Happy Friday! Citi is back with Round 2 of its fintech-focused Digital Disruption report. The first report was released in March 2016 and focused largely on Citi’s thoughts on the changing finserv landscape. The new report issued this month updates those views, and uses the lens of venture capital, including interviews with a few fintech VCs… Read More

A new stealth startup has launched that uses mobile biometric payment technology to deliver robust user-facing optimization, while the near-instant payment paradigm reduces consumer peak currency online netting systems. This is in spite of the fact that challenger investment fragments opportunistic deployment of blockchain digital payments technology. However, the resilience of standalone transactional cloud-based pipes… Read More

Northwestern Mutual gets in on fintech VC The company has launched Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, a $50MM fund that will invest between $500,000 to $3,000,000 in each fintech startup. Rebecca Porter, VP of Corporate Strategy at Northwestern Mutual, will be the chairwoman of the investment committee. Northwestern has some experience in this area, after acquiring… Read More

While the idea of Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) has been around for years, 2016 was really the tipping point in terms of wider understanding and public launching (or aspirations) of broader Baas platforms. Singapore-based VC firm Life.SREDA is making an attempt to become the thought leader in BaaS topics (including owning the www.bank-as-a-service.com website). As part of… Read More

It’s that time of year when everyone comes out of the woodwork to offer their predictions on what will happen next year. Some are right, some are wrong, but most deserve some consideration, either helping to confirm your view, teach you something new, or reveal that you have additional or unique insight that may be… Read More

After months of waiting, the OCC finally released its official comments and a white paper discussing its desire and considerations in granting special purpose (fintech) bank charters. Comptroller Thomas Curry said “It is clear that fintech companies hold great potential to expand financial inclusion, empower consumers, and help families and businesses take more control of… Read More

Online small business lender stops lending(?) Dealstruck, which focused on making small business loans of up to $500,000, stopped making new loans last month. Dealstruck was four years old and had raised around $10 million in equity financing. Existing borrowers will still be serviced, but the team is “looking for strategic options to … continue… Read More

Lots of news happening over the last two weeks, the biggest of which may be a new funding round for the country’s most valuable fintech startup, validating one part of the market as others struggle. Stripe, which provides a software platform for businesses to accept payments online, raised $150 million on a $9 billion valuation.… Read More

No column today in honor of Veterans Day. Use the extra time to find and thank a veteran. Identity Standards Attracting International Attention Pascal Bouvier, Venture Partner at Santander Innoventures, provides some key takeaways from a meeting on identity management at the US Treasury Department. Attendees included the IMF, World Bank, US Department of Justice,… Read More

While financial services is undergoing a fundamental technological transformation enabling completely new business models, the downside is that many new terms are being thrown around without a common framework for how to discuss these new business models. Banking-as-a-Service, Banking-as-a-Platform, API Banking, and Marketplace Banking all sounds great, but what do they mean and how are… Read More