While fintech companies have focused on speeding up the lending process to small businesses, the IRS's continued use of fax machines continues to slow down the lending process when borrowing from traditional institutions; in an article from American Banker, the cumbersome process of getting a tax transcript from the IRS is outlined; when customers need capital on short notice they are often left with higher financing costs; Representative Patrick McHenry recently introduced the IRS Data Verification Modernization Act that aims to provide near-real-time communication of information which may level the playing field across lenders. Source
America’s Credit Union (ACU) partners with cross border payments company Veem to expand their reach to small businesses; the partnership...
Banks like Capital One have been investing in creating a cafe style space where people can come to drink coffee and work while also having interaction with a bank but not in the traditional branch way; the idea is to have the bank maintain a presence, get deposits but not have a full branch; “If you can imagine people popping these things up — the competition for community banks would get overwhelming,” said Robert Mahoney, CEO of the $2.5 billion-asset Belmont Savings Bank in Massachusetts, to American Banker. Source.
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
According to the WSJ, clients have been withdrawing more money than expected from the hedge fund; Pine River was best known for its profits after rebounding government-backed mortgages following the financial crisis; Pine River manages roughly half of the $15 billion it managed in 2015. Source
Calypso, a fintech firm that develops software for capital markets, has struck a deal with blockchain consortium R3 to develop applications on its Corda platform; Corda is a distributed ledger platform for managing financial contracts which will be released later this week; Calypso will first build a trade confirmation app to function on Corda; according to Calypso CEO Pascal Xatart, "Our current matching solution is only the beginning." Source
Smaller dollar loans can be very profitable and are often provided by payday lenders; there are also some fintech companies...
Democratic Presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren released her plan for student loans this week and it was met with mixed reviews;...
In this week’s PeerIQ Industry Update they cover the concerns former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke raised about the neutral rate...
UK based online small business lender Funding Circle has cut expected returns for the second time; the firm says there...