In an interview with AltFi, Mambu CEO Eugene Danilkis explained he thinks the UK is the fintech hub of Europe; the digital banking platform sees this as the case partly because the UK government has done a great deal on bring more competition into the banking system; with the government support you have seen dozens of banking applications submitted and new entrants like Starling Bank, Atom and OakNorth have success; Mambu provides software to incumbents and startups, telling AltFi, “Incumbents will have to think like fintechs in order to develop channels of servicing clients quickly, seamlessly and creatively.” Source.
eToro partnered with CoinDash to develop a set of social trading products built on blockchain technology; eToro CEO Yoni Assia tells Banking Technology, “With thousands of new coins in the market, it can be difficult for mainstream investors to navigate this new space. The CoinDash team is enabling users to better analyse their investments in cryptocurrencies, and to learn from others.”; the eToro marketplace has more than 4.5 million users in over 170 countries, they allow users to trade based on copying or following other individual’s portfolios and recently added access to cryptocurrencies. Source.
Coinbase now supports bitcoin cash and is looking into whether employees took advantage of the launch; employees may have been able to profit as they knew it was about to be added on Coinbase. Source
Fiserv partnered with TransUnion to use their CreditVision Link software to help asses risk in their auto loan origination system; Fiserv is specifically looking to identify higher risk borrowers as they look to reach more of the underbanked; Steve Chaouki, executive vice-president and head of TransUnion’s financial services business unit, says the integration “enables lenders to score approximately 95% of the US adult population” as reported by Banking Technology. Source.
Raisin offers a platform to offer savings account options across Europe; they currently have over 100,000 customers; the funds will be used to accelerate growth across Europe. Source
Skinner revisits the predictions he made at the beginning of 2017; he discusses the rise of insurtech, regtech, PSD2, blockchain and more in his blog post. Source
Insurtech startup Lemonade raised $120mn led by Softbank with backing from Allianz, Sequoia Capital and Google Ventures; the company has licenses in 25 states across the US and has sold more than 80,000 policies since launch last year; “By combining big data and AI with a seamless user experience, Lemonade is truly revolutionizing the insurance industry,” said David Thevenon, a senior investment professional at SoftBank, to the Financial Times. Source.
In their latest edition of Confessions, TearSheet talks to an analyst at a startup attached to a large bank about innovation, trying to get tech talent and why more fintech companies should partner with banks; about half of the talent at the startup came form inside the bank and as the analyst points out it was more because of convenience as hiring from the outside could take months; banks have trouble keeping top talent because the projects are not as interesting as projects at Google or Facebook; other areas discussed include default rates ticking up, marketing practices and expanding product offerings. Source.
A senior Chinese regulatory official said the country needs to come up with better legislation to monitor the market; "FinTech innovations that feature internet, big data and artificial intelligence are exerting profound influence on capital markets," said Huang Wei, assistant chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, at a forum reported by Xinhua; the regulations need to catch up with innovation and ensure that investors are protected. Source.