Oldest

Finance

·Nov. 2, 2016

MasterCard Foundation Expands Consumer Financial Protection Initiative

Announced today, the MasterCard Foundation is partnering with the Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) at Accion on a $4.4 million initiative to promote more robust consumer financial protection laws around the world; CFI's Smart Campaign has existed since 2009 and has certified the consumer protection practices of 68 financial institutions to-date; the MasterCard Foundation contribution will support involvement of more parties (such as regulators, non-bank financial institutions and fintech platforms) and more countries; a particular focus will be on sub-Saharan Africa. Source

Read Full Story

Finance Fintech News Roundup USA

·Nov. 2, 2016

Cross River Bank Receives Venture Capital Funding of $28mn

Bank holding company, CRB Group Inc., has received venture capital investment of $28 million from Battery Ventures LP, Andreessen Horowitz and Ribbit Capital; the large investment in a bank is unusual for venture capitalists which have mainly been known for early stage financing in new fintech startups; CRB Group however has been considerably growing its digital banking capabilities making the investment attractive for fintech venture capitalists; New Jersey-chartered, Cross River Bank, was founded in 2008 and has since partnered with numerous fintech startups to offer industry leading services for lending and payments; the bank is expected to use the investment to continue building on its industry leading fintech services; because the bank is FDIC regulated the VC investors will be limited in some of their investment activities. Source

Read Full Story

Europe Finance News Roundup

·Nov. 3, 2016

NatWest Adds iwoca to Alternative Lenders Panel

Earlier this week, the UK launched its bank referral scheme to help extend credit to small businesses not funded by nine of the UK's largest banks; it seems that UK banks outside of the UK consortium are also increasing their efforts to provide alternative options for business borrowers; this week NatWest announced it has added iwoca to its alternative lending panel, Capital Connections. Source

Read Full Story

Europe Finance News Roundup

·Nov. 3, 2016

Bank of England Keeps Rate Unchanged

The Bank of England kept its central bank borrowing rate at 0.25% and decided to continue with its $86 billion asset purchase program; while no changes were made to monetary policy, the BOE changed its guidance; with an increased focus on inflation in the region, the BOE said it would be prepared to raise rates in order to keep inflation at its 2% target rate. Source

Read Full Story

Finance News Roundup USA

·Nov. 3, 2016

FOMC Releases Meeting Announcement with No Rate Change

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) ended its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday and released an afternoon announcement reporting no change to the central bank borrowing rate which will remain at 0.25% to 0.50%; as expected the FOMC's statement did indicate that a rate hike in December was likely with new language saying the 2% inflation objective is near and that the Fed only needs "some further evidence" of economic progress for a rate increase; globally the US is one of few central banks tightening monetary policy; many are easing with negative rates; Japan's central bank borrowing rate is -0.10% and the ECB central bank borrowing rate is at 0% for the Eurozone; the Bank of England will be meeting on Thursday and is expected to keep its rate unchanged with further easing in 2017. Source

Read Full Story

Finance Fintech News Roundup

·Nov. 7, 2016

Citi Looks to Embrace Fintech Innovation

As more and more fintechs disrupt the traditional banking sector, Citi is looking to embrace the new technological advances to ensure they stay relevant; the bank formed a Citi fintech division in November 2015 and stocked it with former employees of Amazon and PayPal; Citi is looking to launch a new version of their mobile app that will include voice and facial recognition to eliminate password entry; Stephen Bird, Citigroup's CEO of global consumer banking, recently told Fortune magazine, "what happens in an extinction phase is that you either rapidly adapt and new means of competition are created, or you go extinct."; the bank is looking to continue making advancements to keep up with industry tech trends. Source

Read Full Story

Finance Fintech News Roundup

·Nov. 8, 2016

PeerIQ’s Weekly Update Takes a Deep Dive into Cross River Bank’s $28mn Investment

PeerIQ provides insight on Cross River Bank and its $28 million investment from venture capitalists; the deal highlights Cross River Bank’s partnerships with marketplace lenders and provides a leading example for how banks can seek to gain from online lenders while also mitigating true lender risk; Cross River Bank likely to set a precedent for banking investment in MPL loans; success with marketplace lending partnerships has helped it to achieve a return on equity of 26.5% versus 9.8% for FDIC-insured institutions. Source

Read Full Story

Finance News Roundup USA

·Nov. 8, 2016

US Supreme Court to Assess Whether Banks are Liable for Predatory Lending to Minorities

A legal case initiated by the city of Miami, Florida has reached the Supreme Court; the case (a combination of two earlier cases) claims that banks, including Bank of America and Wells Fargo, are financially liable for a decade of targeting blacks, Latinos and other minorities for loans with risky terms, including prepayment penalties, negative amortization and no documentation; there is concern that the case may be delayed until the Supreme Court regains a tie-breaking ninth Justice, or result in a return to the lower courts. Source

Read Full Story

Finance Fintech News Roundup USA

·Nov. 9, 2016

Effects of Donald Trump’s Presidency on Financial Services and Fintech

The financial markets were slightly surprised by the presidential outcome with Dow futures down approximately 250 points on Wednesday morning; uncertainty over some big changes specifically in financial services from Donald Trump will be a factor for markets and the industry going forward; in financial services Trump looks to deregulate the industry easing many of the controls implemented by Dodd-Frank; another factor for fintech will be Trump's position on net neutrality which could limit open source internet development; overall, speculators see increased volatility and uncertainty for the near-term. Source

Read Full Story

Finance Fintech News Roundup USA

·Nov. 9, 2016

Santander Consumer USA Holdings Shares Q3 Results

Santander Consumer USA Holdings describes itself as a technology-driven consumer finance company; they focus on vehicle finance, and have been originating retail installment contracts since 1997; company announced originations for the quarter of $5.2 billion; "Fewer originations are in part due to our disciplined underwriting standards as we are committed to driving originations at the right price and structure, and in part due to increased competition in the prime space," said Jason Kulas, president and chief executive officer. Source

Read Full Story