Archive
Everything published by Fintech Takes.
April 2023
- APR 122: S3 Ep2: BNC: What Makes a Bank Safe, the Federal Discount Window, and Innovation in BankingWith the benefit of some hindsight (finally), what are the big takeaways from SVB?
- APR 10The Tourists are Back#1: The Tourists are Back What happened? A new fintech company is focused on treasury management: Amit Jain, the former head of Uber’s Asia Pacific division, revealed his new venture, Zamp Finance, that aims to simplify the process for businesses to invest their excess capital in US Treasury bills to hedge against bank failures and […]
- APR 8Pay-in-4 BNPL Was Never a ProductI’m confused by Apple Pay Later. I know it’s a pay-in-4 buy now pay later (BNPL) product, similar to the ones that Klarna, Afterpay, and Affirm have been offering for a while. The consumer is given the option to split purchases between $50 and $1,000 into four equal installments, with the first installment being paid […]
- APR 41: S3 Ep1: NFIA: Ondorse, Parker, Getmomo, PortablWhat fintech companies should you be keeping a close eye on?
- APR 3This Survey I Paid For Says I’m Really Good at My Job.3 FINTECH NEWS STORIES #1: This Survey I Paid For Says I’m Really Good at My Job. What happened? The Consumer Bankers Association commissioned a survey of 1,197 U.S. consumers: So what? These kinds of surveys are hilarious. You have a PR problem (publications like the New York Times keep interviewing consumers who are getting […]
- APR 1Hindenburg Research Discovers FintechWould you rather travel fast or travel in comfort? If you were crossing an ocean in the late 1930s, this was an important question. If you wanted to optimize for speed over comfort, the best choice was one of those new heavier-than-air planes from an airline like Imperial Airways or Lufthansa, which could get you […]
March 2023
- MAR 309: S2 Ep9: Fintech Recap: Live From the Fintech Meetup in Las Vegas.Join Alex and co-host Jason Mikula at the Fintech Meetup conference, live from Vegas.
- MAR 27Compliance is Difficult to Scale#1: Morgan Stanley Has it Backward What happened? Morgan Stanley is testing out GPT-4 to help its human financial advisors: The experiment is aimed at “helping investment professionals parse through thousands of pages of our in-depth intellectual capital, analyst commentary, and market research in seconds – a process that typically could take more than half […]
- MAR 27S2 BONUS EPISODE: Fintech Takes X Fintech is Femme Crossover – Building The Fintech Community Through Real TalkThis is a special one as Alex gets into conversation with Nicole Casperson, host of podcast Humans of Fintech and founder of the Fintech is Femme newsletter.
- MAR 25The Most Interesting Conversations From Fintech MeetupOrganized chaos. That’s how one attendee described the experience of attending Fintech Meetup, and, after reflecting on my own experience, I think it’s apt. On the surface, you might have mistaken Fintech Meetup for a miniature Money2020. Fewer attendees (about 3,000), but the same general mix of institutions. Different hotel, but actually the same one […]
- MAR 228: S2 Ep8: The Fintech Slow Down, With Sarah KocianskiWhy is fintech heading into a period of consolidation and contraction? Answering this question and more is Alex’s guest, Sarah Kocianski.
- MAR 20Should You Protect Customers From Themselves?3 Fintech News Stories #1: Should You Protect Customers From Themselves? What happened? NatWest is the latest big UK bank to introduce limits on its customers’ ability to purchase crypto: The bank is putting a daily limit of £1000 and a 30-day payment limit of £5000 to crypto exchanges “to help protect customers from losing […]
- MAR 18Could BaaS Prevent The Next SVB?The conversation around SVB – which I have found to be both exhausting and enlightening, in very unequal measures – has shifted from diagnosing what happened to prescribing what should happen next in order to prevent more Twitter-fueled bank runs. These prescriptions range from absurd (bitcoin does not fix this, and a de-evolution away from […]
- MAR 157: S2 Ep7: BNC: Global Chip Shortage, ModernFi, and FIS’ acquisition of WorldpayHow can you fix a broken financial model? This question and more answered in the latest Bank Nerd Corner episode.
- MAR 14S2 BONUS EPISODE: Fintech Recap x Fintech Layer Cake Crossover – Encouraging Competition Through RegulationThis is part two of a special crossover episode with fintech friends Reggie Young and Matt Janiga, hosts of the wonderful Fintech Layer Cake podcast.
- MAR 13WAGMIWhat happened? Janet Yellen, Jerome Powell, and Martin Gruenberg shared an update: After receiving a recommendation from the boards of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve, and consulting with the President, Secretary Yellen approved actions enabling the FDIC to complete its resolution of Silicon Valley Bank, Santa Clara, California, in a manner that fully protects […]
- MAR 11NGMII was planning to write about something else this week, but then this happened: Silicon Valley Bank, Santa Clara, California, was closed today by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect insured depositors, the FDIC created the Deposit Insurance National Bank of […]
- MAR 86: S2 E6: NFIA: Noble, Clyr, Keyzy, CapitalizeWhat fintech companies do you need to know about?
- MAR 6Control the Attributes#1: Wealthfront Zagging What happened? Wealthfront introduced a new service: Today, we’re thrilled to announce Wealthfront is expanding into stock investing to serve a broader set of our clients’ investing needs. Our Stock Investing Account has all of the features you’d expect from a stock trading app including fractional shares, zero commissions, and a $1 […]
- MAR 4Catching Up On All The Takes#1: How Were Your Grades? What happened? Revolut claims that it was profitable in 2021: Financial technology giant Revolut reported its first-ever annual profit in 2021, according to financial accounts released Wednesday, as subscriptions to its paid packages and overall usage of its app grew sharply. The company reported revenues of £636.2 million ($767.1 million) […]
- MAR 2Unlocking the Next Wave of Lending InnovationFirst, an observation. While there have been a lot of great fintech lending companies that have been built in the last couple of decades – from peer-to-peer lending to BNPL – there has been a notable lack of lending products being launched by fintech companies that didn’t start out in lending. This is, speaking as […]
- MAR 15: S2 E5: Fintech Recap: Apple’s BNPL Moves Forward, Crypto Gets Stopped in its TracksTake a look back at all the big developments in fintech over February, from BNPL to crypto to outright ponzi schemes!
February 2023
- FEB 27Making Rewards Unrewarding#1: Speeding Up Auto Lending What happened? Carmoola raised a Series A: UK car finance fintech Carmoola has raised £8.5 million in a Series A funding round and secured another £95 million through a debt facility. The round was led by QED Investors, with participation from existing investors VentureFriends and InMotion Ventures, the investment arm […]
- FEB 25The Bank Account MultiverseA bank account is basically three things: Let’s go through each of those in a bit more detail. First, a safe place to keep your money. I have argued many times in this newsletter that the most foundationally important job of a bank account is to ensure that the money I have in it today […]
- FEB 224: S2 Ep4: Cutting Through the Fintech Hype with Frank RotmanSorting out hype from reality is one of the hardest jobs in fintech.
- FEB 20Ruh Roh, RESPA!3 Fintech News Stories #1: Ruh Roh, RESPA! What happened? The CFPB handed down an interesting advisory opinion: The CFPB recently issued an advisory opinion entitled Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act; Digital Mortgage Comparison-Shopping Platforms and Related Payments to Operators. In the advisory opinion the CFPB provides general guidance on how Digital Mortgage Comparison-Shopping Platforms […]
- FEB 18The Most Intriguing (and Terrifying) Fintech Use Case for Generative AII’ve been playing around with generative AI tools for the last few months, occasionally using them to write my intros or create images when I couldn’t find or build the exact thing I wanted. These experiments have been diverting and, occasionally, valuable for my work. However, I haven’t seen or experienced anything in this generative […]
- FEB 153: S2 Ep3: BNC: Bank Earnings, Jiko, and Why So Many Banks Have The Same NamesHow did banks do in Q4 2022 and how is 2023 shaping up?
- FEB 13Follow the Leader3 FINTECH NEWS STORIES #1: Follow the Leader What happened? A new social investing app raised $9 million in new funding: If you’d like to invest the same way that fintech influencers, including Austin Hankwitz, WOLF Financial, Breyanna Nava and Patrick Meng do, Follow can help you do that. The new social investment platform enables […]
- FEB 11What’s the Difference Between Fraud and Scams?A general critique that I have of banks is that their competence in risk management and focus on short-term profits often interfere with their ability (and even desire) to solve problems for their customers. Once you learn to look for it, you see this all over the place in financial services. The tens of millions […]
- FEB 82: S2 Ep2: NFIA: Zerodha, Link, Ready Life, Goldenset CollectiveWhich fintech companies do you need to know about? Alex and guest, Simon Taylor, turn the spotlight on four companies that caught their attention this month and talk about the larger trends behind these companies.
- FEB 6But I Reeeally Want It3 FINTECH NEWS STORIES #1: Cash App Adds Savings What happened? New Cash App feature dropped: Block Inc.’s Cash App unit says it is attempting to make it easier for consumers to salt away money with the introduction of Cash App Savings. The new feature allows Cash App users to deposit savings into a separate […]
- FEB 4The Past, Present, & Future of Big Bank ConsortiumsIn last week’s essay – Big Banks’ Next Big Bet – I wrote about Early Warning Services’ plans to launch a digital wallet to help its owner banks (EWS is owned by a consortium of seven large U.S. banks) compete with PayPal and Apple. The focus of the essay was narrow – will Belle (I […]
- FEB 11: S2 Ep1: Is Robinhood Going Off The Rails?Kicking off season 2 Alex and co-host Jason Mikula get straight into the Fintech news making waves.
January 2023
- JAN 30Would You Get a Fintech Takes Credit Card?3 FINTECH NEWS STORIES #1: Sell to Banks! What happened? A fintech infrastructure provider in the fraud management space raised a Series B: Inscribe closed a $25 million Series B funding round led Threshold Ventures with participation from Crosslink Capital, Foundry, Uncork Capital, Box co-founder Dillon Smith and Intercom co-founder Des Traynor. The infusion brings […]
- JAN 28Big Banks’ Next Big BetThe big fintech news this week is that Early Warning Services (EWS) – a consortium of seven big U.S. banks – is developing a digital wallet: Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and four other banks are working on a new product that will allow shoppers to pay at merchants’ online checkout with a […]
- JAN 25Fintech Takes – Season 2 TrailerWe live in the golden age of Fintech, with companies springing up all over the place. The pressure to stay ahead of the curve is immense and it’s easy to lose track of your mission when you’re struggling to keep up with the latest trends.
- JAN 23Fintech + Family Tech3 FINTECH NEWS STORIES #1: A Fintech Time Machine What happened? Mayfair, a fintech company focused on business banking and treasury management, is emerging from stealth: Mayfair is a new fintech startup that offers businesses up to 4.02% APY, a number it claims is among the highest out there. How a startup that is barely […]
- JAN 21How Are Banks Feeling About 2023?The purpose of today’s essay is to check in on how banks are feeling about the coming year. I use the term ‘feeling’ intentionally, as the overriding theme of this essay is an incongruity between the apparent reality of the financial industry and the economy at large (in pretty good shape!) and how banks and […]
- JAN 16Wait, is your name even Frank?3 Fintech News Stories #1: Wait, is your name even Frank? What happened? Well, we may already have our winner for the most insane fintech story of 2023, and it’s only January 16th: JPMorgan Chase on Thursday shut down the website for a college financial aid platform it bought for $175 million after alleging the […]
- JAN 14Auto Lending: Where Are We and Where Are We Going?I’ve written about the Goldilocks Theory of financial industry analysis before – the most interesting stuff to study, the stuff that actually tells you something about the future of the industry as a whole, is the stuff in the middle – not too big, not too small. It’s why I find large regional banks so […]
- JAN 9Tell Me How Much It Costs!3 Fintech News Stories #1: Tell Me How Much It Costs! What happened? Rocket Money (formerly Truebill) offers a free version and a premium version of its personal financial management app. Did you know that nowhere on Rocket Money’s main website does it say how much Rocket Money Premium costs? A little digging in Rocket […]
- JAN 7P2P Payments: Fintech’s Vision BoardMost bank executives that you speak with tend to be quite rational. Sometimes coldly so. I remember talking to a chief lending officer at a small regional bank operating out of the Southeastern U.S. about his need to mitigate the geographic concentration risk of his bank’s loan book and only later realizing what he was […]
- JAN 2Klarna Kosmanauts3 Fintech News Stories #1: Lilly, Revisited. What happened? In my last newsletter, I wrote a bit about a new fintech company called Lilly, which is focused on helping consumers invest for retirement through, among other things, channeling the money they earn through cashback credit cards into IRAs. In researching the company, I noticed that […]
December 2022
- DEC 22An Overstuffed Stocking of Fintech Takes#1: Too Big To Be Competent What happened? Stop me if you’ve heard this one before – Wells Fargo screwed over a bunch of its customers and was fined by a regulator: Today, the CFPB is ordering Wells Fargo to pay more than $2 billion in redress to over 16 million consumers and a $1.7 […]
- DEC 19For Whom the Chime Tolls3 Fintech News Stories #1: For Whom the Chime Tolls What happened? Chime reportedly tried to buy DailyPay, a provider of earned wage access, a couple of times earlier this year: Chime offered to buy earned wage access startup DailyPay twice this year, first for $1.6 billion and then for $2 billion, and was rejected […]
- DEC 16Choose Your Own (Card Issuing) AdventureVideo games used to be simple. Two players hit a ball back and forth until one of them misses, and the other player scores a point. The first to 11 points wins. It wasn’t until a few years later (around 1975) that things started to get more complex. That was when a computer programmer and […]
- DEC 12Tough Timing3 Fintech News Stories #1: Eating Its Way Up the Stack What happened? Plaid is bringing a new product out of beta: Plaid today announced that after two years in beta, its machine learning (ML) risk engine, Signal, will be available to customers seeking to upgrade their automated clearing house (ACH) transaction services with fraud […]
- DEC 10Make it DumberLet’s say it’s 2019, and you’ve decided you want to build a neobank. What kind of neobank might you build? Well, you’d probably focus on the youngest cohort of available customers – Gen Z. The ones you feel like incumbents are probably least able to understand and serve well. You might look for some way […]
- DEC 6I’ll Have What She’s Having3 Fintech News Stories #1: I’ll Have What She’s Having What happened? Buzzy fintech startup X1 has raised more money: X1, a consumer fintech startup which recently launched an income-based credit card to the public, has raised an additional $15 million in funding. So what? As Mary Ann rightly notes in her article, this funding […]
- DEC 3A Microcosm for FintechIf you had to pick one company to use as an example to explain everything that has happened in fintech over the last decade, which company would you pick? It’s a difficult question. I’m not asking for the most successful company in fintech over the last 10 years. Or the most famous (or infamous). I’m […]
November 2022
- NOV 28Young People Don’t Like Old TechThree Fintech News Stories #1: A New Type of Liability Shift What happened? The big banks are devising some new rules for refunding customers who lose money to scams through Zelle: Banks are required to refund customers for transactions they didn’t authorize, but there is no such protection for customers who are duped into sending […]
- NOV 23A Heaping Plateful of Fintech TakesOk, here’s the plan. I’m going to lay out a draft schedule for Thanksgiving Day and then pair fintech content recommendations (both my content and great content from other folks) for every part of the day. A couple of notes: The draft schedule reflects my own personal Thanksgiving schedule, which may be very different than […]
- NOV 21Don’t Chase a Bad Hand3 Fintech News Stories #1: Attacking Money-adjacent Problems What happened? Daylight raised a Series A: Daylight, a digital bank that pitches itself as LGBTQIA+-friendly, announced a $15 million Series A round led by Anthemis Group with participation from CMFG Ventures, Kapor Capital, Citi Ventures and Gaingels. So what? I first wrote about Daylight in an […]
- NOV 19Fintech’s Steroid EraThere have only been six times in the nearly 150-year history of professional baseball that a player has hit more than 62 home runs in a single season. Curiously, all of those instances happened within a four-year stretch: 1998 – Sammy Sosa – 66 1998 – Mark McGwire – 70 1999 – Sammy Sosa – […]
- NOV 14The People’s Financial Institution3 Fintech News Stories #1: PayPal Wins. Apple Wins More. What happened? Apple and PayPal have made up: PayPal and Apple have struck a deal to start accepting each other’s payments products within their separate ecosystems. The pair have agreed to let US merchants accept contactless payments on their iPhones – using Apple’s new Tap […]
- NOV 12The Evolutionary Imperative to be BoringThe job in banking, as I have recently written, is to provide a safe place for customers to keep, access, and think about their money. The temptation in banking is to use those large piles of money to make more money. A few good ways of doing this include: Lending money. Investing money. Lending yourself […]
- NOV 8Two Camps3 Fintech News Stories #1: Two Camps What happened? Zest AI, a fintech infrastructure company founded in 2009, raised $50 million: Zest AI, the leader in automating underwriting with more accurate and inclusive lending insights powered by AI, announced today a fresh expansion round of more than $50 million. So what? The interesting bit to […]
- NOV 4What is a Bank?I became deeply interested in this question last year, when Chime, the most popular neobank in the U.S., was ordered by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) to stop referring to itself as a bank and to make it clear to its customers and prospects that the actual banking services it offers […]
October 2022
- OCT 31The Horror! The Horror!3 Fintech News Stories #1: For The Children What happened? An interesting B2C fintech company raised a Series A: The daughter of divorced parents herself, Jacklyn Rome founded Onward in 2020 with the aim of helping divorced and separated parents more easily manage their shared expenses. Rome, who previously led new product launches at Uber […]
- OCT 29What Are Your Alternatives?What is the greatest legal movie ever, according to lawyers? Any guesses? 12 Angry Men? To Kill a Mockingbird? A Few Good Men? Nope! The correct answer is My Cousin Vinny, a movie about a new lawyer named Vincent Gambini who travels from New York to Alabama to defend his cousin in a murder trial. […]
- OCT 26Observations from Money20/20The numbers I heard were 13,000 official attendees and another 7,000 or so unofficial hangers-on. So roughly 20,000 … 20,000 fintech enthusiasts all walking around the hallways of the Venetian Hotel. And honestly? Those numbers don’t do justice to the experience. The venue was absolutely packed, and both the sessions and networking events were overflowing […]
- OCT 24Build Back Better3 Fintech News Stories #1: I’ll Take One of Each of Yours What happened? Chase introduced a new product feature that might sound familiar to those in the neobank space: The bank is debuting this feature — which accelerates payments including payroll, tax refunds, pensions and government benefits by up to two days — for […]
- OCT 22What Fintech Forgets About Consumer LendingHere’s a simple axiom: It’s incredibly easy to give away money … the challenge is getting it back. If you’ve attended a financial services conference (especially recently), you’ve probably heard this statement being tossed out by a presenter or panelist. Depending on the conference, it may have been me! I know it sounds trite, but […]
- OCT 17Fintech’s New Favorite Customer3 Fintech News Stories #1: Fintech’s New Favorite Customer What happened? A UK-based fintech company focused on payments operations raised a seed round: Payable announced a new $6-million seed round on Tuesday. The company is a platform designed to streamline payment operations and automate business ops. The round was co-led by CRV and Earlybird Venture […]
- OCT 15How Fintech VCs Can Actually Be Helpful“Let me know how I can be helpful.” This is a sentence that has been so frequently written by VCs, often at the end of an email explaining why they aren’t investing in a startup, that it has become a meme. But you know what? In today’s essay, we’re going to take them up on […]
- OCT 10Liquid Yield3 Fintech News Stories #1: July 1, 2023: The Day Debit Interchange-only Business Models Die What happened? The Federal Reserve finalized a new rule: The Federal Reserve on Monday voted to finalize a proposal to clarify a rule requiring more than one debit card network be available for routing all transactions, including those online. In […]
- OCT 7BNPL’s Biggest Problem …… is that it’s unpredictable. Now, let’s pause here and cup a hand around our ear and listen for the indignant objections of all those who work for or invest in BNPL providers … it should just be a sec … Unpredictable?!? WTF? Our product is vastly more predictable and transparent and safe to use […]
- OCT 62: S1 EP2 – October Recap: Why Money Lion’s Customers Bit BackIn this look back over October’s Fintech news, find out why Money Lion fell foul of regulators, and major takeaways from the CFPB’s Buy Now, Pay Later report.
- OCT 3A Small Step in the Right Direction3 Fintech News Stories #1: Good Timing What happened? Yet more product innovation in the business banking and corporate spend management space: Rho announced Prime Treasury, a tailored treasury management offering built into Rho’s automated finance platform. Prime Treasury, a new, registered investment advisor subsidiary of Rho, will help growth-stage, US-based businesses protect their capital […]
September 2022
- SEP 30The Fintech FactorHere’s my working theory for today’s essay: The best thing about building fintech products 10-15 years ago was the complete and utter lack of fintech infrastructure available for founders to use. Now, I know that the OG fintech founders out there may balk at this statement. I know what they went through to get those […]
- SEP 283: FF Ep4: PayPal to MX: How Jim Magats is Building Trust in Open FinanceAn open finance economy has the potential to benefit millions of people. Find out how Jim Magats is building systems that change lives.
- SEP 26A Noble (but challenging) Goal3 News Stories #1: The Most Comprehensive Corporate Spend Management Platform What happened? I guess I’m just going to keep writing about this space: Rippling has launched spend management products that integrate with its existing payroll solution, enabling finance leaders and controllers to view and manage spend across their company on a single platform. The […]
- SEP 23Three Years of Takes226,929. That’s the number of words I’ve written in this newsletter since I started it, just over three years ago. I find that a bit staggering. It sometimes feels like I’ve been writing Fintech Takes for a decade. And other times it feels like I just got started. But 226,929 words? That’s a terrifyingly large […]
- SEP 201: S1 EP1 – Live From Fintech Devcon With Adam Naor and Jason HenrichsJoin Alex in the first of his live podcasts, with some seriously spicy takes from his guests. Find out why Jason believes banking as a service is BS and why he’s bought the hot sauce with him.
- SEP 19The Great Convergence Continues3 Fintech News Stories #1: The Great Convergence Continues What happened? Product roadmaps continue to converge in the corporate card and expense management space: After three years offering startups banking services, San Francisco-based Mercury is launching a corporate charge card called IO. The corporate card market is an increasingly crowded sector of fintech with companies […]
- SEP 1610 Observations from FinovateOver the last 15 years or so, I have observed a phenomenon that I like to call the fintech event lifecycle. It goes something like this: A new event emerges with a focus on financial technology and innovation. It attracts a small, but dedicated core group of speakers, attendees, and sponsors. The event takes risks […]
- SEP 153: FF Ep3: Building a Systemic Solution to Credit Invisibility, with Nova CreditWhen you don’t have enough credit data it’s impossible to get a mortgage, loan or even a credit card. Misha is on a mission to bring financial equity to millions of Americans. Find out how.
- SEP 12Stacking the Curriculum3 Fintech News Stories #1: A Rocketship for Credit Unions? What happened? An interesting partnership was announced (and didn’t get a ton of attention … tip of the hat to Rex Salisbury for pointing it out): Rocket Mortgage and Q2 have announced a partnership that enables banks and credit unions to offer customers and members […]
- SEP 83: FF Ep2: How to Prevent Identity Theft Without Losing Customers, With NeuroIDSince 2013, 70 billion records have been stolen or compromised and that’s hit businesses hard. But NeuroID has a solution. One that does impact customer experience.
- SEP 8Does the OCC Know What BaaS is?Last month, I joked on Twitter about the challenges that fintech companies were going to start facing trying to get onboarded by banking-as-a-service (BaaS) banks as regulators started paying more attention to BaaS. At that time, there were plenty of rumors swirling that regulators were having some uncomfortable conversations with banks about BaaS and their […]
- SEP 4Marketers’ Dark Arts3 Fintech News Stories #1: Marketers’ Dark Arts What happened? Credit Karma got in some trouble with the FTC: The Federal Trade Commission has taken action against credit services company Credit Karma for deploying dark patterns to misrepresent that consumers were “pre-approved” for credit card offers. The FTC alleges that the company used claims that […]
- SEP 1The CFPB’s Capraesque Obsession with Relationship BankingOur story starts in Great Falls, Montana. And like most stories originating from Great Falls, this one is confusing and a bit depressing. (Editor’s note – I hate Great Falls with a passion that, I admit, isn’t entirely rational. If you’re not from Montana, you won’t understand. Just go with me on this.) At a […]
August 2022
- AUG 313: FF Ep1: How TripActions Liquid is Solving Expense ManagementHow is TripActions Liquid giving employees the best travel experience possible? Meet Michael Sindicich, the GM taking his time to create frictionless solutions.
- AUG 29Steal From the Rich and Live Off the Interest3 Fintech News Stories #1: Steal From the Rich and Live Off the Interest What happened? Robinhood is starting to figure out more ways to make money: Some notable things happened in Robinhood’s results in the second quarter, announced in early August. No, it wasn’t a jump in trading. But average revenue per user ticked […]
- AUG 26Potential Winners and Losers in a Rising Rate EnvironmentThis happened about a month ago: The Federal Reserve continued a sprint to reverse its easy-money policies by approving another unusually large interest rate increase and signaling more rises were likely coming to combat inflation that is running at a 40-year high. Officials agreed unanimously Wednesday to lift their benchmark federal-funds rate to a range […]
- AUG 21Quietly Hedging3 Fintech News Stories #1: Where Will Corporate Banking Go Next? What happened? Rho announced the addition of expense management capabilities to its platform: Corporate spend and cash management company Rho announced that it is adding expense management to its offerings with “custom controls designed to make expenses less painful.” Via email, the company told […]
- AUG 18Fintech is Breaking the Credit BureausEditor’s note – Today’s essay was co-authored with Kevin Moss. Kevin is the former Chief Risk Officer for SoFi, a former Board Member at Varo Money and Snap Financial and the former Risk Leader for the Consumer Lending Group at Wells Fargo. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that Kevin […]
- AUG 14It Always Feels Worse When It Happens to You3 Fintech News Stories #1: It Always Feels Worse When It Happens to You What happened? Digit, a fintech company focused on helping consumers save money, got into trouble with the CFPB: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is taking action against Hello Digit, LLC, a financial technology company that used a faulty algorithm that […]
- AUG 12A PFM App by Any Other NameGrab your fedora and bullwhip; we’re going to be starting with some fintech archeology today. Journey back with me to the halcyon days of 2008, when the traditional banking system was imploding, consumers were pissed, and web startups focused on personal finance were just beginning to flourish. Here’s the New York Times: When the financial […]
- AUG 8Play Now, Pay Later3 Fintech News Stories #1: Flexible Benefits What happened? Ben, an employee benefits platform, raised a $16 million Series A round: Cherry Ventures, DN Capital and Seedcamp joined the round for Ben, an agnostic platform that lets employees to choose from a wide array of workplace benefits options and find what suits them. The firm […]
- AUG 5Fintech is Making Credit Cards WeirderIf you gave a bank executive a blank canvas and asked them to paint you something, they might come up with something like this: If you showed the first painting to an executive at a second bank and asked that executive to come up with something better, they’d likely come back with something this: And […]
- AUG 1Trying Something New3 Fintech News Stories #1: P2P Lending … for Real Estate? What happened? A fintech company called Nada, which is focused on widening access to real estate wealth, raised an $8.1 million seed round. It offers two primary products: The company offers index-like real estate investment products called “Cityfunds” that allows anyone, including non-accredited investors, […]
July 2022
- JUL 28An Apple Bank Account?Benedict Evans asked: Simon Taylor suggested: And so, I shall oblige (recognizing that I’m far from the first person to write about this and fully planning to build on many of these smart people’s thoughts). And in typical Fintech Takes’ fashion, I shall answer this question with a bunch more questions. What financial products and […]
- JUL 263: FF – TrailerWe live in the golden age of Fintech infrastructure and with a wealth of tools and APIs, it’s quick and easy to start a fintech company.
- JUL 25Fair Play3 Fintech News Stories #1: Making Credit Scores Obsolete What happened? Tomo Credit – a fintech company focused on serving credit invisible customers – raised a $22 million Series B, with the goal of making credit scores obsolete: Tomo is different from many other credit offerings out there in that it doesn’t rely on FICO […]
- JUL 21Fintech Logo RankingsMost of my career has been spent in marketing. And in my time working as a marketer, I came up with a very simple rule, intended to help me avoid professional heartbreak — never ever work on a project that involves names or colors. Why? Because everyone has a favorite color and everyone has had […]
- JUL 17This is Getting Abstract3 Fintech News Stories #1: Totem What happened? A new neobank focused on serving Native Americans was announced: [Amber Buker, member of the Choctaw tribe] and Richard Chance, a member of the Cherokee tribe, co-founded Totem, a neobank designed to serve the needs of the growing Native American market Totem stands out from many other […]
- JUL 14Embedded Finance Misses the PointTake a look at this chart from CB Insights of all of the private companies in the world worth $1 billion or more and tell me what stands out. It’s a lot of fintech. I mean, I knew fintech was popular, but wow. And those are just the unicorns! That graphic doesn’t include public fintech […]
- JUL 11Fintech + Construction3 Fintech News Stories #1: Fintech + Construction What happened? A fintech company focused on the construction industry raised a seed round: Adaptive, an 11-month-old startup that has set out to give construction teams better tools to manage their back offices, has raised $6.5 million in a seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). This […]
