Coinbase capitalizes on crypto-surge Cryptocurrencies have been on a rocketship this year. Bitcoin had briefly hit $1,000 at the end of 2013, and then spent 3 years trying to recover from a huge decline. It ended 2016 priced at just under $1,000, but has more than tripled to $3,400 so far this year. The same… Read More

Banks push back against SoFi bank charter… Well that escalated quickly. After reports that SoFi had applied for an industrial loan company (ILC) bank charter in Utah, industry trade groups pushed for the FDIC to reject the application. The ICBA (Independent Community Bankers of America) positioned the ILC charter as a loophole and argues that… Read More

Must have been a slow news day… The team at Precision Lender invited me on their Purposeful Banker podcast to discuss an article I wrote about creating more authentic (and customer-centric) value propositions for banks. You can listen to the interview here. Leveraging the Value Chain, part 3 This is the last installment in a… Read More

In case you missed it, last week’s edition was an initial dive into how Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods was a reflection of its longer-term business development strategy. By exploring ways to leverage its existing value chain, Amazon uses internal customers to help develop new core businesses. I wanted to see if I could apply… Read More

Editor Note: I hope the below provides a brief respite from the barrage of Uber news. This is the first of a two-part series around ways companies can build new core businesses/distribution by using Amazon as a case study. By leveraging a company’s internal needs and strategically playing with the value chain, new core businesses… Read More

SoFi takes a step closer to launching a bank SoFi has applied for an industrial loan charter in Utah under the name SoFi Bank. SoFi’s application specifies that it will not operate branches or deposit-taking ATMs, and will only offer a credit card and an FDIC deposit account. If approved, it would be the first… Read More

BankMobile deal encounters snags BankMobile, the student-focused online banking division of $10 billion Customers Bank, was set to be sold to $125MM Flagship Community Bank in Florida. However, the deal broke down as Flagship was not able to raise enough capital to cover the $175MM purchase price. While it looks like the deal will be… Read More

It’s that time again – Mary Meeker just presented her Internet Trends 2017 report at Code Conference. I have summarized below the trends that touch fintech, but you can read through the 355(!) slide deck here if you want. (the slide deck has seen massive growth over the years… from 66 slides in 2011, to… Read More

(Potentially) big news broke this week, as USAA announced they are pursuing royalties for the remote deposit capture technology used by 5,000+ institutions. This may come as a surprise to many, since remote and mobile deposit capture has become so ubiquitous so quickly, with banking software providers offering the same functionality to thousands of financial… Read More

Most value propositions are dumb. Take my four years at Morgan Stanley as a case study. Every few months or so, the newest recruits head off to a centralized training center in the Northeast to be taught how to create an elevator pitch and have conversations with potential clients. Two hundred newly minted financial advisors… Read More