Online lender Earnest is working with Barclays to find a potential buyer; seeking buyout at approximately $200 million; firm has raised over $300 million since 2013 and grown to 200 employees. Source
Barclays US is trying to ensure they use AI in a efficient yet non intrusive way so their customers can get the most out of the technology; Tearsheet spoke with Mona Jantzi, managing director of strategic analytics and customer experience at Barclays US, to learn more about how the bank uses AI; topics discussed include using data to shape customer experience, going beyond product offerings, the dangers of AI use with data and more. Source.
A little over a year ago Goldman Sachs launched their consumer lending platform Marcus as part of a digital strategy...
Barclays recently announced Shelton Shugar as the new CIO of the credit card division; in a Q&A with American Banker, Shugar discusses how they plan to compete in the US payment space and ultimately compete with fintechs; he also talks about the company's cloud computing strategy as well as his perspective on voice recognition and chatbots. Source
Lloyd’s Banking Group and Virgin Money recently banned customers from using their credit cards to buy cryptocurrencies; customers will still be able to use their debit cards to buy cryptocurrencies but for fear they could go into debt they do not want credit cards being used; other card issuers like Barclays and Mastercard say they are reviewing the crypto space but no decisions have been made. Source.
The bank has participated in a few different fintech funding rounds as of late; the first was a $5.5 million...
JPMorgan Chase and Barclays have joined IBM’s quantum computing network as they look to use the technology to assess risk and stay secure; Barclays is beginning to test potential uses and JPMorgan Chase is looking to leverage quantum computing for trading, portfolio optimization and risk analysis; there is a lot happening in quantum computing these days as big tech firms look to master the technology seen as potentially 100,000 times faster than classic computers; while there are clear benefits to quantum computing banks are also looking at protecting themselves from the cyber threat that hackers could exploit using the same technology. Source.
The UK Financial Conduct Authority has granted Coinbase an E-Money License; Barclays is also allowing Coinbase to access the UK’s Faster Payments Scheme which is the core payment infrastructure in the UK; Coinbase’s Zeeshan Feroz stated, “There is no other exchange today that has access to domestic banking. UK consumers today have to jump through all sorts of hoops around sending money to European accounts using euros in order to get money in and out." Source
Monzo has become the first bank to offers its customers a free credit score service; starting in March the UK...
Millennials are one of the largest target markets for digital only banks as they attempt to cut into the dominant...