Top 10 Fintech News Stories for the Week Ending August 8, 2020

Here are what I consider to be the top 10 most important fintech news stories of the past week (we have a new graphic this week courtesy of my 11 year old daughter).

Google checking accounts: Why banks want in from American Banker – Google is now partnering with eight financial institutions to offer digital checking accounts, here is what is in it for the banks.

LendingClub Releases Q2 2020 Earnings from Lend Academy – LendingClub reported their Q2 earnings today and as expected it was a significantly down quarter.

Barrons: Online Lender Kabbage Shopping For Buyers from PYMNTS – There are rumors flying around that Kabbage is seeking a sale and could garner a price of up to $1 billion.

Curve’s new credit proposition plans to entice up to 300,000 UK customers in three years and make a splash in the US from AltFi – UK fintech Curve has an innovative new credit offering that will break new ground when it launches.

Metro Bank is acquiring peer-to-peer lender RateSetter for up to £12M from TechCrunch – After once being worth £200 million, UK peer to peer lending platform RateSetter sold for just £3 million with the potential for the sale to be worth £12 million after three years if certain milestones are met.

LendingPoint Inks a Deal With eBay to Provide Small Business Loans from Lend Academy – Near prime consumer lending platform, LendingPoint, is getting into small business lending with this new pilot program with eBay called eBay Seller Capital. The executive team at LendingPoint all have deep small business lending experience so this move was not that surprising.

Dan Gilbert’s Wealth Soars to $34 Billion After Rocket IPO from Bloomberg – Rocket Cos, the parent company of Quicken Loans, Rocket Mortgage and Rocket Loans, went public this week and the shares rose more than 19% on their first day of trading making founder Dan Gilbert’s net worth soar to $34 billion.

Consumers, Flush With Stimulus Money, Shun Credit-Card Debt from The Wall Street Journal – I keep hearing this story from all kinds of consumer lenders. Consumers are deleveraging, paying down all kinds of debt, during the pandemic.

Founder of consumer lender Aura steps down as CEO from American Banker – James Gutierrez, the founder and CEO of Aura, has stepped down as the company tries to arrange a financing package.

Uber’s Departure From Financial Services: A Speed Bump On The Path To Embedded Finance from Forbes – Ron Shevlin looks at the rise of embedded finance and why the exit of one prime example, Uber, will not change the trajectory of this new trend.

  • Peter Renton

    Peter Renton is the chairman and co-founder of Fintech Nexus, the world’s largest digital media company focused on fintech. Peter has been writing about fintech since 2010 and he is the author and creator of the Fintech One-on-One Podcast, the first and longest-running fintech interview series.