Peter Renton, Founder of Lend Academy was at the American Banker Digital Lending + Investing conference last week; Renton reflects on the discussion with the leaders of Marcus, shares the progress of the company thus far and his perspective on Goldman's venture. Source
A case study at the Harvard Business School was presented as part of the executive MBA program on the bank’s digital strategy; Goldman CFO Marty Chavez recently stated “Goldman is for risk what Google is for search”; the move to becoming a tech company is not easy as other areas of the bank do not see the same benefits; Goldman is clearly on the front edge of innovation in banking today. Source.
There has been a number of news items in recent weeks about how difficult it is for banks and fintech companies to work together; banks tend to be more intrusive and fintechs come with a significant culture shift; one thing has become clear and that is the benefits outweigh the hassle; banks and fintech companies benefit greatly from partnering and customers clearly when they do. Source.
While giving a speech the acting head of the OCC stated that banks need more competition not less; he also commented on companies like Amazon or Apple becoming banks, Noreika states; “Laws that prevent companies with resources and means from becoming competitor banks only serve to protect existing big banks from would-be rivals”; as Crowdfund Insider reports the benefits of having big tech companies become banks could help to lower cost, increase access and help to serve those who might be left behind by traditional banks. Source.
Hong Kong based mobile lender WeLab raised $220mn in a series B financing; investors in the round include Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, CreditSuisse, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and others; they plan to use the funds for improving credit technology and look to expand globally. Source.
Bram Cohen is looking to address the cost of electricity in bitcoin transactions; he invented BitTorrent, a peer to peer file transfer protocol and is launching a new company called Chia Network; according to TechCrunch, they plan to launch a cryptocurrency based on proofs of time and storage instead of bitcoin’s proofs which burn significant amounts of electricity. Source
Shares in the online lender have sunk almost 20 percent on news that they will lower their full year earnings forecast; the company also announced that they are limiting lending to lower grade borrowers as they continue to tighten their credit standards; while scandal has hurt the company, they have been tightening their credit standards for close to two years as they continue to adjust models. Source.
Randall Quarles, vice chairman for supervision at the Federal Reserve made recent comments about taking a fresh look at regulations; He stated, “History has shown us that, it’s not just a question of where has the risk that we knew moved, but what new risks are developing? I think that in the regulated area … we ought to be looking at what the implications of the growth of fintech ... I think we ought to be looking at cyber, obviously.” Source
PPDAI plans for an IPO this month and co-founder Shaofeng Gu owns more than 25% of the business; Ning Tang of Yirendai, a US listed public company, owns 36% of the company; This year three Chinese fintech companies have gone public, raising $2.45 billion; Bloomberg provides data on the rise of the wealthiest billionaires in China. Source