The report, "Payment: The Ecosystem Gateway" is the first one in Goldman Sachs' "The Rise of China FinTech" series; the report focuses on the emergence of new electronic payment methods, as payment is a crucial gateway to most other services, and this is where the innovators have gained the strongest footholds in China. Source (Chinese)
Goldman Sachs is investing £100m ($132.6) in UK consumer lending platform Neyber; the financing will come in the form of debt and equity; the FT reports, “We are now in a place where we are confident in our model,” said Martin Ijaha, co-founder of Neyber. “The Goldman Sachs investment of £100m is really about expanding the amount we lend from the £70m we have done to date.” Source
The deal will allow Mosaic to free up room on their own balance sheet and finance more loans; the company operates as a hybrid lender and completed a $139 million securitization in February; the move shows the willingness for a big bank to buy and own solar loans. Source
deBanked reports that Bond Street has stopped making new loans; seven months ago Bond Street announced a $300 million loan purchase agreement with Jefferies; the WSJ outlines that engineers, product developers, and risk and marketing specialists will join Goldman’s consumer bank; Square is allegedly also in talks with some Bond Street employees. Source
According to the WSJ, Goldman Sachs is considering a new trading operation dedicated to digital currencies; a spokeswoman for Goldman stated, “In response to client interest in digital currencies, we are exploring how best to serve them in this space.”; several banks have been exploring the use of blockchain technology; Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JP Morgan Chase recently spoke out against bitcoin calling it a fraud. Source
Marcus by Goldman Sachs was launched in 2016 and marked an important point in the consumer lending industry as they decided to build their own platform from scratch; Ainsley O'Connell from Fast Company interviews head of Marcus, Harit Talwar; Talwar shares what was attractive about getting into personal loans and details the Marcus product; stated that there were many consumer pain points and Goldman Sachs was confident they could help; Goldman also has several advantages to give them an edge; not only do they have their own balance sheet, but they essentially built a startup, leaning on 147 years of experience; they also had the advantage that there were no conflicts over any legacy consumer businesses within Goldman; the company worked closely with consumers to bring to market a product they want which Talwar discusses in the interview. Source
Goldman Sachs said that their loan business would contribute almost half of the $5 billion in revenue growth it is projecting by 2020; the company will put $28 billion towards loans in the next three years in order to grow that part of the business; Revenue growth has remained flat since the financial crisis and trading revenues remain stagnant. Source
Through the partnership, the firm hopes to provide more personalization to their over 270,000 users; both portfolios were vetted by Betterment to ensure quality and affordability standards; Dan Egan, director of behavioral finance investments at Betterment stated, “We wanted to get these strategies out to our clients as quickly as possible, rather than build them out ourselves.” Source
Goldman Sachs first entered the market with the acquisition of GE Bank and the subsequent launch of GS bank; Tearsheet explores their other moves in the market more recently in fintech; Goldman Sachs has invested in 23 fintech startups and is the only top ten bank that has hit every category in its investments: blockchain, data analytics, insurance, personal finance, wealth management, financial services software, lending, payments and settlement, real estate and regulatory technology. Source
Genesis Capital is based in Los Angeles and provides capital to house flippers; they were founded in 2007 and lent $1 billion last year; the move shows Goldman’s continued interest in other areas outside their trading business; investor spending on the fix and flip market has grown recently, but still remains below pre-crisis levels. Source