Here are what I consider to be the top 10 most important fintech news stories of the past week.
Is an Algorithm Less Racist Than a Loan Officer? from The New York Times – This is a long article but worthwhile reading in full. The basic premise is that algorithms can be less racist than human underwriters but you have to be careful what data you include.
The rise of the mobile wallet from The Finanser – If you want to understand why China processed $50T in mobile payments in 2019 and the US did less than 1% of that amount then read this excellent piece by Chris Skinner.
Better.com in talks to raise $100M at $4B valuation: report from FinLedger – One of the leading real estate fintechs is looking to raise money at a $4 billion valuation after an 8x increase in revenue this year.
LendIt Fintech Industry Awards 2020 Finalists Announced from Lend Academy – This past week we announced the six finalists in all thirteen categories for the 4th annual LendIt Fintech Industry Awards. Winners will be revealed on Monday.
Valar triples down on Petal, leading $55M Series C round into the credit card disruptor from Techcrunch – Petal closed this Series C in April but it was just announced this week. Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures is back with a third investment in the credit card startup.
Exclusive: Trading app Robinhood raises $660 million in latest funding round from Reuters – Robinhood has extended their Series G round with another $460 million from the likes of Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, DST Global, Ribbit Capital, 9Yards Capital, and D1 Capital Partners.
Funding Circle losses deepen as pandemic hits peer-to-peer lending momentum from City A.M. – In the UK Funding Circle released their financial results for the first half of the year and as expected it was not pretty. The company lost £113.5 million, up from a £31.3 million loss for the same period last year.
How Cross River Bank gathered $250 million in deposits in 15 days from American Banker – I don’t think any company acted more quickly and had more success than Cross River Bank did during the early days of the PPP. Their story is incredible.
LendingClub: Research Indicates Consumers Pay Personal Loans Before Credit Cards, Reports that Repayment Rates are High from Crowdfund Insider – two recent studies underscore the reasons consumer lending has performed better than expected during the pandemic.
Digital Account Openings Surged Long Before The Pandemic [Thanks To Bank Of America And Chase] from Forbes – Ron Shevlin digs into account opening trends and finds that digital applications to open primary checking accounts overtook branch applications some time in 2019.
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.