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Awards Re-Launch: Nominations for the 4th Annual LendIt Fintech Industry Awards Open Until August 14th

The annual LendIt Fintech Industry Awards recognizes the leaders in fintech and digital banking.

July 30, 2020 By Todd Anderson Leave a Comment

Views: 117

In its fourth year, the LendIt Fintech Industry Awards highlights the great accomplishments of the people and companies that are driving the fintech industry forward. It is a celebration of the industry, for the industry, by the industry. Please note the awards are for activities that cover all of 2019. Obviously, there will no Awards Dinner this year, unfortunately, but we still intend to honor those companies and people who our judges deem worthy of an award.

We are currently accepting award applications on the LendIt website. It is important to note, because we continue to get questions about this, there is no cost to apply and you are supposed to nominate yourself and/or your company. So don’t be shy, let us hear from you. You have until August 14th to get your entries in and the more complete your entry the better your chances are of winning.

The LendIt team will be selecting the finalists for each category and then a team of independent industry experts will select the winners.

Winner will be announced the week before our Virtual USA 2020 conference on September 29 through October 1. We encourage fintech companies from around the world to apply for the categories that are the best fit. You can apply for multiple categories.

To date we have received more than 500 applications, don’t miss out on your chance to apply today.

  • Executive of the Year
  • Fintech Innovator of the Year
  • Fintech Woman of the Year
  • Innovation in Digital Banking
  • Most Promising Partnership
  • Top Technology Service Provider
  • Most Promising Fintech Region
  • Top Service Provider
  • Top Small Business Lending Platform
  • Top Real Estate Lending Platform
  • Top Law Firm
  • Excellence in Financial Inclusion
  • Top Accounting Firm
  • Top Consumer Lending Platform
  • Emerging Lending Platform of the Year

We have already confirmed thought leaders from the industry who will be judging the various awards categories. We look forward to reviewing your applications soon.

Filed Under: Fintech Tagged With: digital banking, financial inclusion, fintech, fintech partnerships, LendIt Fintech Industry Awards, online lending

Views: 117

The Future of Fintech In A Coronavirus World

May 27, 2020 By admin Leave a Comment

Views: 887

[Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Miron Lulic. He is the founder and CEO at SuperMoney, a leading financial services comparison platform. Millions of people trust SuperMoney to shop for financial products and transparently compare their options in real time. Follow Miron Lulic on Twitter.]

There is little doubt rapid innovation is occurring in the financial technology space. While a paradigm shift in financial services was already well underway, the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to exacerbate that shift. In my role as CEO at SuperMoney, I am afforded some insight into how things are evolving in the fintech space. Below are some of my predictions for the future of fintech.

An acceleration of branch closures.

Banks have been pruning branch locations for years. We will see that net loss of branch locations accelerate.

While most bank services are more conveniently accessed from our phones, branches have historically been an important part of bank customer acquisition and retention as many people prefer to open an account and seek financial advice in person.

The COVID-19 pandemic will change consumer behavior and shift account openings online. We will also see the adoption of AI and tele-advisory services replace branch-based advisory services.

A new model for advisory services.

The trend to digital is not limited to banks or other brick and mortar financial institutions. All sorts of financial professionals will see more of their business shift towards a digital remote experience.

Real estate agents, independent financial advisors, financial planners and wealth managers are being forced to take their business digital. These are services where in-person interactions are the standard way to acquire customers and fulfill services.

These professions were already under attack. The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the need to adapt.

Contactless payment adoption.

When you hand over cash or a credit card, you put yourself and the person accepting your payment at risk.

A survey from early March shows that a growing number of people in the U.S. consider contactless payments a basic need after the spread of COVID-19. These tap-and-go payments don’t require any physical contact between your phone or payment card and the sales terminal while being more secure than traditional cards.

Germs aside, it’s pretty wild to me that in American restaurants we still hand our credit cards over to strangers who then walk away out of sight to process our bill.

This is going to change. Various forms of contactless payments will gain traction but ultimately, mobile wallets will broadly replace physical wallets.

Accelerated adoption of artificial intelligence.

A world with fewer in-person financial service interactions means a world with more cybercrime and financial fraud. Fraud prevention is a key area where AI’s ability to recognize patterns is proving valuable and will expand.

Automated customer service interactions via AI chat bots are already being adopted but will expand to include more tailored financial advice. In the future, increasingly personalized AI advisors may be perceived as more trustworthy, objective, and reliable than in-person advisors.

The use of machine learning to improve credit decisioning models isn’t new to the financial service industry. The applications of this technology will expand to new applications, such as monitoring borrower spending behavior post-funding to identify risk patterns for default so a financial institution can proactively take steps to intervene.

Banks and other financial service providers were early to adopt AI broadly. AI allows for faster transactions while giving customers the convenience they demand and significantly reducing operating costs. Adoption of AI will accelerate to broaden existing implementations and expand into new ones.

A return to bundling and financial intermediation.

Over the last decade, financial technology upstarts scrambled to digitize specific product categories that had been traditionally bundled into a diversified set of product offerings by traditional banks. LendingClub for consumer loans, OnDeck for business financing, Chime for deposits, Wealthfront for wealth management, and the list goes on. The underlying idea being that disaggregating the components of traditional banking would result in targeted solutions with better experiences for both retail consumers and businesses.

With billions of venture capital dollars going to startups building an app for every specific financial service, you inevitably end up with a customer base that is overwhelmed. Consumers can’t keep up with 10 different applications to manage their finances.

At least a few firms who touted disintermediation and disaggregation of traditional banks in their early days have shifted their strategies in the last couple years towards aggregating an ever-growing set of product lines, often as intermediaries to banks or other financial partners. It seems in the end that bundling financial services makes a lot of sense for both businesses as well as customers, and we can expect that trend to continue.

The resurgence of banks.

Many fintech companies who positioned themselves as challengers to or disruptors of banks ironically ended up building on top of the business or technology rails of the banks they were supposedly disrupting. Some built front-end skins on top of the technology backbone of existing banks, such as Chime’s relationship with The Bancorp Bank. Others built an entire technology stack of their own but used partner banks to address licensing requirements, such as LendingClub’s partnership with WebBank for loan originations.

We’ve seen a gradual shift towards these companies attempting to become banks themselves. For example, SoFi filed an application to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to charter an industrial loan company unit called SoFi Bank. It later decided to back out of the process in the wake of sexual harassment allegations. LendingClub recently went so far as to acquire Radius Bank.

Behind the scenes, banks have kept busy and are moving forward with new or improved direct to consumer online offerings in lending verticals, deposits, and mortgages. By launching Marcus, Goldman Sachs disproved the idea that banks are too slow moving to compete against Silicon Valley online. Other incumbents like Chase have invested heavily into their digital experiences and typically offer a more unified experience than the competing upstarts.

The economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic has hit many fintechs hard bringing significant liquidity and demand shocks. Pandemic aside, a wave of fintech companies were reaching mid-stage, and are at the point that they must raise a mega venture capital round, become profitable, or sell. All three options have become more challenging due to the pandemic. I expect we are going to see considerable consolidation as banks with ambitions for digital expansion swoop in and buy up these companies to extend their own platforms.

The return of personal finance management apps.

Both banks and fintechs trying to be banks face the same problem – consumers like choice.

Google and Amazon gained monopolistic positions within their respective industries by enabling consumer choice, not by focusing on selling their own products.

Regulatory, technological, and financial market constraints have mostly kept financial products undifferentiated. Some entrants believed customer experience would help them differentiate and win market share. While customer experience is hugely important, financial service providers are primarily differentiated on their rates, fees and other key terms. A lender can build an awe-inspiring digital experience, but at the end of the day if a competitor offers a competing loan at a 5-point APR reduction, that competitor is likely to win the business. So, I can’t see a scenario where any one of these direct financial service providers achieves a monopolistic position in the market.

Personal finance management (PFM) apps are a neutral intermediary that can help consumers bundle a variety of financial service providers into one financial picture. The PFM tool Mint showed promise of becoming a major player. But after getting acquired by competitor Intuit in 2009, Mint has largely withered away ever since.

Credit Karma managed to bring on a sizeable userbase by offering free credit reports, but the core product offering remains surprisingly unchanged (not to mention that you can get a free credit report just about anywhere these days). Credit Karma was moving towards a more unified personal finance experience with the launch of Credit Karma Tax. However, they were treading too close to Intuit’s TurboTax business and Intuit has gone forward with a $7.1B acquisition of Credit Karma. It remains to be seen whether Credit Karma will follow the same fate as Mint.

The opportunity to develop an Amazon-like financial services marketplace intermediary with accompanying personal finance management tools remains wide open. The SuperMoney financial service marketplace aims to capitalize on that opportunity.

Growth in embedded finance.

Acquiring financial service customers is getting more expensive. A challenger bank or a new fintech must build a customer base from scratch in an incredibly competitive market. Rather than slog it out, some of the most exciting fintechs are opting to build platforms that enable embedded finance for brands that already have customer loyalty. Brands with mindshare are leveraging these platforms to integrate financial services and make their product or service easier.

We’re seeing that with Uber Money, which includes a digital wallet and upgraded debit and credit cards. We will likely see that trend continue and expand with big brands that you wouldn’t typically associate with financial services. We will almost certainly see major tech companies like Amazon and Google make a more focused run at your wallet.

Digital layaway will disrupt credit cards.

In the 1930s Great Depression era, retailers nationwide came up with an innovation to make it easier for people to shop. It was called layaway. Customers placed a down payment on the goods they wanted so that the store would hold them for a set amount of time. The customer would then pay off the purchase over the course of a few weeks or months until the full purchase price had been paid.

In the 1980s, credit cards came around and reversed the order of operation – allowing the customer to buy now and pay later.

In the 2020s, an emerging trend in e-commerce is the adoption of a new breed of digital layaway companies like Klarna and Affirm. These firms combine the instant gratification of credit cards while giving the customer a more structured way to pay it all off in a short installment period.

The COVID-19 lock downs undoubtedly broadened the usage of e-commerce into new product and service categories while igniting a recession to rival the Great Depression. The combination of an expanding addressable market with the need to be more financially conscious will likely accelerate the use of digital layaway services and take a significant cut of credit card transactions.

This trend is not limited to e-commerce. Any small business will be able to offer financing without having to pay additional fees or discount rates to do so. Financing will be available for anything that is consumable.

Bitcoin may face a day of reckoning.

At the height of COVID-19 panic, pretty much every asset in the world fell in value, even supposed safe haven assets such as gold and bitcoin. This was bitcoin’s time to shine as the digital currency is supposed to be completely uncorrelated with the rest of the market.

With central banks globally adding many trillions to their balance sheets, significant fiat currency inflation is expected to occur. There is a non-trivial risk of collapse of confidence in the monetary system. In this scenario, the real test for bitcoin will occur.

Bitcoin will either show that it can succeed as a global, apolitical store of value and medium of exchange. Or, given that bitcoin does not have any real industrial or consumer value in the way that precious metals do, bitcoin will go to zero as investors flood to an asset-class with an underlying intrinsic value.

Regardless of the performance of bitcoin as an asset class, blockchain technology adoption will grow as we continue to apply the technology where it is best suited.

America will become a nation of savers.

America is facing the biggest economic recession since the Great Depression and it’s all happening as about 30 percent of Americans have zero emergency savings, and only one-fifth have savings sufficient to last six months. The consumer financial pain that comes out of this will have long lasting behavioral effects.

As Americans emerge from this financial crisis, many people will start saving, not for a rainy day, but for years to come. This change in behavior will be enabled by fintech services that make savings easy and automated. For example, savings apps that round-up the pennies from your purchases and allocate them to an investment account.

Conclusion

These are interesting times for the financial services sector. Fintech startups have revolutionized what we expect from financial institutions. However, this has not been a wipeout for the old guard of financial institutions. On the contrary, some are riding the fintech wave and coming out as market leaders. Often it is a marriage of necessity between startups and major financial institutions in the pursuit of faster, simpler, cheaper, and more transparent financial services. We are on the brink of major technological changes that will change the way we manage money. However, transforming all this potential into reality in these challenging times will require resilience and partnership from all stakeholders.

Filed Under: Fintech Tagged With: coronavirus, COVID-19, fintech

Views: 887

All of the Fintechs Involved in PPP Loans

We share all of the fintech lenders who are currently involved in the Paycheck Protection Program

April 16, 2020 By Ryan Lichtenwald 7 Comments

Views: 12,519

It has been an interesting to say the least as we have watched everything play out with the Paycheck Protection Program loan process. Fintechs were eager to help small businesses with the $349 billion initially allocated to small businesses but initially there wasn’t clarity on when it might be possible. For many who wanted to be among the first to apply, going through a bank was the only option as LendIt Fintech experienced firsthand. As we stand today there are now many fintechs, both lenders and banks involved in the process although the initial $349 billion allocated to the PPP has run out, according to Senator Rubio this morning. It is expected that Congress will appropriate additional funds soon.

Approvals started with small business lenders like Kabbage, made possible through an unnamed bank partner. Then this week we saw lenders get approved on a standalone basis. Other fintechs have taken an entirely different route. StreetShares had originally planned to offer SBA loans but then opted to instead partner with Fiserv. They are providing to them a secure portal for bankers to review and prepare documents while also providing application processing and eligibility checks.

If you’re looking for a full list of PPP lenders, Gusto has created this helpful Google sheet which continues to be updated with the status of each lender.

We will continue to update the list below as more fintechs get approved.

Approved Fintech PPP Lenders

PayPal
Quickbooks
Square
OnDeck
Funding Circle
Kabbage
Bluevine
Credibly
Fundbox

Fintechs Working with Partner Banks for PPP Loans

Fundera
Lendio
Brex
Nav
SmartBiz
Biz2Credit

Fintech banks processing applications

Cross River Bank
Celtic Bank
Radius Bank
Sunrise Banks

It is difficult to overstate the importance of the PPP for the health of American small business. For many, it will have come too late but for millions of small businesses this money will allow them to stay in business and keep paying their employees. Congress needs to set aside its differences and provide more money for this program immediately. There is still a huge number of small businesses that need this money.

Filed Under: Peer to Peer Lending Tagged With: Biz2Credit, BlueVine, Brex, Celtic Bank, Credibly, Cross River Bank, fintech, Fundbox, Fundera, Funding Circle, Kabbage, lender, lending, Lendio, list, loans, Nav, OnDeck, Paycheck Protection Program, PayPal, PPP, Quickbooks, Radius Bank, small business, Square, Sunrise Banks

Views: 12,519

A Challenge to Fintechs to Further Help Save Our Small Businesses

Kevin Shane of Sharestates shares his ideas for what is needed to help support American small businesses right now

April 2, 2020 By admin Leave a Comment

Views: 144

[Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Kevin Shane EVP Capital Markets at Sharestates, a real estate crowdfunding platform for private investors and borrowers seeking access to more capital].

Aside from thinking about all the things I can’t wait to do with my family and friends post-quarantine, I’m also thinking about ways to help right now. I’ve done what many have done and made donations, bought gift cards to favorite restaurants & shops, and ordered tons of takeout from my local food establishments + coffee shops. As much as I know the small business owners and employees are grateful for these gestures, I can’t help but think if it’s enough. I’m only one person, and my voice of suggestion to do similar can only go so far.

THE VALUE

As we know, small businesses are hurting more than most. Our local coffee shops, restaurants, bars and boutiques are the foundation of our communities. They are a key reason why our neighborhoods are so attractive, safe and desirable to live in. They are also a reason why our properties values are as high as they are in many locations around the country. Our local small businesses add an incredible amount of value all-around.

THE PROBLEM

We’re on the verge of losing many of our favorite retailers that provide happiness to our daily lives. Once they’re gone, there’s no guarantee they’ll bounce back, nor is there a guarantee another establishment will fill their spot in the near future. The stimulus may provide security to some of our favorite local spots, but it will not rescue all of them. Not to be pessimistic at all, but we do need to plan for even more challenging times ahead, without giving up hope for the best.

THE SOLUTION

I admire the fact that the government wants the fintech platforms to help distribute the small business loans from the stimulus package, but I believe the same fintech platforms can make much more of an impact beyond providing help with the government stimulus. I would like to see the small business lending fintech platforms partner together to create a national co-organized campaign for a community funded lending program. Let us, the customers of the restaurants, bars and shops, provide the loans to save their favorite local small businesses, at a very, very (I’m talking the 1% range) interest rate. It’s more than a lifebuoy. It would be a way to show that we believe in our favorite small businesses, but also understand the difficulty of their situation.

By having it be a co-organized campaign with multiple online lending platforms, it would allow for a much greater reach. The goal is to provide a solution, not to win the lending game. Similar to the way Governor Andrew Cuomo said we need to set aside politics and work together, we need to do the same with competitive business behavior and work towards the common goal here–to make sure we can bring back a quality of life that many of us have been so accustomed to… a quality of life that provides happiness to so many.

I’ve shared this idea with a few people and they’ve asked, “why 1% interest rates? …why not a GoFundMe campaign?” My answer was that it’s to hold the small businesses accountable, but also to give them the hope and motivation that they can reopen their doors. It allows our local communities to invest in what we know, what we love, what makes us happy and what can truly effect property values of the homes we live in.

I CHALLENGE ALL THE SMALL BUSINESS LENDING PLATFORMS (big and small) TO COME TOGETHER TO CREATE A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO HELP OUR FAVORITE LOCAL SMALL BUSINESSES. I also challenge them to launch this campaign in less than a week… because we need it to happen yesterday.

PS: Sending my best to all those affected by COVID-19, to all our retailers and supply chain’ers who are helping bring food and other necessities to us, and to all our first responders who are on the front lines.

Filed Under: Fintech Tagged With: COVID-19, fintech, small business

Views: 144

Fintechs Authorized to Make Small Business Loans as Part of Government Stimulus

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin went on record stating that any fintech lender will be authorized to make loans as part of the government stimulus.

March 30, 2020 By Ryan Lichtenwald 2 Comments

Views: 1,982

Last week the government passed a stimulus package called the CARES Act which included $349 billion in loan guarantees for small business. This was a major topic covered in our recent webinar where various fintech companies in the small business lending space shared how they were ready and willing to help small businesses. However, the question remained whether fintechs would be included to help get funds distributed to the many small businesses who are desperately in need of capital.

Over the weekend we received clarity, with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin stating:

“Any FDIC bank, any credit union, any fintech lender will be authorized to make these loans to a small business subject to certain approvals.”

This is great news not just for fintech but for small businesses everywhere. It is only by engaging with fintech lenders, many of whom have end-to-end digital processes, that small businesses will be able to get access to these loans in a timely fashion. Of course, we don’t know what “certain approvals” means but the government knows they have to move quickly.

The small business loan program is expected to be up and running in the coming week so it will be interesting to see just how fast funds will flow through small businesses. The government is saying that funds will start to be received in as little as three weeks from now. But with potentially many millions of loans to get out the door it is going to be a Herculean task to get this money out quickly.

It is great to see the government acknowledging the importance that fintech companies play in our financial system today. While it is certainly too soon to make any predictions this may be a time for fintechs to shine as they demonstrate their ability to move fast to help American businesses.

Filed Under: Fintech Tagged With: CARES Act, fintech, government, lending, small business, stimulus

Views: 1,982

What Will Drive Fintech in the 2020s

In this guest post Victor Santos, founder of Boston mobile banking startup Airfox digs into what we might expect from fintech throughout the 2020s

March 2, 2020 By admin Leave a Comment

Views: 1,528

[Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Victor Santos, founder of Boston mobile banking startup Airfox. His company is accelerating financial inclusion for all with an innovative, mobile-first financial services model that increases access to capital and banking services. Connect with him on Twitter.]

You could debate what should appear on the shortlist of the game-changing innovations of the last decade: 4G rollout and mobile streaming? Apps for everything and messaging for more than messages? “Smart” stuff and the AI renaissance?

One thing is certain. All of the above were instrumental in reshaping the way people buy and borrow and sell and save.

The 2010s were a technologically transformative decade for the banking and financial services industry, marked by the meteoric rise of financial technology (fintech), ubiquity of cheap data plans and smartphones, and leveraging everything from near-field communication (NFC) protocols and contactless payments to blockchain and robotic process automation (RPA). There’s more to come in the 2020s, and several driving factors.

Investing in Access

A decade of fast evolving technology and usage patterns enabled plenty of new business models, propelling a spike in fintech innovation and investment. In a sector traditionally packed with imperious and slow-moving players, it was inevitable.

A new ecosystem in banking is emerging, as Angela Strange of Andreessen Horowitz recently explained, “happening through (1) new financial-services infrastructure companies providing APIs (application programming interfaces); (2) new distribution channels that enable better, differentiated products to spread more easily and at lower customer acquisition cost; and (3) better data that allows companies to assess and assign risk more precisely.“

To top it off, there’s still an enormous unserved market awaiting inclusion. Around one-and-a-half billion people remain “unbanked” globally — lacking access to financial services and strapped with cash-only inefficiency. Near-ubiquitous mobile technology offers the best means to provide them with access. This truth remains a fundamental driver for fintech investment and continuing growth.

As noted in the World Bank 2018 Global Findex, “The continued involvement of businesses will be vital for unlocking opportunities to expand financial inclusion…Mobile phones and the internet also offer strong openings for progress: globally, one billion financially excluded adults already own a mobile phone and about 480 million have internet access.”

Developed markets, too, continue to shift toward mobile-based financial services as consumer behavior evolves with the digital landscape. Pew Research Center reports that nearly a third of Americans make no purchases using cash during a typical week, and Bain Research shows mobile app payment adoption in China already exceeds both cash and debit/credit card use by 20% or more. Innovative and competitive service models make it easy for more and more users to switch to fintech offerings, and the potential in quickly conveying those services to emerging markets will remain attractive for the foreseeable future.

Progressive Partnerships

I suspect excitement around fintech will increasingly encourage dissimilar companies to partner in producing innovative solutions that meet 21st century needs, improve service, and accelerate the adoption of new technology.

Consider Ripple, a San Francisco fintech that recently entered into a $50 million dollar deal with legacy remittance company MoneyGram to provide the underlying “on-demand liquidity” (ODL) technology for transfer and settlement of funds in less than 3 seconds across borders.

And last year’s T-Mobile partnership with BankMobile shows that organizations outside the finance realm also see value in creative fintech partnerships. Their deal gives the digital-only bank access to an 80-million-strong customer base and supplies the cellular provider with an instant new service to offer to its subscribers with limited risk.

Such collaborations add up to win-wins all around. And that hasn’t escaped the notice of tech giants with deep pockets and their own banking aspirations. After all, data is the new oil and troves of digitized information is what fueled Big Tech into advertising-funded behemoths. What big tech is realizing is that they can use the same data and same underlying technology (machine learning) to begin offering users more affordable access to financial services and capital.

Big Tech Wannabe Fintech

Big Tech outfits show interest in becoming banking entities for the simplest of reasons — market share. Facebook’s foray into digital currency with Libra, the new Apple card, and Google’s proposed consumer checking service all reflect the rising allure of transforming financial services with technology to attract consumers. It’s no wonder so many in the FAANG crowd want in on the fintech revolution.

They may fail for many reasons. Regulatory uncertainty bedevils banking and finance modernization globally and oversight bodies aren’t particularly welcoming to tech upstarts with vague purview. With Libra, for example, social-network platform Facebook, for instance, could’ve become the world’s largest “central” bank virtually overnight — that didn’t sit well with a lot of people.

Additionally, Big Tech still needs to leverage legacy systems to make their financial services viable. For example, the existing automated clearing house (ACH) networks underpinning the global credit/payment ecosystem are still veritable creatures of the 1970s. It’s tough to make last century’s technology satisfy this century’s needs — especially for organizations accustomed to agility and autonomy in service delivery function.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, people might lack confidence in Big Tech companies after all the user-data shenanigans, scandals, and security breaches of recent years. Bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better when it comes to trust — and reputation is priceless when it comes to financial services.

1,2,3 Fintech Future

With fintech 1.0, traditional banks created and enabled certain transactions via websites with limited functionality constructed on old underlying technology. In fintech 2.0, we saw a rise in businesses that disintermediated all-stop-shop financial services by diving deep into a single vertical, such as free-stock trading through a digital-only mobile app (like Robinhhood) or innovative merchant POS solutions (like Square). Fintech 2.0 also generated new digital banking infrastructure and modified how financial institutions interact with each other through technology layers (like Plaid).

For fintech 3.0, my prediction is a convergence of services. New entrants to financial services realize they can’t make enough money on payments alone, for example, and will branch out into lending. Companies that started with loans will branch into payments or investing. You can already see this happening with SoFi, and even Wealthfront is launching its own high-interest cash account.

Service convergence makes sense as these fintechs commoditize — scale is king. It will create many companies with competing services, but this is not a winner-takes-all market. Although services may seem similar, each brand will tailor to specific audiences and niches. After all, there are 1,000+ banks in the US specialized for retail, commercial, cooperative, savings, or investment function.

As more services are handled digitally and more data is shared with these players, the more automated our finances will become. An aggregating personal finance manager like Mint was ahead of its time, but early adopters were frustrated by its constant miscategorization and the effort required to make it work. Fintech 3.0 will remove such annoyances. Fueled by easy access, competition, machine learning, and open banking infrastructure, customers will be able to simply let the companies they trust know their goals and have services predictively customized to individual needs and wants.

Access. Speed. Convenience. Trust. Personalization. These are the directives driving fintech into the 2020’s. My hope is that the pace of innovation will continue to reduce friction and remove impediments to financial service access and delivery. People should be able to move money as swiftly and reliably as we move information today. Fintech makes that possible.

Filed Under: Fintech Tagged With: Airfox, fintech, future

Views: 1,528

A Detailed Look at What’s Happening in LatAm Fintech

Timothy Li recaps the Latin America fintech scene at Finnosummit Miami by Lendit Fintech.

January 28, 2020 By Ryan Lichtenwald Leave a Comment

Views: 464

If you ask around the fintech community what regions are up and coming when it comes to fintech you will undoubtedly hear Latin America mentioned. It is the trends we were seeing in Latin America that led us to bring LendIt Fintech to Miami for Finnosummit Miami by Lendit Fintech back in December 2019. Here we heard from many of the top fintech companies and investors who are targeting the region.

If you missed out on the event, Timothy Li CEO at Alchemy has been publishing an in depth series about fintech in LatAm over at Crowdfund Insider. In his first post he shares the size of the opportunity in Latin America, highlighting a session from Clip which operates out of Mexico City. Clip CEO Adolfo Babatz spoke about the future of mobile payments, the trends towards digital payments and some of the challenges with KYC.

Read more: FinnoSummit Miami: LatAm Fintech Revolution Part 1 – Death of Point of Sale Terminals and the Rise of Mobile

In his second post he discusses fintech infrastructure, an area that NovoPayment is looking to tackle. NovoPayment offers an open banking platform to enable digital banks. According to the company a solution can be launched within just six months. President & CEO Anabel Perez also shared her perspective on regulatory ambiguity and how she expects more collaboration over the next couple of years.

Read more: FinnoSummit: LatAm Fintech Revolution Part 2 – Banking as a Service

With big opportunities comes big checks. Li details how a diverse set of investors view the massive opportunity across LatAm. Mike Packer of QED Investors, Fabrice Serfati of Ignia, Marcelo Lim of Monashees and Ishan Sinha of Point72 Ventures all participated on this panel. Brazil continues to be one of the most popular areas of investments, but other areas like Columbia, Mexico and Argentina are also getting traction.

Read more: LatAm Fintech Revolution Part 3: Hunting for the Next LatAm Unicorn. Fintech Investments are Glowing Red Hot!

Two of the topics Li noted that received a lot of attention throughout the event were infrastructure and digital transformation. Latin America remains largely a cash based economy and credit simply doesn’t exist in most areas. In this post he delves into various companies that play in these areas.

Read more: FinnoSummit LatAm Fintech Revolution Part 4: LatAm Digital Transformation and Open Banking

It is always interesting to see how fintech plays out differently across the globe. In some cases we see regions leapfrog others when it comes to adoption. China is a great example of this as we saw consumers embrace mobile payments rapidly. In the US we have just started to see technology companies getting into financial services with one great example being Uber. This trend is also playing out in LatAm with Grow Mobility, a scooter company, which is allowing drivers and riders to leverage virtual wallets. Users don’t have a choice but to digitize their money. Li also discusses Loft, a company looking to build a Latin America’s first MLS (Multiple Listing Service) and Nowports, a data logistics company.

Read more: FinnoSummit LatAm Fintech Revolution Part 5: Non-Fintechs becoming Fintechs

In the next installment of Timothy Li’s series he digs into a U.S. company that has expanded Latin America. If you want to be sure you don’t miss out in 2020 mark your calendars for December 8 and 9 when we will return to Miami.

Filed Under: Peer to Peer Lending Tagged With: fintech, LatAm, Latin America, Timothy Li

Views: 464

Manatt Fintech: What to Expect in 2020

Manatt, one of the leading professional services firms in fintech, looks back at 2019 and sets the stage for fintech in 2020 and beyond.

January 15, 2020 By admin Leave a Comment

Views: 612

[Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Brian Korn, Neil Faden, Benjamin Brickner and June Kim of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP]

Taking a break after eight brisk years of regulatory and litigious turbulence, the world of fintech and marketplace lending in 2019 was notable for being more business as usual, or what some might call a “ho hum” year of upward growth.

Despite the moderation, 2019 saw growth in nearly all aspects of the fintech ecosystem, including:

  • Capital flowing to originators, especially payments and AI, but fewer start-ups emerging (big equity bets in Figure Technologies, Goldman Sachs’ investments in Even Financial and Climb Credit)
  • Retail access to bespoke debt investments and funds growing sharply, with lightning-fast subscription periods (YieldStreet, Cadence, PeerStreet, CrowdStreet, Sharestates, CNote, Fundrise)
  • Growth of securitization with greater rate and spread stability (15+ unique rated fintech issuers and many issuing $1 billion annually in nearly quarterly ABS transactions)
  • Established banks swallowing smaller fintech fish and digesting their tech or high-profile banks partnering with fintech (American Express, KeyBank, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Silicon Valley Bank, Santander)
  • Credit and warehouse lenders opening the market for upstream origination capital (UpLift, SoFi, Idea Financial, Upgrade, Platinum Autos, CircleUp)
  • About the only facets of fintech that saw a cooling off were interest in blockchain and cryptocurrency, and the federal regulatory environment.¹

Here are a few key industry trends we observed in 2019 and areas worth watching as we enter 2020: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Fintech Tagged With: 2020, fintech, Manatt, regulation

Views: 612

Several Fintech Companies Make the Deloitte Technology Fast 500

The 25th annual Deloitte Technology Fast 500 list of fast growing tech companies features many fintech names

November 7, 2019 By Peter Renton Leave a Comment

Views: 331

This year marks the 25th year of the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, the annual ranking of the fastest-growing North American companies in the technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech sectors. While there was no specific fintech category, there were several fintech companies who made the list under the software category.

The list ranks companies by three year revenue growth from 2015 to 2018. Unlike the Inc. 5000 this list is open to private as well as public companies. Here is some background about how the list is compiled:

It was created to recognize the effort and dedication of the fastest-growing technology companies. Winners are selected based on percentage fiscal-year revenue growth over a three-year period. The ranking is compiled from applications submitted directly to the Technology Fast 500 website and public company database research conducted by Deloitte LLP.

Congrats to the following fintech companies for making this year’s Technology Fast 500:

  • LendingPoint #9
  • Unison #19
  • Peerstreet #23
  • Flexiti #40
  • Acima Credit #64
  • Opploans #91
  • HomeLight #95
  • Carta #101
  • Crowdstreet #111
  • Signifyd #115
  • Juvo #122
  • Remitly #150
  • Fundera #161
  • Forward Financing #195
  • LiftForward #198
  • Feedzai #231
  • Aura #236
  • Braviant Holdings #258
  • WealthForge #297
  • Fundrise #344
  • Lendio #378
  • PrecisionLender #387
  • Kabbage #448

Filed Under: Fintech Tagged With: Deloitte, fintech, Inc. 5000, Technology Fast 500

Views: 331

The Opportunity For Fintech Has Never Been Bigger

If there were such a thing as a sure thing in business, today that thing would be fintech.

October 30, 2019 By admin 1 Comment

Views: 864

[Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Douglas Lopes, the Chief Financial Officer of Airfox, a venture-backed fintech company based in Boston and São Paulo. Airfox is on a mission to accelerate financial inclusion for the underbanked within emerging economies. Airfox aims to create an entirely new financial services model for the underbanked that democratizes access to capital and financial services with a mobile-first solution.]

To produce the  EY Global FinTech Adoption Index 2019, EY researchers interviewed more than 27,000 consumers in 27 markets across the globe. They found that the FinTech “adoption rate is growing faster than anticipated. The actual global adoption rate of 64% in 2019 exceeds by 12 points the 52% future adoption rate” forecast just two years ago.

Fintech contenders frequently employ smartphones, cryptocurrency, and/or digital wallets to compete with traditional financial service delivery methods. A ready combination of technological advancement, shifting consumer habits, and enormous underserved markets — particularly in emerging economies — have fused to create the world’s greatest opportunity for disruption and a robust startup ecosystem.

Enabling technology

Greater global internet access and the widespread adoption of mobile technology couple with novel decentralized computational frameworks to underpin most fintech models (most notably in blockchain-powered projects). This comprehensive digitalization also generates mountains of data, which has, in turn, accelerated algorithmic advancement. New data-fed and rapidly evolving AI and machine learning capabilities are increasingly targeted toward speeding labor-intensive business processes and are particularly powerful in financial services applications.

According to Dresner’s 2019 Data Science and Machine Learning Market Study, Financial Services/Insurance respondents now rank data science, AI, and machine learning as critical to success in their industry at the highest rate amongst all market sectors surveyed.

AI and machine learning technologies can speedily process layer upon layer of vast and varied data while surfacing new patterns, reducing risk, and continuously improving function. As The Financial Brand recently reported, “AI changes the path to industry dominance in financial services. No longer will unfair strategic advantage be automatically granted to the bank or credit union with the most assets.” This presents an enormous fintech opportunity, since “scale of data will be increasingly important, with the ability to create unique, contextual experiences driving value and market share.”

Digital culture

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Fintech Tagged With: Airfox, financial inclusion, fintech, Global Findex Database

Views: 864

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LendIt Fintech News, Powered by Lend Academy, has been bringing you all the news and information about fintech and online lending since 2010 when it was founded by Peter Renton. We not only have the industry’s most active news site, but also the largest investor forum and the first and most popular podcast.

We are a team of fintech enthusiasts who have been covering the industry for many years. With a deep knowledge of online lending, digital banking, blockchain, artificial intelligence and more our team covers the daily news and writes in-depth editorials.

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