Wells Fargo robo-adviser to target young, first-time investors
Wells Fargo & Co’s wealth management business said on Tuesday it would launch its new robo-adviser Intuitive Investor later this year in a bid to develop a new revenue stream from existing Millennial customers who may be looking to open their first investment account in a crowded online market. Devon McConnell, Wells Fargo Advisors’ head of digital and direct investing, said the digital advice platform, which will initially be rolled out to employees in the first half of 2017, would be marketed to Wells Fargo customers who have savings and are comfortable taking big life steps online. “We know that there are many customers ready to take an early step […]
‘Software better than people’, says US robo-adviser
US automated investment pioneer Wealthfront has penned a public post arguing software can provide consumers with better financial advice than humans. In a blog post on the Wealthfront website, Wealthfront founder and CEO Andy Rachleff said human beings cannot compete with robots when it comes to many business services and social endeavours, including the provision of financial advice. “Software is far better at most jobs than people are. I realise that statement will make a lot of people uncomfortable, but it’s true,” Mr Rachleff wrote. “I believe this is especially true in the world of financial advice. Software does a better job than traditional financial advisers because it provides to […]
Ireland and Germany will battle for fintech crown post-Brexit: VC founder
Ireland and Germany are poised to step up to fill a void as leader of Europe’s fintech scene once the U.K. leaves the European Union (EU), according to the co-founder of a global venture capital firm backed by The Boston Consulting Group. While it’s difficult to tell exactly what it will be, Brexit, which will mean the U.K. will lose its easy access to Europe’s financial industry, is certainly going to have an impact on the fintech industry, says Raj Ganguly, co-founder and partner at B Capital Group. “It seems like London is going in the direction of a hard Brexit. And with the the passporting rules potentially going away, […]
Zopa to move into secured lending
ZOPA is looking to expand into the secured auto finance space, where it sees an opportunity to grow its borrower base. The peer-to-peer lending platform, which usually specialises in unsecured consumer loans, said it sees strong potential in the secured car finance sector as there are healthy levels of demand but typically a poor customer experience. “People are getting poor deals in that area and end up paying significantly higher annual percentage rates (APRs) than they would if they arranged their financing before going into a dealership,” said Amy Miller, Zopa’s chief marketing officer. Consumers looking to borrow money to buy a car tend to sign up to dealer-arranged loans, […]
P2P Bitcoin lender Bitbond raises $1.2 million in new funding
Peer-to-peer bitcoin loan market Bitbond has raised $1.2m in new funding. The web platform, which connects lenders and borrowers to facilitate the distribution of loans denominated in bitcoin, received the new funding largely from a group of angel investors, some of whom already have stakes in the startup. The round was led by Şekip Can Gökalp, founder of Mobilike, a Turkey-based mobile ad network formed in 2009, and that was acquired last year. Other investors include Janis Zech and Andreas Bodczek, who founded ad tech startup Fyber, and Alexander Graubner-Müller, co-founder and CEO of Germany-based online lender Kreditech. According to Bitbond representative Chris Grundy, most of the funding will be […]
Silicon Valley tried to upend Banks. Now it works with them.
In 2011, Brett King was promoting his book, “Breaking Banks,” and creating a start-up that he hoped would do to the banks what Amazon did to the retail industry and Facebook did to media. “We had grand ideas of being the Facebook of banking, and being a new form of bank account,” Mr. King said recently. Six years later, his company, Moven, has opened only 60,000 of those new bank accounts. Mr. King has now transitioned to selling his software to the banks he once scorned, who use it as a component of their mobile apps. “We realized that if you want millions of users as a bank, it is […]
Plum announces partnership with Ratesetter
Plum, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered Facebook chatbot which allows consumers to start saving and investing without any effort, today announces its partnership with RateSetter. Plum’s smart algorithm understands spending patterns and identifies income and bills to create a unique profile for its users. It calculates the amount to save or invest and automatically transfers it to a Plum account to put that money to work. Plum’s partnership with RateSetter means that people who are comfortable putting capital at risk can use the peer-to-peer lending platform to earn a higher rate of interest. The average return earned by RateSetter investors to date is 4.7 per cent. Victor Trokoudes, co-founder at […]
Zopa named Best Personal Loan Provider & Best Alternative Finance Provider at the 2017 British Bank Awards
Zopa, the UK’s very first peer to peer lending platform, announced on Monday it was named Best Personal Loan Provider & Best Alternative Finance Provider at the 2017 British Bank Awards. The online lender revealed in a blog post: “We’re excited to announce we’ve been named both the Best Personal Loan Provider and the Best Alternative Finance Provider at the British Bank Awards. These awards are special to us because they are voted for by you, our customers, in a survey at the start of the year. Our goal is to provide people with great value products and excellent service, so it’s fantastic to know our customers believe we’re achieving […]
