October 16, 2017 @ 3:12 pm By JD Alois  |  

  Ron Suber has become one of the most recognizable voices in the global Fintech arena. Since officially departing the Fintech he helped to create, the former President of Prosper Marketplace has become an elder statesman for online lending and financial innovation in general. An… Read More

October 11, 2017 @ 8:54 am By JD Alois  |  

There are two ways that big business competes in the USA. You can provide a better product or service for your customers or you can work with elected and appointed officials to block innovative firms. Of course, the consumer loses out in all this, but… Read More

October 8, 2017 @ 6:35 am By JD Alois  |  

The US Department of Treasury has published a report on ways the government may streamline and reduce burdens of capital markets regulation. The report is an interesting compendium of the pressing need to reduce regulatory hurdles while pointing to policy initiatives that can improve access… Read More

October 6, 2017 @ 8:35 am By JD Alois  |  

Andrew Hauser, the Executive Director of Banking, Payments and Financial Resilience from the Bank of England, delivered a speech today explaining why “this time is different.” His statement reflected on detractors who criticize Fintech as more of the same. Sure, ATMs came along and they were… Read More

October 5, 2017 @ 10:02 pm By JD Alois  |  

Late last month, Christine Lagarde, International Monetary Fund Managing Director, delivered a speech in the UK envisioning a future without banks. Now Lagarde did not say banks will no longer exist but she stepped up to the precipice of the death of banking stating there… Read More

October 5, 2017 @ 2:26 pm By JD Alois  |  

Acting Comptroller of the Currency, Keith Noreika, delivered a speech to midsize bank risk officers today that struck a positive note. The head of the OCC said there was much room for optimism as the regulatory pendulum has shifted away from the monolithic belief that… Read More

October 3, 2017 @ 7:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority or FINRA is currently in the midst of a comprehensive review of its rules and practices. The internal project has been labeled FINRA 360 and is said to ensure that FINRA is operating as the most effective self-regulatory organization it can be…. Read More

October 1, 2017 @ 1:51 pm By JD Alois  |  

Just about every week we have been hearing about regulators in one country or another curtailing Initial Coin Offerings or simply banning them outright. China, perhaps taking the most extreme action, simply banned cryptocurrency exchanges and ICOs effectively crushing the nascent market domestically. Last week… Read More

September 28, 2017 @ 2:00 am By JD Alois  |  

The global crowdfunding ecosystem is still quite young. When you compare traditional forms of capital formation to emerging online models crowdfunding is very much in its infancy and will take many years to fully mature. Prognosticators abound as to the success, or failure of, alternative… Read More

September 25, 2017 @ 4:25 pm By JD Alois  |  

The European Central Bank (ECB) has published a “Guide to assessments of Fintech credit institution licence applications.” The purpose of the Guide is described as seeking to enhance transparency for potential Fintech bank applicants and increase their understanding of the procedures and criteria applied by… Read More

September 24, 2017 @ 9:18 pm By Jennifer Rimbach  |  

  Millions of Americans rely on domestic discretionary spending appropriated by the U.S. Federal Government, including everything from affordable housing and education to the arts. Agencies such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development provide programs and services that impact neighborhoods and communities across… Read More

September 22, 2017 @ 9:37 am By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this week, the Sunday Times reported that the UK government was examining plans to “clamp down” on the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS). This program is a tax exemption that seeks to incentivize investment in early stage companies – an intrinsically risky endeavor. By providing… Read More

September 18, 2017 @ 4:04 pm By JD Alois  |  

  There is a report in Bloomberg Law that Federal Reserve Attorney, Gerald Tsai, has indicated the US is not that interested in creating a regulatory Sanbox or Fintech Sandbox – similar to what the rest of the world is embracing. Tsai reportedly acknowledged that… Read More

September 13, 2017 @ 2:12 pm By JD Alois  |  

There is a lot going on in the cryptocurrency driven Initial Coin Offering market today. In recent weeks, national regulators have acknowledged the existence of tokenized funding rounds along with the fact that many are really securities and thus regulated. The US Securities and Exchange… Read More

September 11, 2017 @ 9:37 am By Jillian Sidoti  |  

A letter to Elio Motors (OTC:ELIO) …   I don’t drive motorcycles. Often on the Southern California highways, I curse lane splitting motorcycles and the danger they present to themselves and others. I have long said to my children that I wish they would not… Read More

September 6, 2017 @ 4:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Initial Coin Offering (ICO) market is going through a turbulent period of change and regulation. Following an incredible rise of the new form of raising capital online, regulators around the world are pumping their rule making breaks to slow down cryptocurrency based securities offerings…. Read More

September 1, 2017 @ 3:46 pm By AdaPia d'Errico  |  

Modern Portfolio Theory is based on the idea that certain types of investment risk can be mitigated through a strategic pattern of diversification and asset allocation. Diversification is important because it spreads risk across multiple types of investments within a single portfolio. By diversifying into… Read More

September 1, 2017 @ 12:11 pm By Barry James  |  

Crowdfunding is about to enter a new and more powerful phase. Having become ensnared in a tangle of aging regulation designed for a disconnected, opaque world of fast-talking strangers Crowdfunding – in all it’s forms but especially Equity (ECF) – has yet to live up… Read More

August 31, 2017 @ 5:21 pm By JD Alois  |  

Over the past several years, traditional financial services firms have thrown shade at alternative finance platforms by labeling them “Shadow Finance.” This oblique reference to Fintech firms seeking to disrupt and dethrone old school banks is standard banter on the various financial news networks. Even… Read More

August 30, 2017 @ 3:48 pm By Dara Albright  |  

On Friday, August 18, 2017, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSSE) made IPO history by becoming the world’s largest Reg A+ IPO, raising $30M at a pre-money valuation of $120M, and the first Reg A+ to trade on the Nasdaq Global Market, Nasdaq’s… Read More