Fintech Highlights - 1/7/2022

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Despite bringing in an estimated $15.47 billion in 2019, more banks in the U.S. are ditching or modifying overdraft fees in a move to better compete with zero-fee FinTechs, placate politicians and make customers happy, according to the most recent data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Capital One dropped overdraft fees even though the biggest retail bank in the U.S. will lose roughly $150 million a year, about 0.5 percent of its 2020 income, according to a report in the Financial Times on Tuesday (Jan. 4).

Banks and FinTechs that have revamped their overdraft policies are acquiring new customers at twice the rate of those that have not, according to the research firm Curinos. Head of Banking at Citizens Financial Brendan Coughlin told FT that having a more “forgiving” fee structure has been a good economic trade-off.

J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America accounted for 44 percent of the total overdraft fees in 2019, according to CFPB data, and 80 percent of those fees were paid by less than 9% of customers.

The BFD

Apple slipped the surly bonds of earthly economics during intraday trading on Monday (Jan. 3), becoming the first U.S. company to achieve a $3 trillion valuation before slipping back down.

Why this is the BFD: the above says it all. That's a big deal. Apple has firmly cemented their place as the worlds leading consumer technology company, along with tightening their lock on the collective conscious of consumers across the planet.

What's next: over the past year Apple has reenergized their computer offering by focusing on the development of their own ARM based "system on a chip." That and compelling sales numbers for the current iPhone 13 - the company is set to keep Apple top of mind for consumers and investors over the coming weeks and months.

Fintechs

iCapital Network, a New York-based fintech platform for alternative investing, raised $50 million at a $6 billion valuation. The company, founded in 2013, offers services in the alternative investment marketplace to enterprises in the wealth management, banking, and asset management industries.  More here ->

Ant Money, a micro-investing platform, has raised $20M. Walter Cruttenden (who founded Acrorns) is building ATM specifically as an app designed so users earn micro-income to save money or invest in the stock market through the company’s SEC-licensed “advisors,” or embedded finance tools. Ant Money claims that users can earn $100 to $1,000 or more per year with the ATM app based on their level of engagement. More here ->

LiveFlow, a Redwood City, Calif.-based fintech that syncs company data from accounting services, raised $3.5 million in seed funding. LiveFlow allows companies to sync real-time data from their accounting services, banks and payment platforms into their custom reports, thereby automating workflows, consolidating company accounts and allowing more company-wide collaboration. More here ->

Klover, a free financial services platform, today announced the appointment of Pinterest executive, Meredith Guerriero, as the company's Chief Operating Officer. Klover's platform enables millions of consumers to access their earned wages, savings tools and rewards in seconds with no interest, no credit check and no hidden fees. More here ->

MoMo, a Vietnamese mobile payments app, raised around $200 million at a valuation north of $2 billion. MoMo was once known as the most popular e-wallet application in Vietnam for many years and now it is aiming to develop into a super app. MoMo currently has more than 1,600 employees with its headquarters based in Ho Chi Minh City and offices in Hanoi and Da Nang. This FinTech company has about 31 million users with more than 140,000 payment points nationwide. More here ->

Addi, a Bogota-based BNPL startup, raised $80 million. Over 500,000 clients and around 1,000 retailers are reportedly using Addi’s payment-processing solution, compared to about 30,000 customers and only 20 merchants around a year back.  More here ->

Indian neobank Jupiter has raised $86M to launch lending and wealth management services. Launched in beta in June this year, Jupiter has established itself as a market-leading “100% digital bank” in India. The startup has amassed “just short of half a million users." And more than 65% of this user base actively transacts on the platform each month. More here ->

Insuretechs

The Helper Bees, an insurance technology services company focused on older adults, reported a $12.8M venture round. The Helper Bees has raised $20.6M to date. The company works with large insurance companies and others to help with claims processing. It works with both long-term care insurance players and Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, with its services available across all 50 states and Puerto Rico. More here ->

From the Stash

Tencent Takes a Stake in U.K. Bank Monzo’s Latest Funding Round - Bloomberg — www.bloomberg.com Tencent Holdings Ltd., the Chinese tech giant, took a stake in Monzo Bank Ltd. as part of a funding round that values the U.K. fintech at more than $4.5 billion.

Under The Hood: A Closer Look At Stripe, The Most Highly Valued Venture-backed Private Company In The US – Crunchbase News — news.crunchbase.com Given Stripe's status as the U.S.’ most highly valued venture-backed private company, and its pivotal role in e-commerce, we decided to take a peek under its hood and use Crunchbase data to understand the business a bit better.

With AI technology, Your Car Can Predict Your Needs - Axios — www.axios.com Your next car might offer suggestions of where to go and what to do before you even ask it to.

Global Super Apps On The Rise as Nubank IPOs and Lydia Becomes a Unicorn — content.11fs.com Gwera Kiwana and Amy Gavin are joined by some great guests from Primer and Spiralem to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days,…

Reports / Webinars

Sensor Tower’s 2020 Fintech Report: Category Installs Surpass 1.2 Billion Worldwide in Q2 — sensortower.com Take a look inside the state of Fintech apps with Sensor Tower’s latest report.

J.D. Power: Insurers Lagging on Offering Claimants Digital Options - Corporate Insight Research Services — corporateinsight.com The insurance industry is lagging behind other sectors in offering customers digital options to communicate with claims administrators.

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