September 18, 2019 @ 10:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

creditshelf Aktiengesellschaft has signed a purchase agreement for the acquisition of all shares in Valendo – part of the finleap Fintech ecosystem. According to a company release, the purchase price was in the “low seven-digit amount.” Payment will take place in two separate tranches. creditshelf… Read More

September 18, 2019 @ 8:44 pm By JD Alois  |  

StreetShares, a Fintech that provides small business loans, is now offering “Lending as a Service” (LaaS) so credit unions and smaller banks may provide a digital experience to originate loans. Announced at Finovate NYC, StreetShares says the new service can be up and running on… Read More

September 18, 2019 @ 5:21 pm By JD Alois  |  

ICO Securities Fraud The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has continued its long march of enforcement actions regarding initial coin offerings (ICO) and the platforms that supported them. According to the SEC, ICOBox and founder Nikolay Evdokimov conducted an “illegal $14 million securities offering of… Read More

September 18, 2019 @ 1:09 pm By JD Alois  |  

Opportunity Zones are new, tax-advantaged vehicles for investors to earn more on their money. Created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the first qualified opportunity zones (QOZs) first hit the market in early 2018. Designated by state authorities, there are now thousands… Read More

September 18, 2019 @ 8:24 am By JD Alois  |  

InstaReM a payments and money transfer Fintech has launched its services in Canada. InstaReM is one of the largest digital cross-border payments providers globally, with regulatory licenses in eight markets and covering 40 countries, reaching 3.2 billion people in developed and developing countries. In Canada,… Read More

September 16, 2019 @ 11:39 pm By JD Alois  |  

iSTOX, a digital securities issuer and secondary trading platform, has hired Lim Mei Shern as its new Head of Compliance. Lim was previously at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) where she spent the past 15 years in the supervision of capital markets as well… Read More

September 16, 2019 @ 11:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

Reg CF [Regulation Crowdfunding], the smallest of the three crowdfunding exemptions created by the bi-partisan JOBS Act of 2012, became officially actionable in May of 2016. In that time, hundreds of issuers have raised money on FINRA regulated “funding portals” taking advantage of the internet… Read More

September 16, 2019 @ 4:48 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last month, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) began accepting applications for digital-only banks. The applications were being accepted by Fintechs and not established, traditional banks. MAS is expected to issue up to two digital full bank licenses and three digital wholesale bank licenses. The… Read More

September 16, 2019 @ 4:15 pm By JD Alois  |  

Groundfloor, a real estate lending and investing platform that allows anyone to participate directly in real estate investments, has launched a new product to make the lending process more easier for real estate investors. Groundfloor now allows certain developers to gain pre-approval on loans with… Read More

September 16, 2019 @ 12:12 pm By JD Alois  |  

Insurtech Dinghy was recently recognized as the “most disruptive insurance business in the UK” at the recent Disruption Summit Europe. Dinghy was also said to be the 26th most disruptive overall. The Summit was hosted in London on the 10th September with the final rankings… Read More

September 16, 2019 @ 7:49 am By JD Alois  |  

Travel insurance has a bad rap. Claims too frequently are denied and if they pay out it may take weeks to receive any remuneration for a trip gone bad. Insurtech Pluto is seeking to address this sector of the insurance market with an app-based service… Read More

September 15, 2019 @ 9:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Budget & Innovation (MOBI) and Information Technology Agency (ITALA) have partnered with Goren Holm Ventures (GHV) to host “Block Tank” – a Shark Tank-like pitch event which will coincide with CIS taking place in Los Angeles next month. GHV… Read More

September 15, 2019 @ 4:27 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last week on September 11, the Australian Senate decided to establish a “Select Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology” or a committee to research and follow Fintech and Regtech. According to the Australian Parliament, the committee will inquire and report on the following matters:… Read More

September 13, 2019 @ 4:24 pm By JD Alois  |  

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton tipped his hand a bit regarding the ongoing “concept release” – an SEC review of the private securities exemption ecosystem and how regulated private markets operate.  In a speech delivered at the Economic Club of New York this… Read More

September 13, 2019 @ 10:46 am By JD Alois  |  

San Francisco Losing Fintech Lustre The Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) has announced that Fintech Brex will open its new location in the Salt Lake Valley. The new office is said to create up to 1,000 new jobs over the next seven years…. Read More

September 13, 2019 @ 8:33 am By JD Alois  |  

Europe’s Newest Digital Bank Northmill, a Fintech based in Stockholm, Sweden, has just received a banking license from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (SFSA or Finansinspektionen). Northmill was founded in 2006 and is “building the bank of tomorrow.” According to a blog post, Northmill applied… Read More

September 13, 2019 @ 7:13 am By JD Alois  |  

Raisin, a Fintech platform that allows users to find the best savings interest rate regardless of location, has issued a statement on the European Central Bank’s (ECB) move to drive rates lower. Raisin, commenting on the EBCs recent rate cut, said that “tensions abroad and… Read More

September 12, 2019 @ 11:24 pm By JD Alois  |  

OurCrowd, Israel’s most active venture investor and leading global crowdfunding platform, has partnered with Finistere, Tnuva and Tempo to launch a NIS 1 billion (~ USD $ 283 million) Foodtech incubator in Israel.  “Fresh Start” was officially launched at an event this week. OurCrowd announced… Read More

September 12, 2019 @ 2:59 pm By JD Alois  |  

Mastercard (NYSE: MA) has announced a new partnership with R3 to use their Corda platform to power blockchain-based cross border payments. Corda is a permissioned blockchain that has the support of multiple financial services firms and has been experiencing additional traction. The partnership is said… Read More

September 12, 2019 @ 12:39 pm By JD Alois  |  

Arival Bank, a digital-only challenger bank, has closed its crowdfunded bridge round (preferred equity) on SeedInvest-Crowdcube. Arival is the creation of a VC firm based in Singapore that claims 20 investments & multiple exits. The securities offering was a cross-Atlantic crowdfunding offering via the two… Read More