In Khalaf's first earnings call as CEO of Marqeta he outlined his intention to steer the company to embedded finance in the new year.
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
Mastercard is the latest company to be added to OnStar Go, a cognitive mobility platform where drivers can browse stores and restaurants and purchase directly on their dashboard; get gas and pay for it without getting out of the car; after its launch in July, Masterpass is currently available in 33 markets, with plans to expand into 36 by the end of this year; the new dashboard will be deployed across two GM vehicles in the US by 2017; "The global momentum we're achieving with banks, merchants and consumers is proof-positive of our efforts to create simple and secure digital payment experiences anywhere consumers want to shop," said James Anderson, Executive Vice President of Digital Payment Products at Mastercard. Source
The love-child of Moneylion's Even aquisition, Engine, looks to create tools for even non-financial companies to embed personalized products.
In a report by Moody's Investor Services, the rating agency has downgraded the global asset management industry to negative; factors for the downgrade are focused on active management performance, global regulation and increasing costs; a McKinsey report published last month pointed to the new fiduciary rule, set to be enacted in April 2017, as an industry altering step as advisers will be forced not to consider their self interests with high commissions when servicing their clients; capital has continued to flow from actively managed funds to ETFs with costs being significantly lower. Source
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
The UK has launched their borrower referral scheme which came about as a government initiative; businesses who apply for loans at the nine largest UK banks and are rejected will be referred to aggregator platforms Funding Xchange, Business Finance Compared and Funding Options; the aggregators will pass information to alternative finance providers who will be able to provide quotes to the business. Source
Polychain Capital, a hedge fund that focuses on investing in digital assets such as bitcoin and ether has raised $10 million; the funding comes from venture firms Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures; the company launched in September with $5 million from 30 investors and is led by Olaf Carlson-Wee who was also the first employee of Coinbase; according to Olaf: "There will be many types of assets codified into the blockchain, and they are all not just going to be on the bitcoin blockchain — it's going to be a number of different assets here. And the best way to invest in that is a diversified portfolio." Source
Moody's has released a report commenting on the new FDIC guidelines for bank lending through third-party lenders; guidance from the FDIC is proposed and seeks to potentially improve controls on bank lending through marketplace loans; the new FDIC guidance will help to improve the overall quality of loans on marketplace lending platforms, according to Moody's; the new controls focus on greater analysis and oversight by banks of marketplace lenders' credit underwriting models to ensure that they align with the bank's lending terms. Source