General News

January 3, 2024 @ 10:39 am By JD Alois  |  

The Women in Fintech Powerlist 2023 is now accepting applications. The annual list is a project by Innovate Finance in the UK and highlights female founders/executives, influencers, and policymakers leading the charge in digital financial services. Applicants will submit names under eight different categories, including:… Read More

January 3, 2024 @ 9:13 am By Omar Faridi  |  

WISeKey International Holding Ltd. (NASDAQ: WKEY), a global firm focused on cybersecurity, digital identity, and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions operating as a holding company, through its subsidiary WISe.ART, a key player in the field of digital art and luxury collectibles, is pleased to announce… Read More

January 2, 2024 @ 5:40 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Branch, the workforce payments platform, released findings from the fifth annual Branch Report, which “surveys over 3,000 hourly workers across industries about their work, finances, and lifestyle.” Findings from the update shared by Branch, shared with CI, reveal that “despite low economic optimism, hourly workers… Read More

January 2, 2024 @ 10:16 am By JD Alois  |  

Initial public offerings (IPOs) were pretty moribund in 2023. According to EY, global IPO volumes drooped by 8% in 2023, with proceeds down by 33% compared with 2022. The global IPO market ended in 2023 with 1,298 offerings, which raised $123.2 billion. Compare this to… Read More

January 2, 2024 @ 9:57 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Justice Department sued Colony Ridge, a Texas-based developer and lender, for allegedly “operating an illegal land sales scheme and targeting tens of thousands of Hispanic borrowers with false statements and predatory loans.” The lawsuit filed in federal… Read More

January 2, 2024 @ 8:27 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Total new-vehicle sales for December 2023, including retail and non-retail transactions, are projected to reach 1,396,700 units, a 13.2% increase from December 2022, according to a joint forecast from J.D. Power and GlobalData. As noted in the research report, December 2023 has 26 selling days,… Read More

January 2, 2024 @ 7:50 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Former CEO Dan Schulman has left PayPal’s (NASDAQ: PYPL) Board of Directors. Alex Chriss was announced as his replacement last August. PayPal confirmed this announcement last month. PayPal had officially announced that Dan Schulman will “depart from PayPal Holdings, Inc.’s Board of Directors, effective December 31,… Read More

January 1, 2024 @ 8:39 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Four in 10 consumers are heading into 2024 saying they feel less financially secure than when 2023 began, according to new research from KPMG UK. Assessing confidence for 2024, KPMG’s latest Consumer Pulse survey of 3000 UK consumers shows those feeling worse “about their financial… Read More

January 1, 2024 @ 6:39 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Engage People, the loyalty network that enables program members to pay with points directly at checkout, commissioned a new survey to gain insights. The new survey, from The Wise Marketer titled “Paying with Points – “Tomorrow” Is Too Late,” examines the use of “pay with… Read More

December 31, 2023 @ 6:31 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has imposed a civil penalty of $3.9 million on Credit Suisse AG, for its alleged failure “to prevent or detect misconduct by its relationship managers (RMs) in the Singapore branch.” The RMs had allegedly provided clients “with inaccurate or… Read More

December 31, 2023 @ 1:39 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Central banks will likely keep interest rates higher for longer in economies with persistently elevated core inflation (excluding food and energy prices), according to an update shared by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF noted that the high-interest-rate environment, which recently “triggered banking sector… Read More

December 30, 2023 @ 5:39 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Entrée Capital has recently shared an update titled, A Renaissance in Israel’s high tech ecosystem in the year ahead (2024). Entrée Capital, which claims to partner with the “exceptional” to build the “impossible,” says that they remain steadfast in their commitment to supporting Israel. The… Read More

December 29, 2023 @ 9:42 am By Omar Faridi  |  

At Chime, they claim to firmly believe that their members’ experience with our products is at the core of their success. That’s why Chime claims it continuously goes the extra mile “by investing in simple, beautiful, easy experiences that allow their members to control their… Read More

December 28, 2023 @ 9:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

OakNorth – a UK-based digital bank, has added Lord (Adair) Turner as its Chairman of the Board. Lord Turner reportedly has “an extensive track record in financial services, including as Vice-Chairman of Merrill Lynch Europe, a Board Director of Standard Chartered, Chair of the Financial… Read More

December 28, 2023 @ 7:05 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The most popular market among Zillow (NASDAQ: Z and ZG) surfers this year was West Chester, Pennsylvania. After the West Coast ruled in 2021 and the Midwest took the top spot last year, the Northeast dominated this year’s list. Smaller Northeast towns dominated Zillow’s “most… Read More

December 28, 2023 @ 3:39 pm By JD Alois  |  

Early-stage firms, especially startups, are very risky investments. In fact, in the real world, most of them fail. It is widely understood that between 80% to 90% of startups die, so only about 20% or so of early-stage firms survive. In venture capital investing, that’s… Read More

December 28, 2023 @ 12:18 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Innovation Nation. Israel remains one of the hottest entrepreneurial hubs in the world. The country has punched above its weight class for years now and is well known for being the launch pad of many successful tech startups. But 2023 has hit the country… Read More

December 28, 2023 @ 12:06 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

According to preliminary insights from Mastercard SpendingPulse, U.S. retail sales excluding automotive “increased +3.1% year over year this holiday season, running from November 1 through December 24.” Mastercard SpendingPulse from Mastercard (NYSE: MA) reportedly “measures in-store and online retail sales across all forms of payment… Read More

December 28, 2023 @ 8:56 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Bank of Ireland credit and debit card data for the first two weeks of December revealed that spending levels rose nationwide compared to the same period in 2022. Cavan shoppers engaged in “the biggest pre-Christmas splurge, with spending in the county rising by 11% during… Read More

December 28, 2023 @ 8:55 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Cryptocurrency isn’t just here to stay – it’s the “future of money,” according to an update from Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN). The largest crypto exchange in the US has outlined the status of digital assets while predicting a bullish future for crypto. Even in the aftermath of… Read More