General News

March 22, 2020 @ 5:41 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

HSBC, a British multinational bank and financial services holding company with over $2.5 trillion in total assets, has teamed up with Cainiao, a China-based logistics company, in order to provide faster trade finance loans to merchants via Alibaba’s Tmall platform in Hong Kong. HSBC will… Read More

March 22, 2020 @ 1:10 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Banks in the Netherlands are helping customers perform contactless payments at store locations without requiring them to enter their PIN numbers. This move is part of the extraordinary measures that have been taken to prevent the further spread of the deadly and highly contagious Coronavirus… Read More

March 21, 2020 @ 4:14 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

UK-based Fintech firm Finastra has reportedly taken some of its servers offline after discovering “potentially anomalous activity” on its computer systems. To quote a statement from Finastra: “During the period immediately prior to March 20th, 2020, the Finastra IT security and risk teams actively detected,… Read More

March 21, 2020 @ 10:59 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital asset hedge fund Adaptive Capital is reportedly closing down its operations. Adaptive Capital was a self-described “multi-strategy cryptocurrency hedge fund with a deep focus on on-chain analytics.” The hedge fund predicted that crypto-assets would become a major macro asset class and on-chain analysis of… Read More

March 20, 2020 @ 5:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

Global stock markets are tanking erasing hard in gains from the past 3 years while governments around the world struggle to keep economies moving forward during the Coronavirus pandemic reality. While COVID-19 is rattling markets everywhere, at least one, Reg CF, has shown signs of… Read More

March 20, 2020 @ 3:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

KeyBank, a regional bank based in Cleveland with over 1100 branches in 25 states and the District of Colombia, is shuttering the lobbies of all its branches. An email distributed to account holders said the bank was taking this action due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19)… Read More

March 20, 2020 @ 1:02 pm By JD Alois  |  

The New Business Preservation Act. Senator Amy Klobuchar, fresh off the Presidential campaign trail, has introduced legislation to help boost entrepreneurship and SMEs during a time when the economy is being pummeled by the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Senators Chris Coons and Tim Kaine have co-sponsored… Read More

March 20, 2020 @ 9:49 am By JD Alois  |  

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published new guidance for mortgage lenders and administrators and small business lenders. The guidance is in support of programs outlined by the Chancellor earlier this week. Under the plan, borrowers will be able to receive certain relief during… Read More

March 20, 2020 @ 8:29 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Payments platform Stripe announced on Thursday it has officially shut down all its offices and all employees, as well as on-site contractors, are working from home. Prior to this announcement, Stripe announced it closed its San Francisco office, but kept the offices in Amsterdam, Berlin,… Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 7:52 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Square Financial Services, the de novo industrial bank established by payment services firm Square, has received conditional approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for its deposit insurance application. The approval gives Square permission to introduce banking services, which it’s reportedly planning to launch… Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 5:14 pm By JD Alois  |  

After less than a week of COVID-19 fueled lockdown, it seems like the world has been turned upside down as a new reality has set in due to “social distancing” and “shelter in place” demands. In the US, the National Guard is not yet patrolling… Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 4:38 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Banking challenger Judo Bank has reportedly agreed to a three-year long, $350 million committed facility with giant multinational bank Citi. This should help Judo Bank provide funding to small businesses that may be struggling to meet expenses due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The commitment… Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 2:06 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Following the recent outbreak of COVID-19 in the UK, online lending platform LendInvest announced that its platform is still functioning and that it is still “Open for Business.” LendInvest reported that on Monday it instructed all London-based staff to work remotely, which followed the government’s… Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 12:26 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) is the latest regulatory group to caution against the rise in Coronavirus, or COVID-19, scams. Nefarious actors and fraudsters are always looking for another angle to fleece the unsuspecting. The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic is no different. The CSA… Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 10:52 am By JD Alois  |  

LendIt Fintech USA, one of the most anticipated digital finance-focused events in the country, has postponed its annual event indefinitely. LendIt was originally scheduled to take place in New York City on May 13 -14. In an email authored by Peter Renton, Chairman and co-founder… Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 8:10 am By JD Alois  |  

The European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council has announced a €750 billion bailout package to mitigate the economic impact of the Coronavirus or COVID-19. The ECB decided to: To launch a new temporary asset purchase programme of private and public sector securities to counter the… Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 7:36 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Chase, part of JP Morgan Chase – the largest bank in the US with over $2.6 trillion in total assets, is planning to shut down around 1,000 of its physical branch locations in order to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). On March… Read More

March 18, 2020 @ 11:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has posted a page dedicated to the Coronavirus, or COVID-19, outlining actions the Commission has taken to mitigate the pandemic driven shock. The “dedicated website” highlights a slew of temporary relief letters the CFTC has published during this challenging… Read More

March 18, 2020 @ 4:57 pm By JD Alois  |  

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), operated by Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), said it will initiate its business continuity plan (BCP) and migrate to fully electronic trading on Monday, March 23. The decision was made due to the Coronavirus, or COVID-19, pandemic. Recently, the NYSE… Read More

March 18, 2020 @ 9:00 am By JD Alois  |  

Online lender Kabbage has launched a new website “www.helpsmallbusiness.com” designed to support SMEs during the Coronavirus crisis. According to a release distributed by the Fintech, the initiative is a “call to action” that enables anyone to purchase an online gift certificate from participating small businesses… Read More