March 9, 2021 @ 11:38 pm By JD Alois  |  

Investment crowdfunding platform Snowball Effect will offer platform investors access to OurCrowd’s OC50 Series IV Fund. Snowball Effect has partnered with OurCrowd to give investors in New Zealand a simple way to get access and exposure to global investment opportunities. OurCrowd is one of the… Read More

March 9, 2021 @ 11:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

Seedrs Secondary Market opened this week and following the trades, Seedrs has posted on its blog that it claims the title as the UK’s biggest marketplace for private companies. Of note, is the fact that private companies who haven’t raised on Seedrs before can list… Read More

March 9, 2021 @ 1:24 pm By JD Alois  |  

SoFi has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Golden Pacific Bancorp, Inc. (OTCPK: GPBI) a Sacramento, California-based community bank that is regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The bank reportedly holds approximately $150 million in assets so it was quite… Read More

March 9, 2021 @ 12:19 pm By JD Alois  |  

The European Commission has shared its vision for the digital transformation of Europe by 2030. The policy initiative is an all-encompassing approach to many aspects of the economy and daily existence. The EU states that this builds on the Commission’s digital strategy of February 2020…. Read More

March 9, 2021 @ 11:54 am By JD Alois  |  

Cypriot bank Hellenic Bank says that its new banking platform, built in partnership with Backbase,  has boosted monthly active users by 16%. Meanwhile, the time required to complete a daily task has dropped by 20%. The new mobile app, built using Backbase’s Engagement Banking platform,… Read More

March 9, 2021 @ 11:23 am By JD Alois  |  

Creditshelf Aktiengesellschaft and Commerzbank AG have announced the extension of a partnership that has been in place since 2019. Creditshelf is an online lending platform for German SMEs. Creditshefl, which was founded in 2014 and is based in Frankfurt am Main, arranges bank-independent, flexible financing… Read More

March 9, 2021 @ 9:58 am By JD Alois  |  

The European Banking Authority has published a document that addresses anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) when it comes to crowdfunding. The guidelines for crowdfunding platforms are incorporated into the Final Report “on customer due diligence and the factors credit and financial institutions should… Read More

March 9, 2021 @ 9:07 am By JD Alois  |  

SoFi, has launched its first credit card that is said to include a rewards structure designed to help consumers reach their financial goals,  including up to 2% unlimited cash back when applied to a SoFi Money® or SoFi Active Invest account or used to pay… Read More

March 9, 2021 @ 8:54 am By JD Alois  |  

The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing today on the GameStop/Reddit/Robinhood saga entitled; “Who Wins on Wall Street? GameStop, Robinhood, and the State of Retail Investing.” The hearing is scheduled to commence at 10AM. The hearing will review the concerted effort by individuals chatting on… Read More

March 9, 2021 @ 8:29 am By JD Alois  |  

Juni, a digital banking startup based in Sweden, has enlisted TruNarrative’s Regtech services to onboard customers in a compliant manner. Juni is in pre-launch mode having raised about €2.18 million in seed funding. Created last year, Juni was founded by Samir El-Sabini and Andres Orsedal…. Read More

March 9, 2021 @ 8:14 am By JD Alois  |  

Revolut Business, the SME-focused portion of the digital bank, is launching an expenses product with new features designed to help businesses save time. While many enterprise software platforms include integrated expense management tools, options are fewer for small firms when it comes to integrated services…. Read More

March 8, 2021 @ 10:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

Thomvest is a VC firm that is heavy into Fintech with investments in firms like SoFi and Figure or Kabbage and Creditjusto. Several investments (IE Kabbage and SoFi) have been successfully exited, while others remain portfolio companies. Overall, Thomvest touts 9 investments in unicorns and… Read More

March 8, 2021 @ 2:57 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Internal Revenue Services (IRS) is in midst of tax season, typically a time of anxiety for most taxpayers as they scramble to package the litany of documents demanded by the IRS to complete federal taxes. Over the years, the IRS has issued multiple statements… Read More

March 8, 2021 @ 2:24 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last week the Senate Banking Committee held a confirmation hearing for Gary Gensler, the individual selected by President Biden to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Gensler is well known to Washington, DC having previously been Chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission during… Read More

March 8, 2021 @ 12:31 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last month, Seedrs shared some data on its Secondary Market – a trading market for securities issued via the crowdfunding platform. While still relatively small, the market provides a valuable liquidity path for a traditionally illiquid sector of finance as most private securities holders must… Read More

March 8, 2021 @ 10:09 am By JD Alois  |  

Robinhood, a digital investment platform that is heavy on social engagement, has been battered by its use of the practice of payment for order flow. This is where the trading platform sells the ability for dealers to route trades in their direction. Because Robinhood offers… Read More

March 8, 2021 @ 9:43 am By JD Alois  |  

Crypto exchange OKEx says it will delist 70 trading pairs on March 10, 2021, in an effort to “maintain a robust trading environment. The impacted digital assets were deemed as not adhering to OKEx’s guidelines – as well as taking into consideration community comments and… Read More

March 8, 2021 @ 8:31 am By JD Alois  |  

White Oak, an alternative lender serving UK businesses, says it has surpassed £270 million in CBILS lending while receiving an increased allocation of by the British Business Bank. CBILS, or Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, is one of a series of government programs designed to… Read More

March 8, 2021 @ 8:21 am By JD Alois  |  

Peer-to-peer lender Folk2Folk says they are experiencing ongoing inflows for its Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) – a tax-free retirement savings account. Launched in July 2017, the IFISA has reportedly seen year-on-year growth attracting a cumulative total of more than £26 million in ISA funds. Inflows… Read More

March 7, 2021 @ 7:33 pm By JD Alois  |  

Digital transformation in financial services continues to occur at a break-neck pace. Initially, it was online capital formation, debt and equity, that encouraged entrepreneurs to challenge establishment finance. Today, Fintech is taking over all aspects of financial services. As incumbents struggle to keep pace and… Read More