The company raised $22 million as an extension to its $45 million Series C in August 2017; Capital Float raised $80 million of debt in the last 12 months used to finance its small business loans in India; Capital Float’s customer base includes 80,000 people in 300 cities; they currently complete 10,000 loans per month and have an outstanding loan portfolio of $170 million; their default rate is around 2% and loans are between $376 and $7,530. Source
A recent report by Bain & Company just shares how successful Amazon could be if it were to enter banking; according to the report: "We could imagine Amazon's banking services growing to more than 70 million U.S. consumer relationships over the next five years or so — the same as Wells Fargo, the third-largest bank in the US. Although many retail bankers and observers have pegged the nimble fintech start-ups as the likely disrupters, it has become clear that established technology firms pose a bigger threat.”; the CNBC article shares several of the advantages Amazon would have in banking, products they could expand into and some of the talks that are already taking place with banks. Source
Many predict that Amazon will introduce a payments system for Alexa; American Banker looks at whether Amazon is really ready for to make this a reality; one of the biggest problems relates to the ability to authenticate transactions; Alexa isn’t able to distinguish whether a person is who they claim to be; article also shares the banks that are currently leveraging voice technology with some of the early adopters being US Bank, USAA, Ally, Capital One and TD Bank. Source
Amazon is I Talks with JPMorgan Chase to offer a co-branded Credit card for small business owners; the credit card would have rewards points for purchases and they would also look to add business insurance plans; this is first time Amazon will look to have a credit card specifically for small businesses. Source.
Speaking to American Banker fintech firms Chime, Moven, Kabbage and more say the move by Amazon is a net positive; most comments showed surprise that it took the retail giant this long to make a move like this; the overall sentiment was positive, pointing out that the entrance of Amazon will increase knowledge of fintech and validating their thoughts on the need for improved consumer experience in banking; the fear that Amazon would just take over is overblown, there is room for the giant retailer and a lot of fintechs who cater to a specific market. Source.
Walmart has expanded their money transfer service to over 200 countries and all their U.S. locations; the expansion is through a partnership with Moneygram; Walmart’s move comes after recent news of Amazon expanding their financial services options for customers; “Money transfer services are like bread at the restaurant for Walmart; it’s negligible revenue for them,” said Daniel Ives, chief strategy officer at GBH Insights tells TearSheet. “The broader strategy is to build up that product arsenal on the consumer side — every Walmart customer globally is an Amazon customer that could be taken away.” Source.
Dodd-Frank requires banks to disclose information about employee wages and the data shows a mixed bag for banks; banks like Goldman Sachs lie on the high end of the pay scale while small banks in locations like Houston are at the bottom of the spectrum; what the data also shows is banks are finding it hard to compete with big tech firms for talent as companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon tend to pay premium wages; wages overall look to be rising as lower skill, lower wage jobs are becoming less frequent across the industry. Source.
American Banker outlines Amazon’s current offerings in financial services and the recent rumors around new products including checking accounts, small business credit cards and mortgages. Source
This week’s PeerIQ Industry Update covers the great jobs report as nonfarm payrolls rose by 313,000 in February which caused the Nasdaq to hit an all-time high; CommonBond saw their first AAA rating by Moody’s and KBRA rated the senior bonds for OneMain’s latest deal at AAA, AA and A; PeerIQ also took a deep dive into the recent Amazon checking account news; they cover the benefits of the partnership, the significance of the deal and who might be next to enter the space. Source.
According to HousingWire Amazon is exploring the mortgage lending business and is actively hiring in the new division; the company is already rumored to be looking into offering a checking product. Source
