April 7, 2020 @ 10:50 am By JD Alois  |  

Chatter continues to trickle in that the Payroll Protection Program is floundering a bit during the first few days of the initiative. The Payroll Protection Program (PPP) is part of the $2 trillion CARES Act – the bailout package addressing the COVID-19 onslaught. The PPP… Read More

April 7, 2020 @ 10:17 am By JD Alois  |  

Wirex, a UK based payments platform, is reporting profitability while claiming over 3 million active users in more than 130 different countries. Wirex did not provide details on the profitability report as to whether it was for the full year of 2019, the most recent… Read More

April 7, 2020 @ 9:00 am By JD Alois  |  

Peer to peer lending platform TWINO is the latest online lender planning to expand its portfolio of services offered to its customers. According to a release, TWINO has applied for an investment brokerage license in Latvia. It was not immediately clear which additional services the… Read More

April 7, 2020 @ 8:20 am By JD Alois  |  

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged all UK businesses. But smaller firms and early-stage companies may end up bearing the brunt of the impact as these companies can be less well prepared to endure an ongoing economic shutdown. Today, the Enterprise Investment Scheme Association (EISA) is… Read More

April 6, 2020 @ 9:11 pm By JD Alois  |  

The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet fully understood. We all know it is going to be bad – the question is how bad and how long. In the US, the current administration has rushed to escort a huge stimulus bill through… Read More

April 6, 2020 @ 4:48 pm By JD Alois  |  

As was reported earlier today, the law firms of Roche Cyrulnik Freedman and Selendy & Gay filed a squadron of class action lawsuits targeting multiple crypto exchanges as well as token issuers. The two firms targeted four exchanges, including Bitmex and Binance as well as… Read More

April 6, 2020 @ 2:52 pm By JD Alois  |  

The US Federal Reserve, the central bank of the US, will establish a facility to facilitate lending to small businesses via the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) by providing term financing backed by PPP loans. The news was distributed in a very brief… Read More

April 6, 2020 @ 2:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

Mintos, a global loan marketplace claiming over a quarter of a million investors, is pursuing both a investment firm license and an e-money institution license, according to a release from the company. Mintos has applied to the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC) in Latvia… Read More

April 6, 2020 @ 1:06 pm By JD Alois  |  

Two law firms, Roche Cyrulnik Freedman and Selendy & Gay, have jointly filed 11 class actions against well-known crypto exchanges. The lawsuits also include accusations of “manipulative conduct” by Bitmex. The allegations were filed in the Southern District of New York against four crypto exchanges… Read More

April 6, 2020 @ 11:48 am By JD Alois  |  

Everyone is accustomed to seeing credit/debit card numbers on the plastic we lug around in our wallets. These numbers are a holdover from the day when merchants needed to type in or take an impression of the actual card. Until the Apple Card emerged, all… Read More

April 6, 2020 @ 11:32 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission has scheduled an open meeting for this coming Wednesday (Apri 8, 2020) to consider amendments that may improve the ecosystem to foster access to capital for SMEs. As we all know, SMEs have been pummeled by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many… Read More

April 6, 2020 @ 11:14 am By JD Alois  |  

On March 10, 2020, the Bank of England, Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to reduce Bank Rate and to introduce a new Term Funding Scheme with additional incentives for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (TFSME). Today, the Bank is announcing that the TFSME will open for… Read More

April 6, 2020 @ 9:58 am By JD Alois  |  

Last week in advance of the opening up of federal subsidized programs to backstop small businesses in the US crushed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Lendio CEO Brock Blake took to Twitter to criticize the lack of coordination between the US Department of Treasury and the… Read More

April 6, 2020 @ 9:45 am By JD Alois  |  

Legendary banking CEO Jamie Dimon has published his annual letter to investors that typically deals with the performance of JP Morgan Chase (NYSE:JPM). This year’s letter that always garners a broad readershp, has taken a different tone as the bank, as well as the rest… Read More

April 6, 2020 @ 9:22 am By JD Alois  |  

Last week, Crowdfund Insider reported on Latvia-based peer to peer lender Grupeer’s decision to halt all lending due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. CI quoted the company’s decision: “Regretfully, we are forced to inform you that in the current circumstances it is not… Read More

April 6, 2020 @ 7:43 am By JD Alois  |  

Nextfin, an investment aggregation platform, is echoing the sentiment of many other platforms in the early-stage funding sector by calling on the UK government to expand both the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) to encourage private investments in SME’s. EIS… Read More

April 6, 2020 @ 7:28 am By JD Alois  |  

Last week, it was reported that RateSetter, a leading UK peer to peer lender, was considering a merger or sale of the business. A report in SkyNews said the COVID-19 pandemic had exacerbated a “funding squeeze” compelling the Fintech to approach potential acquirers. RateSetter has… Read More

April 5, 2020 @ 7:07 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fintechs are starting to furlough employees as the economy tanks due to the COVID-19 induced decline. While not officially in recession, major economies are bracing for the worse while businesses are compelled to let employees go as business activity slows. On Monday, it was reported… Read More

April 5, 2020 @ 10:17 am By JD Alois  |  

Crowdcube co-founder Luke Lang has announced a new initiative to help entrepreneurs and small companies during the COVID-19 crisis. Distributed in an email today, Crowdcube announced the launch of Save Our Startups (SOC). Simultaneously, Crowdcube posted an open letter directed to UK Prime Minister Boris… Read More

April 4, 2020 @ 4:48 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last week, the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) cautioned an SEC Committee about the potential for fraud during the COVID-19 outbreak. NASAA is the lobbying group that represents state and provincial securities regulators. Christopher W. Gerold, NASAA President and Chief of the New Jersey Bureau… Read More