In this week’s PeerIQ Weekly Update the company covers the recent spate of bank earning reports, securitization news and issues another round of hiring updates; banks have seen a continued drop in fixed income and commodities trading revenue, picking up the slack has been lending and wealth management; Citigroup and Morgan Stanley had strong reports while Goldman Sachs and American Express missed the mark; SoFi is issuing a $720mn securitization deal, Moody’s rated the A classes AAA; PeerIQ also lists five new hires stemming from the $12mn round last summer. Source.
Buying and selling a home is a process that is full of friction. For some buyers financing is a roadblock due...
Anthony Noto will become SoFi's CEO effective March 1; American Banker outlines the five challenges that Noto will face as he enters his new role; list includes reforming SoFi’s culture, determining when to go public, deciding how to grow, whether to go forward with a bank charter and proving that he has the right background. Source
CNBC has released their 7th annual version of the CNBC Disrupter 50 which consists of startups who have exploited niches...
Rating agency DBRS has reviewed 12 US SoFi securitization transactions encompassing 36 different classes; the rating agency has upgraded 12 classes and confirmed 24; according to the agency, the confirmed classes are performing within expectations and the credit enhancement levels for the upgraded classes are sufficient to cover their new requirements. Source
This week, we look at Betterment launching a bank account and payments feature. They are not the first, but they could be the best! Still, it feels like the world has moved on. Barriers to entry around digital finance have collapsed, and shifted industry goal posts. Hundreds of companies are integrating API-based solutions that connect to banking and investment entities. Amazon, Google, and Apple are there already. And let's not forget the incredible pressure from the COVID recession: 20MM+ unemployed, $100 billion decrease in global remittances, 1 in 8 banks being unprofitable. Is it time for incremental improvement, or a sea change?
I reflect on ConsenSys acquiring a broker/dealer focused on municipal bonds, and why we believe that blockchain-native platforms are a fantastic fit for this $4 trillion asset class. Can direct holding of franctional munis enable deeper community participation and usage of common resources? Are there new sources of liquidity to unlock? At the same time, there are real dangers. I compare the evolution of digital lenders and their funding sources against the current possibilities in municipal bond markets. We also look into the reasons that some innovative Fintechs have failed to achieve their stated missions, and what can be learned and done better.
[Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Tharon Smith, Managing Director of LendIt China. Tharon is an expert in...
The first fintech to go public in the new year, the Dave challenger banking app went live on the Nasdaq Thursday, after a successful merger with a Victory Park SPAC.
Manatt shares that the FTC has finalized their deal with SoFi who was accused of making false statements about student...