SunTrust Bank saw the writing on the wall a couple of years ago, their aged technology was not efficient and new startup lenders were able to provide loans a lot faster; it took 18 months to overhaul their systems but the bank is now ready to go live with a unified, faster operation they feel is ready to compete in this new fintech era; "When you think about what clients want, most of all they want their money quickly, and they go to fintechs because of the speed," said Pam Kilday, head of operations at SunTrust bank; Pam Kilday says, "We see speed as a competitive edge and we want to be at the forefront." Source
The UK-based, wealth management company, raised £30 million to help expand their product offering across the UK; investors include Convoy, a Hong Kong-listed firm of independent financial advisers, as well as existing backers Schroders, Balderton Capital, Pentech, Armada Investment Group and Nigel Wray; the funding is subject to the approval of the Financial Conduct Authority. Source
Accion Venture Lab, a seed stage investment vehicle for financial inclusion firm Accion, has sold its stake in Varthana; Varthana provides specialized loans and services so people in India can afford to attend private schools; Accion Venture Lab's first investment into Varthana was in 2013; Varthana recently raised $14 million in the spring of 2016. Source
New government fintech initiatives are trending across the globe and the European Commission (EC) is one of the most recent regulatory agencies to add a fintech group; the EC is the governing regulator for the European Union; it has announced a Financial Technology Task Force (FTTF) to be co-chaired by DG FISMA and DG CONNECT; the FTTF will facilitate regulatory communication in the areas of financial regulation, digital business, competition and consumer protection. Source
Scott Morrison, Australia's treasurer, spoke about regtech at the Fintech Australia Summit; the treasurer discussed a regtech collision occurring in fintech where both crowdfunding firms and traditional banks are benefiting from increased technological innovation around regulation; likely that the marketplace lending ecosystem could see expansion in regulatory technology innovation. Source
The company has raised $26.5 million to expand its digital transactions management business and bolster the staff to increase product development; the round was led by LLR Partners, a Philadelphia-based private equity firm; CEO Stephen Bisbee said, "We are seeing more opportunity in front of us than we're able to execute with our current staff." Source
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a financial government agency overseen by the Financial Stability Oversight Council, held a fintech forum discussing the industry; industry speakers included Ram Ahluwalia from PeerIQ and Matt Burton from Orchard; SEC speakers included Mary Jo White and Michael Piwowar; Mary Jo White focused on fintech responsibility suggesting thorough testing of various aspects of the business before introduction; Michael Piwowar focused on fintech sandbox testing and suggested that the SEC should be the lead agency regulating fintech; in an announcement on Monday, Mary Jo White also said she would be leaving her role in January. Source
Ernst & Young announced its annual Fintech Asia 100 list at the Singapore FinTech Festival; Next Money, Ernst & Young and Visa all contributed to the list; statistics from the list reported 26% of the individuals were female, 38 entrepreneurs, 41 CEOs, 15 different markets, India with the most members on the list at 18, and Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland China with 15. Source
Wirecard is a German payments provider that has helped to set up the current boom in fintech and banking apps in Britain; Wirecard is seen as the infrastructure behind many fintech startups that have raised hundreds of millions of pounds in the UK; companies use Wirecard to sublet their banking license and because they are able to issue cards from Visa and Mastercard. Source
The world's oldest central bank is now looking to the future; Riksbank is looking to issue a national digital currency as they have seen a 40% drop in use of notes and coins since 2009; they do not view the digital currency as a replacement for notes; the new currency would be viewed as complementary; challenges lie ahead as there is no blueprint for this; Cecilia Skingsley, deputy governor at the Riksbank, told the Financial Times, "This is as revolutionary as the paper note 300 years ago. What does it mean for monetary policy and financial stability? How do we design this: a rechargeable card, an app or another way?" Source