Veterans Day, Identity Standards

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, startups, European government officials, etc. One of the areas in focus was the balance between data transparency and privacy, especially in the context of risk/fraud/illegal activities, and data ownership and monetization. Well worth the read to understand the foundation of an international effort to align on identity standards and policies.

Incumbent-managed Digital Banks are Being Started and Sold

Republic Bank, a $5B institution in Kentucky, launched a new digital banking division. The new division, called MemoryBank, offers an online-standard 1% APR deposit account, as long as you have direct deposit and make 20 debit card transactions. At the same time, $9B Customers Bank is exploring a sale of its digital bank, BankMobile, which has been around for two years.

The Pitch podcast + 500 Startups fintech

Great podcast from 500 Startups fintech Partner Sheel Mohnot and co-host Josh Muccio, covering a handful of fintech companies from the 500 Startups accelerator. Interesting startups include regtech company BIGcontrols (government incentive management), BrightPolicy (online homeowner’s insurance broker), and Indio (digital platform for commercial insurance brokers).