51 Credit Card, in cooperation with Harvest Investment, has launched an investment fund with RMB1 billion ($150 million); 51 Credit Card in particular favors companies with good online lending users, big data and traffic acquisition capacity. Source (Chinese)
A new report by Accenture shows that seven out of 10 consumers would welcome exclusive robo-generated advice for investing and insurance needs; not all is lost for the human experience; 68% of consumers would still want to interact with a human for complex financial needs like a mortgage or to help solve a problem; the main reasons given for this shift are computers are seen to be less biased, they make services cheaper and the tasks are done faster; additionally, the report showed that consumers were willing to share their data if they thought a non traditional provider could be faster and cheaper. Source
9F Group has invested in a blockchain company called Wyre in Silicon Valley; the Group will establish its Southeast Asia headquarters in Singapore soon; plus it already has 9F Primasia Securities in Hong Kong. Source (Chinese)
SeekingAlpha reports on the valuation of Square, Inc. citing several factors that have led to an overvalued stock price of $17.37; the author reports that assumptions on the growth of its customers is overestimated; says it will have difficulty when expanding to higher value customers and internationally also reporting that the business model is at risk to lower cost market competitors; also says that its reliance on Square Capital lending to retain customers and balance attrition of gross payment volume is unlikely primarily due to market competition. Source
AltFi takes a look into the future at what the new Payment Services Directive will mean when it takes effect in 2018; companies will learn a great deal by trial and error as this is a new market and new markets need time to grow; client on boarding using KYC and AML requirements will be a key test for global banks who need to comply with the directive; open banking might also allow for banks to come across new customers that they might not have had access to in the past; ultimately client value is the biggest takeaway and open banking has the ability to deliver more to the client. Source
Chinese credit card management firm, 51 Credit, has raised $84 million in Series C+ funding from Harvest Capital and Yintai Group, this is soon after they secured $310 million from Series C funding; the fundraising will help the company establish its own investment fund targeting fintech companies; in total the firm has raised $444 million in equity capital; according to Sun Haitao, 51 Credit CEO, the fund will be launched within a year, and will focus on asset management, data and credit services. Source
European venture capital firm 83North has announced the closing of a $250 million investment in its fourth fintech fund; the firm focuses on startup investments in Europe and Israel and says that its fourth fund will continue to invest in those regions; the firm's latest investment brings its total capital under management to $800 million; the firm says it sees a greater opportunity for startup investment throughout Europe following Brexit. Source
In an opinion article, one investor shares emails that have been leaked at Chinese marketplace lender Yirendai (NYSE: YRD); leaked emails show the company's chairman requiring parent company employees at CreditEase to invest in a fund to purchase undisclosed US equities; the author states the fund is likely purchasing shares of YRD and presents his case for shorting the stock; the stock recently saw volatility following China's new regulatory guidance for P2P lenders. Source
An article in Hacker Noon digs into crypto platform NEO, exploring the company's background, website and white paper; what makes NEO different is that it doesn't have a crypto coin and NEO uses fiat as its internal currency; the NEO coin is similar to a traditional security, functioning as shares in the company that runs the platform. Source
Innovate Finance is planning to move from Canary Wharf to a new location in the Square Mile; the industry body also plans to provide space for startups; Mark Boleat, the City of London's policy chairman, also noted they plan to bring broader and faster wireless coverage in order to attract small businesses stating that the Square Mile was a "natural place for fintech to coalesce." Source