Steve Strongin believes most digital currencies are unlikely to survive in their current form and that investors should be prepared for coins to lose all of their value; Strongin states that they are likely to be replaced by a small set of future competitors; he cites the high correlation of cryptocurrencies, the lack of intrinsic value and speed as reasons for concern; Strongin still is optimistic on blockchain technology. Source
Ainsley Harris reported in Fast Company today that Goldman Sachs is acquiring the employees who built Final, a credit card...
In this week’s PeerIQ Weekly Update the company covers the recent spate of bank earning reports, securitization news and issues another round of hiring updates; banks have seen a continued drop in fixed income and commodities trading revenue, picking up the slack has been lending and wealth management; Citigroup and Morgan Stanley had strong reports while Goldman Sachs and American Express missed the mark; SoFi is issuing a $720mn securitization deal, Moody’s rated the A classes AAA; PeerIQ also lists five new hires stemming from the $12mn round last summer. Source.
Goldman Sachs continues to expand into consumer lending and plans to offer home improvement loans this month; the loans are non-secured personal loans with interest rates lower than credit cards but higher than HELOCs; the company believes the quick financing time will be attractive compared to a HELOC. Source
Buying and selling of cryptocurrencies may be available as soon as June, but the bank is still working on how it will store them; Goldman remains one of the few banks who are leading the charge when it comes to trading cryptocurrencies and it remains to be seen whether other banks will follow suit. Source
Goldman Sachs has been busy acquiring companies to boost its consumer facing business; they now have expertise across consumer lending, small business lending and real estate; Lend Academy shares their latest acquisitions, including the acquisition of Final, a credit card startup; it seems as though credit cards was the missing piece and it's possible Goldman Sachs will enter the credit card business. Source
Goldman Sachs continues to show interest in consumer finance; CEO of Final, Aaron Frank announced that the startup would be closing in December 2017 but did not provide further details; a dozen engineers and product managers will be joining Goldman Sachs; Final was founded in 2014 and offered consumers a credit card; users were able to generate virtual cards unique to a merchant. Source
Looking to make their consumer lending product more appealing Goldman Sach’s Marcus is now offering loans for home improvement; the bulk of their loans have thus far been originated for debt consolidation; with more banks entering the space and the non bank lenders who have come on the scene since the financial crisis Marcus is looking to differentiate their initial offering; this is a trend across the fintech market as competition has forced firms to try to make products unique. Source.
Real estate investing startup Cadre signed a partnership with Goldman Sachs to allow their private wealth clients access to the platform; Cadre has already been able to secure $250mn in commitments from Goldman’s clients and has said their is a steady stream still in the pipeline; private wealth clients will get a log in for Cadre and access to vetted deals in commercial real estate; in addition to the partnership Goldman Sachs also becomes and investor in the company. Source
TearSheet put together 5 interesting charts helping to provide greater explanation to certain areas of fintech; the charts include where and how banks spend on innovation, Goldman Sachs job listing, ethical concerns in using AI, mobile wallet traction and the top reasons for borrower dissatisfaction; the charts helped to reveal that Goldman is working hard to become a technology company, mobile wallet traction is quite low and interest rates by online lenders is the second biggest reason for borrower dissatisfaction. Source.