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 Europe: London is Open for Business from Crowdfund Insider – Highlights from last month’s LendIt Fintech Europe event from JD Alois of Crowdfund Insider.
Experts Predict the Five Big Fintech Trends of 2019 from Bloomberg – Interesting to see what some of the biggest names in fintech venture capital are predicting for 2019.
Peer-to-peer lender Zopa to seek more funding in 2019 as it opens its own bank from CNBC – Despite closing a £60m funding round last month the CEO of Zopa has said that his company will be raising more money in early 2019 as they build up the balance sheet ahead of their bank launch.
Facing consumers’ fears: How fintechs target money anxiety from American Banker – Managing money is hard and it freaks a lot of people out. It doesn’t have to be that way. There are fintech companies dedicating themselves to making this easier in a practical way.
PeerIQ’s Consumer Credit Digest! FDIC Embraces FinTech from PeerIQ – This week’s PeerIQ newsletter digs into the the head of the FDIC, Jelena McWilliams, recent op-ed in American Banker on her moves to encourage new banks and fintech innovation.
Digital banking platform Good Money gets $30M in funds from L.A. Biz – They call themselves “a digital banking platform with a conscience” and they have just raised a $30m Series A. Good Money is creating a new kind of bank.
Fintech startup Plaid raises $250M at a $2.65B valuation from TechCrunch – News this morning out on the latest fintech unicorn. Plaid has raised a whopping $250m in a Series C at a valuation of $2.65b.
Students pay price in banks’ marketing pacts with colleges: CFPB from American Banker – This is why consumers need fintech platforms. Banks have signed marketing agreements with colleges that allows them to charge higher fees to students.
When a credit union group buys a fintech that works with banks from American Banker – Update on the recent CUNA Mutual Group purchase of Mirador and how the newly acquired fintech platform will operate going forward.
Mulvaney’s last move at CFPB aims to help fintechs from American Banker – Interesting moves at the CFPB this week that go beyond the No Action Letter policy. They are proposing a “product sandbox” where fintech companies can test new products.
Revolut gets European banking license in Lithuania from Techcrunch – UK-based fintech startup Revolut is now officially a bank. They received their banking license in Lithuania and will leverage passporting rules to operate in other European countries.
Robinhood’s checking account poses legal issues: SIPC chief from American Banker – On Thursday Robinhood announced they would offer a checking/savings account paying 3% interest in early 2019. I joined the waiting list yesterday (at #554,872) but it looks like they did not clear all this with the SIPC.
The growing trend of purchase financing from Tearsheet – Purchase financing, aka point of sale financing, is taking off as many fintech companies offer quick and simple ways to finance a purchase not using a credit card.
Robinhood Backtracks on Checking & Savings Account Offerings Following Statement by SIPC from Crowdfund Insider – It looks like Robinhood has realized they are not on the same page with the SIPC and have updated their offering accordingly.
From the Lend Academy Forum
The Lend Academy forum is where investors go to discuss p2p lending. Below are some topics that were being discussed this week.
Cash Parking – Forum members share their thoughts on Robinhood’s checking and savings accounts which will pay 3% interest.
Opinion on Wunder Solar Funds – A forum member shares a recent podcast that Wunder was featured on.
Worst Month Yet – LendingClub investors discuss recoveries on loans.
Peter Renton is the chairman and co-founder of LendIt Fintech, the world’s first and largest digital media and events company focused on fintech. Peter has been writing about fintech since 2010 and he is the author and creator of the Fintech One-on-One Podcast, the first and longest-running fintech interview series. Peter has been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The New York Times, CNBC, CNN, Fortune, NPR, Fox Business News, the Financial Times, and dozens of other publications.