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What is FinTech?
Since its rise in 2008, Financial Technology, or FinTech, has been disrupting the banking industry, reshaping businesses, and transforming the way consumers manage and use money. Innovators and entrepreneurs are storming what was once considered an inefficient, inflexible arena, and plenty of investors are following close at their heels. Investment in FinTech skyrocketed from $928 million in 2008 to $3 billion in 2013; since then, the numbers have soared even further. FinTech’s myriad of advancements signal an increasing momentum for the movement on a global scale.
Why Fintech Banks Will Rule The World
Whilst debating whether new fintech startups would eat the banker's lunch yesterday, I stumbled across a really interesting read by Philippe Gelis, co-founder and CEO of FX firm Kantox. It was so good that I asked Philippe if I could put it on the blog and he kindly agreed. Read and enjoy ...
Banks Are Betting Big on a Startup That Bypasses Banks
The idea is simple: services such as Prosper sidestep traditional bank loans, which can involve complicated applications and lengthy wait times, and connect borrowers and lenders directly online. Both Prosper and rival Lending Club launched in 2006. In spite of the 2008 economic meltdown and a host of regulatory issues, the two emerged as credible financing alternatives with very real consumer demand. Prosper has issued more than $3 billion in total loans, while Lending Club has facilitated more than twice that amount, to the tune of $7.6 billion.
Great Financial Services Companies Deliver Products, Not Projects
Blame Apple: customers expect to be delighted. By placing consumer delight at the center of its growth strategy, it has set new standards for customer engagement.
Today’s customer expects nothing less from their financial management experience. Wealthfront and Betterment are new disruptive forces in the wealth management space. They offer carefully curated, personalized experiences for the next generation of investors.
Customers have flocked to these new services. By the end of 2014, Wealthfront and Betterment were managing $1.7 billion and $1.4 billion in assets, respectively.
The CEO of America's Biggest Bank is Worried About Tech Startups
"There are hundreds of startups with a lot of brains and money working on various alternatives to traditional banking," Dimon wrote in the letter. "The ones you read about most are in the lending business, whereby the firms can lend to individuals and small businesses very quickly and — these entities believe — effectively by using Big Data to enhance credit underwriting."
Hot News
PayPal Allowed To Work With Amazon Following eBay Split
PayPal will be free to work with online retailers and marketplaces including Amazon.com and Alibaba following its split from eBay later this year, according to a new financial filing that details the separation between the e-commerce firm and its lucrative payments arm.
Google Ventures-Backed Bitcoin Exchange Buttercoin Is Shutting Down
Buttercoin, a bitcoin exchange startup backed by Y Combinator and Google Ventures, is closing its doors this month after failing to raise new investment.
“Buttercoin will be turning off our service on April 10th at 11PM Pacific,” the company said in a note on its website. “Be sure to move your bitcoins to another service and remove your dollar balances by Friday April 10th at 11PM.”
Former Nike CIO Joins BitReserve, a Bitcoin Startup
When Anthony Watson left his job at Nike in December, it captured a lot of headlines. Not only was a rising star executive leaving a Fortune 500 company after only 10 months, but his reasons for leaving fascinated people. Watson, who joined Nike as its CIO in April 2014, was unhappy in the Portland area, Fortune first reported.
Estimize Raised $3 million in Series B Round
Estimize CEO Leigh Drogen announced at the 2015 Benzinga Fintech Awards on Wednesday that the startup had raised $3 million in its Series B round of funding. That's on top of the $2.4 million raised in its Series A round.
"We really think that there’s this momentum behind crowdsourced finance right now and that it’s at some point going to usurp the traditional ways that you access financial data," said spokesperson Christine Short.
MasterCard Launches Platform To Propel Millennials' Career Goals
MasterCard announced this week that it has launched its in reach™ benefits platform to help millennials reach their career and financial goals. The platform, says MasterCard, sets out to address the expectation that in just two years, millennials’ spending power will surpass that of baby boomers. Both LinkedIn and The Wall Street Journal will help power this new platform, providing career mentoring, social profile review, financial tools and credit education.