Wells Fargo has hired Peggy Mangot for a newly created position in its innovation group; Mangot will join the bank as senior vice president of the design and delivery leadership team; the innovation group at Wells Fargo was developed to focus on innovation in business models, processes and programs and user experience; Mangot previously worked as chief executive officer of a microinvesting startup platform and also brings experience from Visa and Google. Source
There has been a number of news items in recent weeks about how difficult it is for banks and fintech companies to work together; banks tend to be more intrusive and fintechs come with a significant culture shift; one thing has become clear and that is the benefits outweigh the hassle; banks and fintech companies benefit greatly from partnering and customers clearly when they do. Source.
The FT has seen regtech as one of the fastest growing areas of fintech with a surge of applications to their Future of Fintech awards; new regulations such as the EU’s Mifid II rules, increased compliance and KYC checks by financial institutions looking for more cost efficient ways to verify customers has helped to bring new startups into the market; fintech has moved well beyond lending and the diversification of the market continues to grow. Source.
Understanding how asset allocators view the space is something a lot of online lenders and fintech companies want to grasp; the panel at LendIt USA 2017 with asset allocators discussed their thoughts on fintech generally and the alternative yield market; traditional fixed income has become less attractive and so more investors are looking at where they can get greater yield for their investment; there is a thought that normalization of interest rate policy globally will ultimately resolve itself in an unpleasant way; alternative yield is a new asset class so selling to the big institutions has been a challenge; it really comes down to finding the right group within the institution and selling it as the right type of asset; knowing your market appetite is also key, such as in Europe where their are negative yields and public markets have been overbought by central banks; vigilance of recent lessons learned and beginning to fully understand this new asset class are two key takeaways as asset allocators begin taking a closer look toward this market. Source
A recent report by Startupbootcamp and PwC points out that startup trends in 2016 moved towards artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning companies compared to blockchain; the data shows that 16% of applications to Startupbootcamp are from artificial intelligence and machine learning companies, whereas blockchain applications account for only 6%; blockchain was certainly a bigger buzzword in 2016 but one reason that AI and machine learning has more startups is because companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon have made significant investments in the technology; additionally, the report points out that as blockchain becomes more industrialized more startups will use the technology instead of being a blockchain startup. Source
Despite initial concerns over risks from Brexit, the UK's Funding Circle has been growing significantly; Funding Circle is one of four firms Bloomberg plans to follow throughout the Brexit process which will begin when Prime Minister Theresa May triggers Article 50 of the EU Treaty; for Funding Circle, results following the Brexit vote in June have been overwhelmingly positive; in the second half of 2016, originations increased 50% from 2015 to 530 million British pounds ($685 million) and in the fourth quarter of 2016 the firm's UK division reported its first net profit; while some funding challenges and employee visa risks still remain, the firm's business seems likely to continue its positive trajectory; low rates on fixed income investments in the UK and slowed bank lending to small businesses appear to continue as leading factors for the firm's growth. Source
A number of new smartphone apps are now available with varying methods for inspiring consumers to save; apps such as Stash, Acorns, Digit, Qapital and Long Game are making it simpler and easier to make incremental savings deposits and investments through automated technology; with these new apps, investors can automate the investment of unused cash and round up purchases, saving extra pennies. Source
After more than a year of research focused on how millennials bank JP Morgan announced the launch of Finn by Chase; the app includes checking & savings accounts, a debit card, personal financial management tools and other features that would appeal to a younger user base; the thinking behind the app is to give customers another option and grow their customer base in regions that don’t include many branches. Source.
Big banks reported their seventh consecutive month of increased approval rates at 24.1%; small bank lending approvals decreased in February to 48.8% from 48.9%; institutional lending approvals reached a new high of 63.5%; the approval rate for credit unions remained at 40.8%; the loan approval rate for alternative lenders decreased to 58.4% from 58.5% in January and has been trending lower over the past twelve months with February 2016 reporting an approval rate of 60.8%. Source
PeerIQ and Freedom Financial Network have signed an agreement that will allow new data access for Freedom Financial Asset Management and its clients; Freedom Financial Asset Management is a marketplace lending platform offering consumer loans; the data access will include PeerIQ's full suite of tools which will also be available to the platform's institutional investors; Freedom Financial Asset Management will also utilize PeerIQ's fair valuation services which launched last year. Source