Tagged: perspective

Reg D: Congress Must Act to Allow Sophisticated Investors Access to Private Placements

Under Reg D more than a trillion dollars is raised each year for companies that are not publicly traded. This market is huge – far larger than the annual rate of IPOs. Yet these private placements are only available to “accredited investors”: Individuals who earn… Read More

Is Reg A+ Crowdfunding Right for Your Business?

I read an article in WIRED the other day about the LaFerrari, the world’s most coveted supercar, and one particular sentence stuck out. As writer Jordan Golson plainly stated, “When it comes to this car, you don’t choose Ferrari. Ferrari chooses you.” Well, ladies and… Read More

White Label Crowdfunding 101: Part I – Pros & Cons

So you want to start a Crowdfunding Portal…. Crowdfunding and Fintech in general are demonstrating dramatic growth due to many factors including the growth of the sharing economy, technology innovations and the liberalization of securities regulations in the US and Canada. A sure indicator of… Read More

FCA Chief Told Parliament Committee Crowdfunding is Too Small to Be Systemically Important

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Chief Executive Andrew Bailey gave a Parliament Treasury Committee a crash course on Crowdfunding 101 this past June.  The letter by Bailey was recently posted on the Treasury Committee website, along with a statement from Andrew Tyrie MP, Chairman of the Committee,… Read More

David Snitkof of Orchard Shares Unique Insight into Online Lending Market Dynamics

Orchard Marketplace is a platform that is uniquely positioned at the intersection of institutional money and online lending. If you are a large investor you are using Orchard to manage and access loans on all marketplace lending platforms. This perspective means that Orchard can easily… Read More

Q&A: Aaron Schwartz Head of Fintech Research at PwC

Earlier this week PwC (under the DeNovo label) published a wide-ranging report on the evolution of Fintech. The document was the production of many PwC executives covering topics like blockchain, payments, banking and the overall transformation of financial services. In one respect the report is… Read More

Africa: FinTech’s Natural Fit & Next Frontier

We’ve heard the sensationalism before – That the unbridled array of opportunities in Africa are either being “squandered”, “exploited” or just now seeping to the surface for globalization to capitalize on the ‘Rising Continent’ in a timely fashion. Though rhetoric, it’s no doubt significant, though that… Read More

China is Winning the Fintech Revolution

China is the largest Fintech market in the world. This is due in part to the fact that China has a population that is north of 1.3 billion and economically is first in GDP (PPP) at over $20 trillion. But it is also due to… Read More

The Fix Crowdfunding Act. What it Fixes & What it Does Not

In early June, the U.S. House of Representatives, Financial Services Committee, approved the “Fix Crowdfunding Act” bill (HR 4855). Maybe it’s the title of the bill that is misleading, but since then I have seen multiple articles which incorrectly describe what this legislation, if fully… Read More

Dead in the Water: Canada’s Crowdfunding Exemptions

  Canada is the second largest country in the world by land mass and the 10th largest economy by nominal GDP. At around 35 million in total population, Canada is a country that has consistently punched above its weight class economically. The extensive border with… Read More

Gillian Roche-Saunders Shares Insight into UK FCA Crowdfunding Regulatory Review

Gillian Roche-Saunders, is a partner at the law firm of Bates, Wells & Braithwaite in London.  She is a leading regulatory consultant in the Fintech sector having been engaged in alternative finance for the past five years – before the FCA jumped in to officially… Read More

5 Ways Location Affects Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is a tough slog no matter where you live, considering that 51% of all new businesses fail within five years, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. But location still matters, despite what the digitized nature of contemporary commerce might lead you to believe. Sure,… Read More

Incoming FCA Chief Executive Sets Course in Speech at Annual Meeting

The new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Chief Executive Andrew Bailey, delivered a wide-ranging speech outlining his vision for the regulatory agency at the Annual Public Meeting yesterday (July 21).  Bailey replaced outgoing executive Tracey McDermott who announced her decision to not seek reappointment this past… Read More

6 Crucial Questions Retailers Should Ask Before Choosing a Business Lender

As a business owner in the modern era, you are likely well acquainted with the Internet.  You may use it for paying bills, staying in touch, and bragging about those cute babies in your life.  So why not tap into that computer prowess when getting… Read More

Mary Jo White: SEC Staff Continues to Closely Monitor Reg CF, Reg A+

Two important elements of the JOBS Act are Title III and Title IV.  These two portions of the act created Reg CF, retail crowdfunding, and Reg A+, a scaled disclosure exemption for companies to raise up to $50 million.  In the opening remarks of the… Read More

A New Era for Crowdfunding?

Sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have long allowed individuals to support start-ups in exchange for pre-buying a ticket or early prototype of a product, but not for equity.  Accredited investors—with a net worth of over $1 million or who earn over $200,000 a year—have their… Read More

NASAA Criticizes National Securities Exchange Regulatory Parity Act as Undermining State Authority

The North American Securities Administrator Association (NASAA), the lobbying group for state securities regulators, published a comment last week regarding the passage of the National Securities Exchange Regulatory Parity Act (HR 5421).  NASAA appears ready to battle the legislation, which passed on a voice vote… Read More

Business Lessons Learned by Driving a Jalopy

  I admit it; I am not a fancy guy.  People who know me actually say I am pretty down to earth.  I rarely wear anything other than jeans and I don’t  roll around town in a fancy car.  In fact, I drive what you… Read More

Perspective: Uncertainty About the Consequences of Brexit is Rising

As UK politicians, pro-Brexit and pro-Bremain alike, resign one after the other, the uncertainty about the consequences of the Brexit vote is rising instead of abating. Here is a summary the following main causes of uncertainty that impact financial services: The Legal Exiting Process: The… Read More

The Brexit as Viewed from the European Continent

In the troubled post-Brexit context, many leaders in the UK traditional and alternative financial services are trying to reassure their market and even to present the Brexit vote as an opportunity for the UK. Their statements read like reactions of the French after a soccer… Read More

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