it is understandable why they would want to bulk up their balance sheet.

Revolut on the hunt for acquisitions by Financial Times – Meanwhile Revolut App has already closed their latest mega-round ($500m) and is on the hunt for distressed companies to acquire.

Bank robots have been fighting a secret war with outdated government tech to decide who gets $670 billion in small business bailouts. Here’s the inside story. by Business Insider – Excellent in-depth piece in Business Insider analyzing the travails of the SBA E-Tran system and the PPP Loans program. “Looking at the SBA’s financial portal today is like peering into a fintech time capsule.”

Revolut is the most hyped fintech in Europe. Can it grow up? by Financial Times – The Financial Times has published the most in depth report on Revolut App I have ever read. Fascinating to get an inside look at this digital banking leader.

Real Estate: After Pausing on Loan Funding, PeerStreet Now Resumes with New “Credit Box” Product by CrowdFund Insider – Real estate platform PeerStreet is back lending again after hitting pause a few weeks back. They have a new credit box with tighter underwriting criteria than before.

Samsung to launch a Samsung Pay debit card this summer by The Verge – This is a big deal for SoFi. Samsung Pay will be coming out with a debit card and mobile money management tool in the summer and they have chosen SoFi as their partner.

Demand for Small-Business Loans Cools by The Wall Street Journal – I will admit I was wrong here. I thought the second round of the PPP would be done in a day or two. And here we are almost two weeks later and there is still plenty of money left. The WSJ explains why.

During the week I share the latest marketplace lending and fintech news on Twitter as it happens. Then every Saturday I take the most interesting news items and blog posts from the past week and share them here.

The Small Business Relief Program Is Still Broken by Politico – I have seen many ideas on how the PPP loan program should be improved. But this piece by Aaron Klein in Politico is one of the best. I would just add allowing fintech lenders access to Fed capital directly.

How big banks decided the futures of America’s small businesses: The inside story of how $349 billion in government cash was doled out in just 12 days, leaving thousands of entrepreneurs without relief by Business Insider – Good in-depth analysis of what actually went on in round one of the PPP.

Mark Cuban’s alternative to PPP: Fed-backed overdraft protection by American Banker – So Mark Cuban continues to come up with creative ideas. Here he is promoting a Fed-backed overdraft protection scheme as an alternative to the PPP.

SoFi Facilitates PPP Support To Members During COVID-19 by PR Newswire – Even SoFi is getting into PPP assistance. Their Lantern product will help small business owners apply for loans.

Buy now, paying later startups are surging. But Affirm CEO Max Levin says the industry will see a shakeout as the pandemic hits borrowers. by Business Insider – Not every lender is struggling today. While many consumer lenders are hunkering down with a significantly tighter credit box Affirm is looking at expansion opportunities.

Christian Faes Founder and Chairman of LendInvest Comments on UK Government Support of SMEs During COVID-19 Crisis by CrowdFund Insider – Interesting commentary by Christian Faes on the UK government COVID-19 response and how the non-bank lending sector could and should be playing a bigger role.

Federal Reserve expands access to its Paycheck Protection Program Liquidity Facility (PPPLF) to additional lenders, and expands the collateral that can be pledged by The Federal Reserve – This week The Fed announced an expansion of the PPP Liquidity Facility. It will now be available to additional lenders as in “all PPP lenders approved by the SBA”. About time.

RBS abandons Monzo-challenger Bó by Yahoo News – Not exactly a surprise but Bó, the UK digital consumer bank of RBS launched less than six months ago, is shutting down after failing to get much traction.

OnDeck sharply curtails lending as delinquencies mount by American Banker – While these are ugly times for small businesses, it is brutal for the small business lenders. OnDeck reported earnings this week with DQs rising to 27% in March and 45% in April.

COVID-19 Drives Digital Adoption, But Still Leaves Millions Behind by Forbes – While digital banking is in vogue today like never before Jennifer Tescher reminds us many are still being left behind. And this crisis is only widening the digital divide. The fintech industry needs to take note.

During the week I share the latest marketplace lending and fintech news on Twitter as it happens. Then every Saturday I take the most interesting news items and blog posts from the past week and share them here.

Paycheck Protection Program Loans—The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly by Forbes – Hats off to Brock Blake and the Lendio team. To process 70,000+ PPP Loans worth $5.8b in two weeks is staggering. Here he is in Forbes sharing the good, the bad and the ugly of the PPP program.

Bankshot Relief efforts favor households, businesses with deep ties to banks by American Banker – This has been one of the biggest criticisms of the PPP Loan program. Those small businesses who were not lucky enough to have a good banking relationship (with an SBA-approved bank) were left scrambling.

Consumer Lenders Enter Fog of Uncertainty by The Wall Street Journal – Some of the major banks don’t think this crisis will be as bad for consumers as 2008-09.

An Oklahoma bank CEO who responded to a tweet from Mark Cuban used his advice to get cash into customers’ hands in less than a week by Business Insider – Some positive innovations are coming out of this crisis. Look at what Jill Castilla of Citizens Edmond cooked up with an assist from Mark Cuban. From idea to implementation in 24 hours.

Monzo has filed an application for a US banking license by Business Insider – The latest company to seek a banking license with the OCC is actually the leading UK digital bank Monzo. They launched here less than a year ago.

How a family-owned Nebraska bank became a leader on coronavirus loans by The Washington Post – Smaller banks have really taken the lead on helping small businesses actually get PPP Loans. The 202nd largest bank in the country certainly punched above their weight.

What to expect as the PPP loan window re-opens by San Francisco Business Times – Round 2 of the PPP is going to go awfully fast. Wells Fargo has $50b in loans ready to go from 450,000 clients, BofA has a similar number and Chase has tens of thousands of loan applications ready to go.

Customer Group Presses Fintech Firm Yieldstreet for Missing Investor Payments by The Wall Street Journal – I have been an investor in Yieldstreet for several years now and have been quite happy with the experience. But lately they have had some challenges. I am invested in two of the offerings that are mentioned in this WSJ article.