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| September 20 · Issue #29 · View online |
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Hi everyone! It’s been an extremely hectic last month and I fully expect that to continue since (drumroll please…) I just moved to NYC! Excited to continue to learn more about the fintech scene in NYC as well as meet a bunch of people, please shoot me an email if you would be down to grab a coffee :). I often get asked the question -“what’s been the most interesting recent development in fintech”. Recently, my answer has actually been banks! When I was in the payments strategy group a few years ago at JPMorgan, I managed to build my niche in the organization by spending most of my time researching emerging products. Companies like Venmo, Robinhood, Coinbase, etc were barely on anyone’s radar, so I was allowed to drive a more “niche” strategy vertical. Over time, I became increasingly frustrated with the lack of pace in regards to execution - the vast majority of product initiatives continued to live in a deck on a shelf vs being tested in the hands of consumers. That being said, over the past 3-4 years there’s been an explosion of interest into fintech from large financial institutions (don’t get me started about blockchain…). During 2015-2017 it seemed as though every bank was announcing some sort of fintech (or blockchain) strategy group, followed by a strategic investment arm that was also typically launched in conjunction with a “new” digital product innovation group. A lot of buzz, a few partnerships + acquisitions, but no real products. This year, this has started to shift with several of the largest banks finally launching fintech products: Chase’s Finn (which I just recently signed up for…and that process is a whole other post), Citi’s new mobile app , Ally’s Invest, etc. Large financial institutions have slowly been making the hard transition from just selling financial services to offering digital products. I associate brands such as Chime, Robinhood and Coinbase as companies that ship new digital products that happen to deliver financial services. On the other hand, I associate brands such as Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citi as financial services institutions that view digital product as a channel. One huge advantage that fintech startups have over large FI’s is the fact that the vast majority of successful fintechs were product driven from the very beginning. The product is the business rather than just being a means to an end. It’ll be interesting to see if the banks will be able to make switch effectively or if they even need to…
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Sarah Friar from Square emphasizing APIs quite a bit at , offering any aspect of Square via dev platform for full stack (instant payout, inventory, customer, payments, etc)
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Stripe built a payments powerhouse by focusing on e-commerce. Now it’s following its customers into bricks and mortar. - Recode
The San Francisco-based company is introducing a new service for in-person payments. Oh hi Square 👋. Stripe still holding strong to the party line that their primary focus is B2B, enabling internet- first companies to conduct business wherever.
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Mobile bank Chime picks up credit score improvement service Pinch in all-stock deal
“Chime, the no-fees mobile bank valued at $500 million as of its last round, has put some of its funds to use with its first acquisition. The deal is for Pinch, a startup that was focused on helping millennials and other young adults build better credit. It was best known for a service called PinchRent, which allowed users to increase their credit scores over time by reporting on-time rent payments to credit bureaus.” Pinch had a really interesting business / idea around reporting rent and other alternative data to the credit bureaus. If I had to guess, something probably happened with the credit bureaus to prevent scaling…
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Fed will have the say on key parts of OCC’s fintech charter | American Banker
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has been taking the lead on a federal license for fintech firms, but the central bank will decide if such companies can access the payments system and other benefits. And people wonder why no fintech companies have applied still…more regulatory cooks in the kitchen.
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Facebook and Financial Firms Tussled for Years Over Access to User Data - WSJ
Facebook had been haggling with financial firms over its access to users’ sensitive financial information for years, well before coming under fire for its handling of personal data. No surprise here…
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Most Amazon Prime members open to a checking account from tech giant
Expectations have been high since it was reported in March that Amazon is in talks with banks including J.P. Morgan Chase and Capital One to create a checking-account-like product for its customers. At this point, is there any industry that isn’t scared of Amazon coming in?
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A new generation puts its trust in tech over traditional banks
The choices for where consumers can put their money look drastically different after 2008. One increasingly popular option is with a tech company. “Neo banks,” or digital banks that operate without any branches, aren’t saddled by traditional banking technology infrastructure and are often leaner as a result. Now that fintech is in the dictionary, I expect to see more “mainstream” media coverage. More articles to send to my parents on what I do!
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About me: Currently I’m helping developers build new products in financial services as a sales lead at Plaid. Before that, I spent a few years at JPMorgan & Chase where I was a product manager focused on blockchain + wholesale payments in JPMorgan’s New Product Development group, and a strategy lead covering emerging fintech in payments. I read a lot of random things and you can follow my other thoughts on Twitter too!
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