Lots of regulatory news this week but leading the pack was the big news from Apple with their new savings account, we also had Goldman Sachs earnings, a hearing on stablecoins, the SEC Chairman appearing on Capitol Hill, and the EU adopting crypto regulation. Here are what I consider to be the top 10 fintech news stories of the week.
Apple takes on banks with high-yield savings account from Fintech Nexus – This week Apple launched its long-awaited savings account in partnership with Goldman Sachs. For those iPhone users that have it enabled (I am still waiting) it is a very simple process that takes less than a minute to set up and pays 4.15%, further cementing Apple as a serious financial services player.
Goldman Sachs Moves to Keep Shrinking Its Consumer-Lending Business from The Wall Street Journal – Goldman Sachs reported first-quarter earnings results this week with profit dropping 18% from a year ago and revenue down 5%. The Wall Street titan also shared that GreenSky is up for sale as is the entire Marcus personal loans portfolio.
Congress wants a stablecoin bill in theory, but differs on the details from American Banker – The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion held a hearing this week on stablecoins. Republicans are looking to update the stablecoin framework put forward in a previous bill with Democrats focused on including some kind of digital identity as part of a new bill.
Republicans Pummel SEC’s Gary Gensler Over Crypto Crackdown from The Wall Street Journal – Speaking of Congress, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler appeared before the House Financial Services Committee this week. While on the one hand, he said he believed that the rules on crypto are clear, he refused to answer the simple question on whether ETH is a security. Clarity indeed.
First EU-Wide Crypto Regulations Clear Final Parliament Vote from Bloomberg – Meanwhile, across the pond, the EU has approved the MiCA (Markets in Crypto Assets) bill by an overwhelming majority. While it doesn’t cover everything, most pundits applauded the effort as an excellent first step that will position Europe as a crypto-friendly region.
U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase secures Bermuda licence from Reuters – The largest U.S. crypto exchange is looking at international expansion. It has secured a license to operate in Bermuda and CEO Brian Armstrong said this week at an event in London that moving his company headquarters outside the U.S. is not off the table.
CFPB data breach sends shock waves through the financial industry from American Banker – A former employee at the CFPB sent confidential records on 256,000 consumers to a personal email address while employed at the Bureau. The incident happened in February and information was relayed to the Office of the Inspector General at that time.
Liberty Bank Launches Digital Bank for Small Business from PYMNTS – A new digital bank focused on small businesses launched this week. Owners Bank is a division of Liberty Bank, one of the oldest banks in the country, will be available initially in four northeastern states and will later roll out nationally.
Debt repayment fintech Clerkie raises $33M in Series A from BankingDive – Clerkie is a fintech focused on debt repayment and optimization and this week they announced a healthy Series A fundraise. There are some A-list investors behind this raise including Flourish Ventures, Citi Ventures, CMFG Ventures, and the founders of Nubank and Intuit.
Global banks turning to fintechs to boost customer experience – research from Finextra – New research from Finastra shows that three-quarters of global banks are planning to partner with an average of three fintech startups over the next 18 months. That is good news for fintech during what has been a challenging past 12 months.
Every Thursday at 5pm ET the Fintech Nexus news team and a special guest discuss the news of the week in fintech. Below is the video we posted to YouTube of this week’s show. You can also listen to the show in podcast format.
