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Over the past several years, the legalization of cannabis has slowly but surely affected the country in a gradual rate with many states implementing new laws legalizing either the use of medical marijuana or recreational marijuana. California is now the latest state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana and hemp, following 7 other states in the country, with the passing of Prop 64 from this year’s elections. Marijuana users of all kinds need to be aware of the new regulations and may have several questions about the proposition.
What has changed now that Prop 64 has passed?
According to Ballotpedia.org, the passing of Prop 64 has now allowed Californian citizens at least 21 years of age to legally smoke marijuana privately. Individuals of the legal age can carry up to 28.5 grams of marijuana and up to 8 grams of concentrated marijuana, known as hash, in their possession. The new law now allows someone to grow up to six marijuana plants in their private household. In addition to these new regulations, people are allowed to give marijuana to others at least 21 years of age and as long as the amount of marijuana exchanged fits previously described guidelines.
What marijuana use is still illegal in the state of California?
However, it is still illegal to smoke marijuana in public places including your car as well as operate a vehicle while under the influence of marijuana. Fines will be distributed for those caught smoking while driving a car, boat or aircraft. The only exception is if it is allowed by a local ordinance. There are also restrictions of possession of marijuana 1,000 feet of the grounds of a school, day care center, youth center or any public space where children are present.
Who is able to purchase marijuana now?
There are still restrictions for the purchasing of cannabis that only allow people with medical marijuana cards and are of age to legally purchase marijuana from clinics & dispensaries. Prop 64 does address this issue, however, this part of the proposition will not come into effect until January 1, 2018. The state of California will have until this date to develop a system of regulations for clinics & dispensaries to apply for licenses that will allow each business to legally sell marijuana for recreational use. The proposition also authorizes re-sentencing and destruction of records for prior marijuana convictions.
What are edibles and what are the regulations for their consumption?
Marijuana edible products are foods that are infused with the active ingredients in cannabis and THC. Consuming edibles has a different effect than smoking marijuana and should be approached slowly and patiently, because they take a longer time until the onset of effects are felt by the consumer.
Now that Prop 64 has passed, edibles in California will have to be made and sold with low-doses of cannabis and THC. Each product will be required to contain no more than 10 milligrams of THC allowing consumers to know exactly how much they are ingesting. Each edible is required to be in childproof packaging that strictly prohibits any design that appeals to children. It has also been predicted that edibles will start being produced in not just sugary products but raw, vegan, gluten-free and super-food varieties as well.
Can marijuana be taken on a plane?
Marijuana will not be able to be taken across state lines in any way. From seed to sale, every state that has legalized recreational marijuana are required to grow and sell their products within the same state in which they are to be consumed due to the federal regulations of the drug throughout the nation.
How will marijuana be advertised to consumers?
The measure also establishes packaging, labeling, advertising, and marketing standards and restrictions for all products of marijuana. There are also measures to prohibit the advertising of marijuana and related products to minors. Commercials will not be allowed to aired on television and ads would not be able to use any symbols, language, music or cartoon characters aimed to appeal to those who are underage.
In addition to the prohibition of marijuana possession around schools, marijuana ads such as billboards would not be allowed within 1,000 feet of day-care centers, grade schools, playgrounds or youth centers. Billboards for marijuana will also not be able to be located along an interstate or state highway that crosses a state’s border. If the federal law were to change in the future, Prop 64 includes a provision that will require television, radio, print and digital marketing to be only displayed on channels/locations where at least 71.6% of the audience is expected to be 21 years of age or older.
How will marijuana be taxed?
The passing of Prop 64 will now impose a state excise tax on all retail sales of marijuana equal to 15 percent of the sales price and state cultivation taxes on marijuana of $9.25 per ounce of cannabis flowers and $2.75 per ounce of cannabis leaves. However, the initiative exempts medical marijuana from taxation since these participants utilize the benefits of marijuana that are necessary to their health and does not fall under “recreational.”
Is marijuana addictive and can it cause cancer or overdoses?
Researchers have found that cannabis has a lower lifetime dependence risk than cigarettes, alcohol and even caffeine. Researchers of the Mayo Clinic have stated, “With a lifetime dependence risk of 9% in marijuana users vs 32% for nicotine, 23% for heroin, 17% for cocaine, and 15% for alcohol, the addiction risk with marijuana is not as high as that for other drugs of abuse.”
Large studies of marijuana users have provided results that show no increase in incidence of lung cancer amongst the long-time smokers. Numerous cell and animal studies have shown that cannabis acts as anti-cancer agents and that lifelong recreational marijuana users have been shown to live considerably healthy lives. Since THC cannot fatally suppress respiratory or heart function like alcohol does, marijuana has not caused any fatal overdoses.
States that have previously legalized recreational marijuana have seen lower rates of opioid overdose and abuse. A study in Health Affairs found that doctors were less likely to prescribe painkillers to patients in states that legalized marijuana which prevented addiction to the opioids. According to a 2014 study by JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers reported opioid overdose deaths fell an average of 25% following the legalization of medicinal and recreational marijuana in various states.
When will the new regulations go into effect?
Through the last months of 2016, California will fund public education campaigns as well as regulate the rules for the legal cannabis industry. The first rulemaking hearings of the state will be announced in the beginning of 2017. Local cities and counties throughout the state have begun their steps to regulate marijuana and related products.
How can marijuana treat health conditions?
The legalization of recreational marijuana will help assist medical research of cannabis’ positive effects on many health conditions. Our staff at Alterra Med currently treats patients with various conditions that include chronic pain, glaucoma, migraines, nausea and cachexia (cancer). One of the most important areas of research of marijuana has been its benefits in cancer treatment. A study published by the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics reported that the chemicals in marijuana helps stop cancer cells from spreading by turning off the gene called Id-1 that makes cancer cells multiply faster than normal cells.
With restrictions lifting from its recreational use, there will begin to be more room for researchers to develop further studies on marijuana and discover additional benefits. This new proposition can also help people become more aware of already existing practices of medical cannabis therapy such as what our physicians at Alterra Med offer to those suffering from pain conditions.


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"A brand-new Des Moines apartment building opened Thursday, and it has the city's first-ever rooftop pool and hot tub..." Read the full article
Our historic preservation development is aimed at bringing affordable housing and office space to Cloquet. The 57 rental units will provide a much-needed housing option for to local working families. View the article
"Long Lake-based Roers Cos. is a private developer that's moving into the senior housing sector with several projects in the works..." Read page 18 for the full report.
We're approaching the ground breaking of the Venue, our 134-unit site in Chanhassen. Located next to Chanhassen Dinner Theatre, Chanhassen Cinema and the SW Transit Park & Ride, Venue will feature a 19,000-sq.-ft. ALDI store as its sole retail tenant. Finance & Commerce recently featured the project's development. Read the article
Roers Companies’ was featured in the Star Tribune. The article highlights Roers Cos.' unique business model and how it has grown since 2012. View the article
Roers Companies' new apartment developments and investments in Des Moines were recently featured in an article by Kara Norvell of the Des Moines Register. View the article
We’re happy to announce that Brian Roers has been selected as a “40 Under 40” honoree for 2018 by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal! Brian’s selection was out of 450 nominations and well deserved! View the article
In outstate Minnesota, we were awarded $14.1 million for Cloquet Middle School Apartments in Cloquet. The historic preservation development will create 57 rental units targeted primarily to households with incomes between $37,980 and $56,430. View the article

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Occasionally tuna mania overtakes an auction. Hiroyasu Ito, the president of Chuo Gyorui, the biggest of the wholesalers and auction houses in terms of sales volume, tells me of a January morning in 1999 when an Oma tuna came to auction through his firm. It appeared to be the perfect tuna, a vision of true kata.So worth it.
Ito-san remembers that the auction started modestly at ¥9,000, or about 75 bucks, per kilo. "And then ¥10,000, ¥20,000, ¥30,000, and ¥40,000. And then three men wanted that tuna very badly." The bidding among them escalated furiously. "At ¥50,000 per kilo, one of them gave up." The remaining two continued to compete. "Ninety thousand, and then ¥100,000 was the last."
The tuna weighed 200 kilos. At ¥100,000 per kilo, the possessed bidder had paid ¥20 million—the equivalent of more than $170,000—for a fish whose parceled meat could never recoup that amount.
"Big loss, big loss."
Sunday, June 03, 2007


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State cannabis regulators roll-back rules on CBD and worker requirements
Montana’s marijuana regulators are eliminating two widely criticized proposals tied to the state’s January rollout of legal cannabis sales.
One proposed rule from regulators in the Montana Department of Revenue would have barred anyone with a criminal conviction in the last three years from working in Montana’s cannabis industry. Critics, including some state lawmakers, said that was an overly broad interpretation of legislative intent and could cost existing employees their jobs.
State Rep. Derek Harvey of Butte is vice chair of the legislature’s Economic Affairs Interim Committee. Harvey says the worker permit proposal would have undermined Montana’s fledgling adult-use marijuana industry.
“We want a seamless transition over to recreational from medical, and so that needed to come out so Montanans weren’t losing their jobs for a minor infraction that they may have had,” Harvey says.
The revenue department will also withdraw a rule banning dispensaries from selling CBD products.
A state revenue department spokesperson tells Montana Public Radio regulators are hammering out the precise language of the changes, but both amended rules should be finalized some time next month.


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NEW YORK – After a banner 2015 in boxing, Tecate, the Mexican beer with bold flavor, announced today it will enter 2016 as the exclusive beer and presenting sponsor for Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions and has signed an endorsement contract with boxing’s biggest star, current WBC, RING Magazine and Lineal Middleweight Champion and Golden Boy Promotions fighter, Canelo Alvarez.
In 2016, Tecate will continue to become more synonymous with legendary boxing matches and for the first time in the brand’s history, will endorse an individual boxer, Canelo, leveraging his popularity to promote the brand’s 2016 ‘BORN BOLD’ campaign. As part of the endorsement, Canelo will wear Tecate branded boxing trunks in the ring in his upcoming marquee fights in May and September, 2016.
“The new partnership with Tecate establishes Canelo as the biggest star in all of boxing, period,” said Oscar De La Hoya, Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy Promotions. “With this partnership with Tecate and his commitment to fight on Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Independence Day weekends — boxing’s two biggest annual dates — Canelo’s popularity will only continue to soar for years to come.”
“Tecate is a world recognized company and I am very happy to have a strong and serious sponsor be part of my team,” said Canelo Alvarez. “With Tecate on my side, I know that we will take our brands to new heights. Through our partnership will be able to achieve our mutual goals and lead boxing into its next great era.”
“This sponsorship is an incredibly natural fit,” said Gustavo Guerra, brand director for Tecate. “Not only is boxing one of our consumer’s biggest passion points, but Golden Boy Promotions, Canelo and Tecate share common ground for being Mexico’s best in their respective categories – boxing and beer.”
The multi-year sponsorship contract with Golden Boy Promotions will have Tecate featured prominently in the center ring, around the mat and throughout the arena.
About HEINEKEN USA:
HEINEKEN USA Inc., the nation’s leading upscale beer importer, is a subsidiary of HEINEKEN International NV, the world’s most international brewer. European brands imported into the U.S. include Heineken, the world’s most international beer brand, Strongbow Hard Apple Ciders, Amstel Light, and Newcastle Brown Ale. HEINEKEN USA also imports the Dos Equis Franchise, Tecate Franchise, Sol, Indio, Carta Blanca and Bohemia brands from Mexico.
About Golden Boy Promotions:
Los Angeles-based Golden Boy Promotions was established in 2002 by 10-time world champion in six divisions Oscar De La Hoya, the first Hispanic to own a national boxing promotional company. Golden Boy Promotions is one of boxing’s most active and respected promoters, presenting shows in packed venues around the world and has worked with networks such as HBO, HBO Latino, Estrella TV, ESPN, TeleFutura, FOX Sports 1, FOX Deportes, Televisa and TV Azteca. The company has also promoted some of the top boxing events in the history of the sport including De La Hoya vs. Mayweather, Mayweather vs. Canelo and other notable pay-per-view fights featuring fan-favorites Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins, Juan Manuel “Dinamita” Marquez, Miguel Cotto, Marco “Baby Faced Assassin” Antonio Barrera, Erik “El Terrible” Morales and Sugar Shane Mosley.
About Canelo Alvarez:
At the age of 25, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico’s Canelo Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) has conquered the boxing world, captivating fans both at home and around the globe with his action-packed fighting style, charisma and willingness to take on the toughest challenges. The current WBC, RING Magazine and Lineal Middleweight Champion, was last seen in the ring against former four-division world champion Miguel Cotto on November 21, 2015, defeating him via unanimous decision.


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Double double hockey trouble.
Canadians love hockey and they love swinging by their neighbourhood Tim’s for coffee — at least, that’s what stereotypes might have you believe.
Tim Hortons, Mattel, and Toys ‘R Us Canada are testing that theory with the introduction of a new hockey playing Barbie adorned in a red jersey and socks and sporting a stick, helmet, and skates. The new Barbie is available at Toys ‘R Us Canada for $29.99 CAD and will be available in Tim Hortons stores at a later date.
A statement on the NHL website asserts that the Barbie “inspires girls to explore their limitless potential and encourages them to be anything they want to be”.
Unfortunately, the Black doll isn’t yet available, as it was something of a late addition, a company rep explains, noting that such a doll wasn’t originally planned, and “amid the protests against anti-Black racism in recent months, Tim Hortons decided to push the launch to make the product more diverse“. The company has asked Mattel to rush the order and won’t sell either Barbie in store until both are readily available.
Canadians loving Barbies and sports on ice can also purchase the Tessa Virtue Barbie announced earlier this year. The two time Olympic gold medalist ice dancing champion and multi-World Champion told TSN at the time she’s “conscious of how young kids, both boys and girls, perceive success because what you see is a lot of podiums and sequins and smiles, and there’s so much behind that” saying it’s important for children to see what’s needed to achieve a goal while reminding them “they can do anything”.
The Tessa Virtue Barbie is also a Toys ‘R Us Canada exclusive retailing for $39.99 CAD.


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YORK area businesses will be able to get specialist financial services from a new corporate business centre in High Ousegate.
Santander Corporate & Commercial’s base will have eight relationship directors and product specialists, headed by Neil Williams, regional director for Yorkshire.
It aims to provide a bespoke service for commercial and corporate organisations with a turnover of more than £250,000.
The staff will offer asset finance, invoice finance, transaction banking and liquidity to businesses, particularly those in agriculture, manufacturing, food and drink.
The company now has corporate business centres in four Yorkshire towns and cities with the latest centre demonstrating their commitment to the region’s businesses.
Santander increased UK business loans by 13 per cent in 2013, including £4.1 billion financial facilities to small and medium enterprises.


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Amazon is launching a range of renewable energy projects as it seeks to hit its 2040 zero-carbon target.
The ecommerce giant will roll out a further 26 wind and solar projects. As well as in Australia, Sweden, the UK and the US, Amazon will launch its first such projects in France, Germany, Italy and South Africa.
The projects will supply energy to Amazon fulfilment centres, corporate offices and cloud computing service Amazon Web Services.
This brings Amazon’s total projects up to 127, generating 6.5GW of energy.
“Amazon is helping fight climate change by moving quickly to power our businesses with renewable energy,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO.
“With a total of 127 solar and wind projects, Amazon is now the biggest corporate buyer of renewable energy ever. We are on a path to running 100% of our business on renewable energy by 2025 — five years ahead of our original target of 2030.
“This is just one of the many steps we’re taking that will help us meet our Climate Pledge. I couldn’t be more proud of all the teams across Amazon that continue to work hard, smart, and fast to get these projects up and running.”
Amazon hopes to use 100% renewable energy by 2025 to power its operations, with net zero carbon in 50% of its shipments by 2030.


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Less than a couple of weeks after Samsung agreed to pay Apple $548 million to settle their yearslong patent legal case, the South Korean company has taken the battle to the US Supreme Court, asking for a re-examination of the decisions made in the case so far.
“While Samsung prefers to compete in the marketplace, not the courtroom, the company feels that it is important to appeal this case to the US Supreme Court on behalf of all US companies, big and small, that could be affected if this legal precedent stands,” Samsung said in a statement.
The company, in its appeal, is arguing that unlike cases related to utility patents (that cover how a product functions), the jury isn’t given all the details on how to understand the patents when dealing with design patent-related cases.
Not only this, Samsung is also questioning the way damages are calculated in these cases, noting that in certain scenarios a convicted company can even be made to pay the entirety of its profits multiple times.
“Samsung is escalating this case because it believes that the way the laws were interpreted is not in line with modern times,” it said in a statement. “If the current legal precedent stands, it could diminish innovation, stifle competition, pave the way for design patent troll litigation and negatively impact the economy and consumers.”
It’s worth mentioning that several other tech giants including Google, Facebook and eBay have also filed a supporting brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, saying that the recent ruling against Samsung, if left to stand, would “lead to absurd results and have a devastating impact on companies.”
The Supreme Court is yet to decide whether or not to take up the case – it hasn’t taken up any design patent-related case since the 1800s.


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- Standard Bank closes more than 90 branches.
- Banks have been creating jobs for years.
- Industry falls are a global reality consumer banking behavior is changing.
Of the five largest retail banks, only Capitec appears to be actively growing branches and staff. Her peers go from freezing posts to probably the most radical single action of a banking group in decades: Standard Bank announcing that it will close 91 of the approximately 630 odd branches by the end of June.
Some 1,200 people could lose their jobs and – in a sector that is shrinking in the face of technology-driven people – new banking companies are unlikely to find much work.
Read: SA bosses! Here's a radical idea: be nice
The difference between Capitec and the more established players is that, like the new generations of start-ups, they have built new technology from the start, making customer acquisition and onboarding (which is a terrible word) faster and easier than at other companies.
For example, in January Capitec registered its highest number of new accounts ever in one month: 268,000. However, Capitec also sees digital conversion, with 4 out of 10 customers executing transactions via the app. Nevertheless, it has a considerable network of 800 branches and has given no indication whatsoever that it intends to reduce that number.
When this week the question was asked whether branches would be a remnant of the last ten years, Standard Bank CEO Sim Tshabalala took advantage of this opportunity, but would not be drawn about how they would be staffed or how many there would be.
The pressure builds on banks that are struggling not only to convert the technology they use, but also to adapt business models to a fast-growing, technically educated millennium generation happier than their parents to sign up for digital financial services and Products.
It is a global trend.
Last year it emerged that the United Kingdom has lost two thirds of its offices for more than 30 years. According to British parliamentary records, there were 20,583 branches in 1988. Today, only about 7,500 are left.
In the US, branch closures have increased every year over the past seven years, with a record of 1,947 ending last year.
In recent years, SA banks have frozen quietly frozen posts and reduced their numbers.
The transparency of Standard Bank around this austerity round suggests that the rest of the sector will do the same.
They will have little choice, as consumer preferences clearly show that they are looking for banking that is easier, better and yes, faster than ever.
Bruce Whitfield is a multi-platform award winning financial journalist and broadcaster.
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What We’re Reading is a roundup of current news and commentary on the challenges and opportunities of aligning business decisions with the long-term health of society. This month, we’re examining some of the widespread impacts of the Covid crisis as well as innovative coping strategies, speed bumps on the road to positive change, and more.
Current Economic Issues (Jerome H. Powell, Speech Given at the Peterson Institute for International Economics) “Among people who were working in February, almost 40 percent of those in households making less than $40,000 a year had lost a job in March.”
U.S. Consumer Confidence Stabilizes; New Home Sales Surprise (Lucia Mutikani, Reuters) If nothing else, the economic indicators in this report capture how American consumers and businesses feel in a month where many states are beginning to ease this spring’s lockdown measures.
How COVID-19 Will Shape the Class of 2020 For the Rest of Their Lives (Charlotte Alter, Time Magazine) “Researchers have found that beginning a career in the teeth of a recession can depress earnings for 10 years, and trigger broader impacts for decades.”
Purpose of the Corporation
Pay Cuts Become a Tool for Some Companies to Avoid Layoffs (Nelson D. Schwartz, The New York Times) “The trend is a reversal of traditional management theory, which held that salaries were sacred and it was better to cut positions and dismiss a limited number of workers than to lower pay for everyone during downturns.”
Target Extends $2-An-Hour Coronavirus Pay Bump through July 4 (Kavita Kumar, Star Tribune) While some big retailers are pulling back on temporary pandemic pay raises, Target is extending them for the second time this year.
Could the Pandemic Give America’s Labour Movement a Boost? (The Economist) As strikes and walkouts mounted over the last few years, some commentators suggested rising worker voice was a function of a tight labor market, one that would end in an economic downturn. But what if the last few years were just the beginning of this trend?
Current and Ex-Employees Allege Google Drastically Rolled Back Diversity and Inclusion Programs (April Glaser, NBC News) What’s changing at a company that once was praised for its leadership on this issue?
Facebook Reportedly Ignored Its Own Research Showing Algorithms Divided Users (Nick Statt, The Verge) Another piece that raises challenging questions, particularly how competing centers of influence in a company determine how values are put into practice.
Dark Patterns and Design Policy (Caroline Sanders, Data & Society Points Blog) Another read that tackles the question of how to translate ideals into reality, this time from a technical perspective: “Design can unintentionally shift, mask, and hide policy, as well as the intentions of policy.”
For more on our work to align business with the long-term good of society, sign up for our monthly newsletter and visit our website. (Please note, the purpose of this newsletter is to highlight what Aspen BSP staff are reading, and is not intended as advertisement or endorsement of content or viewpoints.)


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South Korean automaker KG Mobility Corp. said on Wednesday that the company unveiled its mid-sized sport utility vehicle (SUV) Torres in Egypt, aiming to enhance brand awareness in the African market.
KG Mobility held the launching event of Torres in Cairo on Tuesday. The company plans to conduct product promotions, including customer test drives, over the next one to two weeks. From next month, the company will officially commence the sale of Torres and begin customer deliveries.
"Torres boasts a strong design reminiscent of authentic SUVs, excellent performance, and a reasonable price," said Ahmed Abou Khof, Chairman of Arabiat Egypt, the local dealership of KG Mobility in Egypt. "It has already received acclaim not only in South Korea but also globally, and we expect a positive market response in Egypt as well."
KG Mobility is accelerating the global launch of new models including Torres to expand its export volume. In July, during the Torres launch event in the European market, Chairman Kwak Jae Sun personally attended, holding conferences with dealers to discuss strategies for expanding global market sales and enhancing competitiveness.
In addition, a test drive event for Torres was held at a conference attended by dealers from 13 countries in Africa, the Middle East, and the CIS region in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.


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A Bitcoin wallet is a software program where Bitcoins are stored. To be technically accurate, Bitcoins are not stored anywhere; there is a private key (secret number) for every Bitcoin address that is saved in the Bitcoin wallet of the person who owns the balance. Bitcoin wallets facilitate sending and receiving Bitcoins and gives ownership of the Bitcoin balance to the user. The Bitcoin wallet comes in many forms; desktop, mobile, web and hardware are the four main types of wallets.
In parts of the basin, utility crews now actively hunt unpermitted miners, in a manner not unlike the way police look for indoor cannabis farms. The biggest giveaway, Stoll says, is a sustained jump in power use. But crews have learned to look, and listen, for other telltales, such as “fans that are exhausting out of the garage or a bedroom.” In any given week, the utility flushes out two to five suspected miners, Stoll says. Some come clean. They pay for permits and the often-substantial wiring upgrades, or they quit. But others quietly move their servers to another residential location and plug back in. “It’s a bit of a cat-and-mouse game,” Stoll admits.
In 2014 prices started at $770 and fell to $314 for the year. In February 2014 the Mt. Gox exchange, the largest bitcoin exchange at the time, said that 850,000 bitcoins had been stolen from its customers, amounting to almost $500 million. Bitcoin's price fell by almost half, from $867 to $439 (a 49% drop). Prices remained low until late 2016.
Transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain. Bitcoin was invented by an unknown person or group of people using the name Satoshi Nakamoto and released as open-source software in 2009. Bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining. They can be exchanged for other currencies, products, and services. Research produced by the University of Cambridge estimates that in 2017, there were 2.9 to 5.8 million unique users using a cryptocurrency wallet, most of them using bitcoin.


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YouTube channels such as Zoella, Vice News and The Slow Mo Guys will soon be appearing on your television screen during the prime time ad breaks of shows including the hugely popular programme, The X Factor to promote their channels.
YouTube is paying for the new marketing campaign as a way to promote their top channels. The campaign will spread across numerous different platforms with partnerships being created with Sky Sports, Glamour Magazine, Wired and The Guardian. The adverts will run on the underground, bus posters, billboards and digital adverts.
People across the globe are watching more than six billion hours of YouTube videos each month. Zoella has generated around 265 million views on her main channel and has six million subscribers. Zoe Sugg also has a second channel in which she uploads vlog. Zoellas success has gone beyond the YouTube platform as a make-up range will be available on feelunique and Superdrug‘s website from today and will be available in Superdrug stores from Monday 29th and is releasing a fictional book titled ‘Girl Online‘ which will be released on the 25th of November.
Vice News has over 930,000 subscribers and has received 430 million total views. The Slow Mo Guys has 4.4 million subscribers and 430 million views on their channel.
The advertising campaign funded by YouTube will help the likes of Zoella reach to a wider audience and introduce her to new older viewers who may not have discovered the YouTube beauty community.
The campaign comes after the success of the placement of television adverts from American YouTube channels from Michelle Phan, Bethany Mota and Rosanna Pansino. The American campaign ran in April during show such as Mad Men and the MTV Movie Awards. The adverts then went onto be aired during the breaks of popular shows with a teenage audience.
The aim of the campaign is to make the top YouTube channels a mainstream alternative to main television channels and instant access box set sights such as Netflix.


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Welcome to the broadband and cable news roundup, T.G.I.F. edition.
Fox Broadcasting Co., already hopping-mad about the ad-zapping feature in Dish Network Corp.'s Hopper HD-DVR, is now going after a new feature in a second-generation of the device that lets users sling live and recorded video via the Internet and side-load DVR-recorded content onto tablets and PCs. Fox is seeking a preliminary injunction in a federal court in L.A., alleging that the features violate its license deal with Dish and infringe on Fox's copyrights, notes Bloomberg . "Paying Dish for a satellite television subscription does not buy anyone the right to receive Fox’s live broadcast signal over the Internet or to make copies of Fox programs to watch 'on the go,' because Dish does not have the right to offer these services to its subscribers in the first place," Fox claims. Dish has not yet responded to this latest salvo. (See Dish, Broadcasters Go to War Over Ad-Zapper and Dish Slings Its Latest Hopper DVR.)
It could be a big deal, though. So far, Sling Media Inc.'s place-shifting technology (now part of Dish's corporate cousin EchoStar Corp. LLC) has avoided any legal entanglements. As an important distinction, Fox's suit does not target Sling's retail products, but a device that is being distributed by a pay-TV operator. Some similar devices have come on the scene, including Comcast Corp.'s Motorola Mobility LLC-made AnyPlay device and the TiVo Inc. Stream, but those products don't let users place-shift TV programming beyond the reach of the customer's home Wi-Fi signal. An industry source says AnyPlay could ship video out-of-the-home via a firmware upgrade, but it's unlikely that Comcast would activate such a feature without consent from its programming partners. Monsoon Multimedia Inc., a target of a Sling Media lawsuit, is trying to get around that issue by letting operators determine which networks can be delivered out-of-home. (See Sling Media Opens the TiVo Playbook, Monsoon Pitches MSO-Manages TV Place-Shifting and Why Is Sling Getting a Free Pass? )
Charter Communications Inc. posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $40 million, narrowed from $67 million, on revenues of $1.91 billion, up 4.3 percent. Charter lost 36,000 video subs, versus a year-ago loss of 44,000, giving it a total of 3.98 million. It added 54,000 high-speed Internet subs (vs. +68,000), giving Charter 3.79 million, and signed on 34,000 voice customers (vs. +27,000) for a grand total of 1.91 million. Charter's in the process of adding more than 300,000 video subs to the pot via its proposed $1.6 billion acquisition of Cablevision Systems Corp. properties in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Utah and Montana. (See Charter Plunks Down $16B for Optimum West.)


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Third Quarter Continues Increases for Independent Retailers
- Created on December 19, 2012
- Written by PDRA
Independent paint and decorating stores continue to outpace their sales performance of a year ago, with third-quarter sales rising by 3.7 percent when compared to the same quarter in 2011, according to the latest PDRA Pulse Report.
All regions of the U.S., with the exception of the Northeast, posted increases in the third quarter. However, for the first three quarters of 2012, the Northeast has experienced an increase of 6 percent when compared to the same period the year before.
PPG to Acquire Akzo Nobel N.A. Architectural Coatings Business
- Created on December 14, 2012
- Written by PDRA
PPG Industries announced today that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire the North American architectural coatings business of AkzoNobel, N.V., Amsterdam, in a deal valued at $1.05 billion.
The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies and is expected to close in early second quarter 2013, subject to regulatory approvals.
“This acquisition continues the accelerated pace of our business portfolio transformation through further expansion of our coatings businesses,” said Charles E. Bunch, PPG chairman and CEO. “It is also an attractive way to significantly increase our scale in the North American paint market, which we anticipate will benefit from a prolonged construction market recovery.”
PDRA Webinar Offers Businesses Facebook Advice
- Created on November 20, 2012
- Written by Diane Capuano
If you want to come face-to-face with more customers, then you need to learn the ins and outs of Facebook. That was the topic of the latest PDRA webinar, called “A Paint & Decorating Retailers’ Cheat Sheet: Five Ways to Make Your Facebook Business Page Rock.”
Beth Trejo of Chatterkick conducted the webinar, providing nuggets of information and practical advice throughout. For instance, did you know that more than 90 percent of retail companies have acquired a customer through Facebook? It’s pretty hard to deny the power of this social media network when retailers are getting those kinds of results.
For those who are a little apprehensive about using social media to market themselves, Trejo suggested thinking of Facebook as a more high-tech version of word-of-mouth advertising. “It’s still relationship marketing,” she said. “It still relies on word of mouth. We’re just moving it online.”
Sherwin-Williams to Acquire Comex
- Created on November 19, 2012
- Written by PDRA via Press Release
The Sherwin-Williams Company announced on Nov. 12 that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Consorcio Comex, S.A. de C.V., a leader in the paint and coatings market in Mexico with headquarters in Mexico City.
Sherwin-Williams will pay approximately $2.34 billion, including assumed debt, in an all-cash transaction. Completion of the acquisition is subject to certain conditions and customary regulatory approvals.
The acquisition combines the operations of Sherwin-Williams and Comex; expands distribution in Mexico, the United States, Canada and other Latin American countries; and enhances Sherwin-Williams’ position as a supplier of premium architectural paints and related products to professional painting contractors in the Americas.


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ADL bus models to be built in Australia under licence
Alexander Dennis Limited has announced a supply agreement to have its range of zero-emission buses assembled in Australia, for the Australian market.
Nexport, an Australian-owned supplier and producer of electric buses, will assemble bodies from the Alexander Dennis Enviro family on BYD chassis for its domestic market. Nexport will also lead the customer sales and service relationship.
ADL is globally renowned for its pioneering lightweight buses, incorporating a range of technology solutions and available to a variety of customer specification, which form the backbone of public transport networks in the world’s busiest towns and cities. It is now a subsidiary of NFI, based in North America.
ADL and BYD’s electric vehicle partnership has been a great success in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand, where they have delivered and taken orders for more than battery-electric 1,000 vehicles and clocked up over 30 million miles of zero emission service.
The supply agreement will bring a range of new locally-assembled electric bus products, providing bus types that are currently not available to local bus operators in Australia. The first of the range released will include a 9.7-metre electric city bus as well as 11.6-metre and 12.5-metre models. The first buses are targeted to be on the road in early 2022 with volume production to be underway by the end of that year. Some components will be supplied manufactured locally, where this makes commercial sense, ADL told Bus and Coach Buyer.
Paul Soubry, President and Chief Executive Officer of NFI, said: “We continue to look for innovative ways to lead the evolution to zero-emission mobility around the world and this strategic partnership between ADL and Nexport will help further support that evolution in the southern hemisphere. Our electric buses and coaches have seen strong growth in numerous markets and through this partnership, our electric vehicles will now be available in five countries, with plans for further geographic expansion in the near future through ADL.”
Paul Davies, President and Managing Director of ADL, commented: “We are delighted to be partnering with Nexport in the Australian market as we believe that our globally renowned buses can help deliver the country’s decarbonisation agenda. This agreement with Nexport fits perfectly with our model of manufacturing close to our customers, supporting highly skilled local jobs and developing skills in green technology while adding value to local economies. We’re thrilled to be collaborating with Nexport who share our unwavering focus of delivering best-in-class customer support and outstanding quality.”
Michel van Maanen, CEO of Nexport, stated: “This agreement will be another significant boost to the Australian manufacturing renaissance. We are delighted to partner with Alexander Dennis who have been extremely progressive in the zero-emission bus space globally. For Nexport to be able to partner with such a strong global company, further demonstrates our business objective to bring the world’s best zero-emission mobility technology to our shores and manufacturing the products locally, by Australians.”


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South Africa is currently dealing with the Covid-19 crisis. The South African government has imposed a lock-down of the country that has severely limited the movement of goods and people.
We fully support the government’s efforts and at the same time are working hard at the vital enabling service of providing news and information to South Africans. Unfortunately, many associated operations that we rely on to get publications to retailers that remain operational (especially printing and bulk freight operations) have been shutdown and this has impacted on our ability to get the publications into retailers.
We trust that you will bear with us at this difficult time and we urge you all to comply with government regulations as they deal with this serious threat to our society.
More information regarding Covid-19 and the government’s efforts to fight the virus can be found here on the official government Covid-19 web page
We wish you all good health and hope that we can stand together as we fight this virus.


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Toshiba adds outsiders to board amid accounting scandal
- 18 August, 2015 16:35
Scandal-hit Toshiba is trying to inspire investor confidence with a revamped board of directors following the resignation of executives amid a massive accounting fraud that came to light earlier this year.
The Japanese conglomerate, which makes everything from memory chips to nuclear power plant equipment, has shuffled its board so that seven of its 11 members are external. The outside directors are all Japanese.
Masashi Muromachi, who had been appointed interim leader of the company, will stay on as president, Toshiba said.
Former president Hisao Tanaka and other executives resigned after a committee reviewing its earnings said in July that the company padded its operating profit by about ¥156 billion ($1.25 billion) over six years to the end of 2014.
The sum included about ¥4.4 billion of incorrect earnings revealed in an internal probe by Toshiba. Other executives took pay cuts.
The company also said it expects to post a net loss for the year that ended March 31, 2015, and will book ¥127 billion ($1.02 billion) in impairment charges related to its nuclear power, semiconductor, appliance and automotive businesses. The firm's earnings report for the year is being revised amid the scandal, which erupted after securities regulators began probing company reports.
Last month, Toshiba acknowledged that it is being sued in a class-action lawsuit by securities owners in California related to information it provided about the cost of infrastructure projects.
Known for introducing flash memory in the 1980s, Toshiba is made up of nearly 600 companies around the world and has over 200,000 employees.


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If voice is universal, so, too, is money — or, to be more accurate, finance.
And a universal duality, perhaps, may be voice-enabled finance, if Fiserv’s vision rings true.
For the PYMNTS 2018 Voice Challenge, Fiserv’s own video submission showcased voice-enabled banking that moves beyond the confines of mere spoken commands.
In an interview with Brian Abele, director, Segment Solution Strategy at Fiserv, the executive explained the submission of Alexa as a financial assistant aims to help consumers connect technology to their financial lives.
The Echo “echoes” (pun intended) account information but also displays via screen that info for those who wish it not to be spoken — think account balances and mortgage balances. The company has said that the skills were developed using the LEX platform and are transferable across any device Amazon creates.
Abele told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster that the voice assistant market is nothing if not fluid, noting the shift in competitive dynamics that has shown Amazon’s market share shifting to 70 percent from 90 percent in its battle with Google, Apple and others.
Forget huge changes in the landscape a year from now, predicted Abele — the arena may look completely different six months from now.
Consumer demand is changing too. Interoperability is actively sought by consumers, said the executive.
“We see that in financial services, and we see it all over the place. Consumers want to be able to pay a bill, wherever they are with whatever they have … including an Echo that’s sitting up there on the [shelf] corner,” he said, noting the Echo is a game changer, based on what the device brings to the table in terms of functionality, and with an attractive price point.
The Fiserv entry to the Alexa competition this time around, said Abele, operates in a visual capacity, with audio and video capacity.
In one hypothetical illustration, he offered this scenario: “You are in the baby’s room ... rocking the baby, and you’re putting them down. You can get a display of a pending bill payment that you need to make. And you can have it not spoken to you because you don’t want to wake the baby up. By having that multimodal capacity, the Echo gives you all kinds of different freedom to be able to do that.”
In other use cases, he said, “Live video is something that has had a lot of interest ... in the industry as a way to be able to service through a branch with a video teller — but again from the confines of your home.” Video chat can help consumers ask questions with video-based advisers so they drill deeper into finances.
Voice is ideal for financial information, said Abele, because “it’s just such a natural thing; it’s something that we hear every day. You can see how the next set of experiences are going to revolve around the voice and how [companies] can be better and smarter inserting them. I think the early stages are right now.”
Even the most popular Amazon skills, he said, are games. “They’re fun but they’re informational because it’s kind of a very simple sort of question-and-answer response.”
Initial skill launches, said Abele, are information-based and very simplistic, but financial conversations are three or four questions deep. Think of the platform, then, as driven by conversation rather than mere interaction.
As for narrowing down services, there’s a plethora from which to choose.
“It’s a good problem to have ... we’ve got a pretty wide funnel … there’s a comfort level there, especially in a highly regulated industry like ours where having the right security controls around information … means giving you the foundation for having trust built up into that conversational experience ... later on [the consumer may say], ‘I’m getting value from this stuff. I want to go to the next step up.’”
Discussing the functionality, Abele said in the digital age, text is natural as a form of communication for millennials and other demographics.
“It’s something that people do on a regular basis. With text, there’s that comfort level of, ‘I’m making a text, I’m sending a text, I’m getting information that I need out of that conversation, but without having to remember specific commands or specific formats. Text conversations have turned into — for all users — very natural conversations.”
Using Alexa as a springboard to financial conversations, said the executive, has spurred interest from financial institutions of all shapes and sizes, but early adopters are likely relatively smaller players.
“The firms oriented toward innovation are not necessarily the biggest ones. When it comes to a technology like this, you can definitely get some traction being early to market [or] first to market. They want to be out there, they want to be talked about and they want to be cutting-edge. So, for a smaller institution that has that viewpoint, they definitely see it as a way for them to stand out and look as innovative as possible,” he told Webster.


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UPDATE: The Guardian reports that the two sides of this dispute have reached an out-of-court, non-financial settlement. The Spotify playlists in question, which replicate compilation albums produced by British label Ministry of Sound, will be removed from Spotify’s search engine, but not removed from the service. The playlists will also be unavailable for “following,” which means user have no way to archive the lists for future listening.
Essentially, this means the playlists will become invisible, while still remaining on the system. Spotify users will be able to re-create Ministry of Sound compilation albums as playlists, without repercussion. But those playlists will be invisible to other users.
What does it all mean? Not much. The most interesting question — whether a music-service playlist can be a copyrighted product — remains undecided in court.
In an interesting, possibly unmeritorious case that one lawyer characterizes as a “battle of metaphors,” Ministry of Sound (MoS), a British record label specializing in compilation albums, has brought action against Spotify over user playlisting, a core Spotify function. The playlists at issue are ones that mimic MoS compilations.
According to a report in Time, the label does not license to Spotify, so its albums are not found in the service. But tracks owned by other labels, licensed by Ministry of Sound for its compilations, are in the Spotify library. Accordingly, Spotify users can listen to those tracks and add them to personalized playlists. The problem arises when users replicate MoS album collections as Spotify playlists.
The legal question is unusual, and possibly unprecedented. Is the ordering of an album collection by itself, and separate from branding, artwork, and track licensing, considered intellectual property? The usage displacement would seem to favor MoS’s argument: to whatever extent Spotify replaces album purchases, public access to a playlist identical to the listening experience of an MoS album would seem to impede MoS business interests. But Spotify is on legal footing with both its track licensing and the playlisting function viewed by itself.
No prediction of how this will play out, but the case will be interesting to follow.


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Blog: Three ex-Tesco executives charged with fraud over 2014 accounting affair
Dean Best | 9 September 2016
The 2014 accounting scandal at Tesco has returned to the headlines today (9 September), with news three former executives have been charged over the affair.
In a brief statement, the UK's Serious Fraud Office said Christopher Bush, 50, Carl Rogberg, 49, and the 48-year-old John Scouler have each been charged with one count of fraud by abuse of position and one count of false accounting.
Bush was the former managing director of Tesco's UK arm, Rogberg the former finance director of the retail giant's domestic business and Scouler the ex-commercial director for food in its home market.
The charges cover alleged activity between February and September 2014.
The SFO launched a probe into Tesco's financial affairs in the autumn of 2014 after the retailer admitted in the September of that year it had over-stated its profits. The timing of the accounting of payments between Tesco and suppliers was said to be a central factor.
The SFO said its investigation into Tesco "remains ongoing".
In a statement issued today, Tesco said: "We note the decision of the SFO to bring a prosecution against former colleagues in relation to historic issues and acknowledge the investigation into the Company is ongoing. Tesco continues to cooperate with the SFO’s investigation. The last two years have seen an extensive programme of change at Tesco, but given this is an ongoing legal matter, we are unable to provide any further comment at this time."
The three men are to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on 22 September 2016.
Sectors: Baby food, Bakery, Canned food, Cereal, Chilled foods, Condiments, dressings & sauces, Confectionery, Dairy, Dried foods, Free-from, Fresh produce, Frozen, Ice cream, Meat & poultry, Natural & organic, Private label, Seafood, Snacks, World foods
The plethora of food manufacturing associations in the UK has been argued by some to be an impediment to the industry coming to a coherent position on the aftermath of Brexit and on what the sector sh...
An update on Amazon's plans for the grocery sector. The usually reticent retailer has this week poured cold water on claims it has plans for 2,000 physical grocery stores....
Ask any FMCG executive to list the trends shaking up the sector and digital and e-commerce will be pretty high on the list. Drill down into that and Amazon will be one of the subjects in the digital s...
Since Theresa May took over as UK Prime Minister in the wake of the country's referendum vote to quit the European Union, she and her ministers have been at pains not to divulge their negotiating posi...
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- Today’s main news: SoFi to roll out crypto trading with Coinbase. Walmart now offers Affirm loans. Funding Circle fund ups the ante on buyback strategy. Orca launches IFISA. LendDenClub cross 1 million borrowers, lenders milestone.
- Today’s main analysis: 2019 securitization update. How marketplace lending is a growing and dynamic global market. (A MUST-READ)
- Today’s thought-provoking articles: The 2009 housing market compared to today. Personal loan interest rates for February 2019. Why Midwest BankCentre created a separate digital-only bank. Some bankers are worse off than in 2009. Dragon Victory International analysis.
- SoFi to offer crypto trading through Coinbase partnership. This is the most interesting news story of the week. The largest cryptocurrency exchange partnering with one of the largest marketplace lenders to offer cryptocurrency trading will be a huge feather in the cap for both companies.
- Walmart now offers Affirm loans. We saw this one coming. In fact, I wonder why it took so long. Affirm snagging Walmart as a customer will catapult it to PayPal status fast.
- More on Affirm’s, Walmart’s partnership.
- Affirm CEO breaks it down.
- 2019 securitization update, Square charter status. Square is finally seeing some opposition to its banking aspirations. Excellent analysis from PeerIQ.
- The housing market of 2009 compared to today. A LendingTree analysis showing the markets where median home values have increased the most and the least. California is hot. The Mid-Atlantic and Eastern states are not.
- Personal loan interest rates for February 2019. A great breakdown from Nerdwallet.
- Why a small bank launched a separate digital-only branch. I think we’re going to see more of this. As more consumers demand digital banking, and Millennials are all over it, more brick-and-mortar banks will see the opportunity to launch digital-only branches as separate entities. It’s actually a smart move.
- SoFi to offer zero-fee ETFs.
- FTC orders SoFi to stop misleading consumers.
- Figure raises $65 million.
- Gen Xers have the largest auto loan burden.
- Elevate Credit posts earnings results.
- Elevate’s CIO wins award.
- Hunt Real Estate Capital buys RealtyMogul’s loan underwriting program.
- Kabbage says it’s prepared for the coming recession.
- Kabbage named one of the top workplaces among midsize companies in Atlanta.
- CrowdStreet has new self-directed IRA offering.
- Liquid P2P, Interest Radar partner.
- Direct Lending Investments suspends investor withdrawals.
- HSBC partners with Neptune Financial.
- Venmo debuts rainbow-colored card.
- Mastercard says digital identities will be very important in a few years.
- Credit Karma wants to be known for more than free credit scores.
- Brex launches credit card for e-commerce.
- YieldStreet raises $62 million.
- Guaranteed Rate listed as top loan originator.
- Americans focus on debt management more than retirement savings.
- Banking regulator challenging New York on fintech charters.
- Blockchain can be used for P2P lending.
- LoanStreet makes new hires.
- White Oak Business Capital hires new head of markets.
- Funding Circle fund adds firepower for buyback strategy.
- Orca Innovative Finance ISA launches.
- Experian backs off ClearScore merger.
- NatWest launches account aggregation.
- Open Banking could boom in 2019.
- Wonga reaches from beyond the grave.
- What you need to know about crowdfunding developments.
- Aave launches bill pay platform for crypto.
- Some bankers are worse off than in 2009. A look at global IPOs.
- Report on how marketplace lending is still a growing and dynamic market. A must-read from DBRS.
- Enova expands worldwide credit access.
- Blossom Capital gets $85 million from Robinhood, Funding Circle investors.
- How lending can earn your Bitcoin online. I’d like to see a service where small lenders can lend fiat and earn Bitcoin.
- India: LenDenClub crosses 1 million borrower, lender milestone. Congratulations! Excellent achievement.
- Mexico: PayPal to expand small business loans into country with new partnership. PayPal has begun its slow expansion internationally. Could it someday be a global powerhouse?
- China: Analysis of Dragon Victory International. A very interesting look from Seeking Alpha.
- Latin America: ID Finance Latam revenues climb 403%.
- India: Why startups, investors see big potential in lending.
- Ireland: Grid Finance suspends investments below 100,000 euro.
- Brazil: N26 expands into Brazil.
- China: Is the Chinese P2P lending boom over?
- Singapore: Fintech investments rose to $365 million USD in 2018.
- India: UDS ban will benefit P2P lending.
- Australia: How should accountants talk about fintechs?
- Singapore: Validus Capital raises $15 million for SME financing.
- China: BHB raises $20 million using fake bios of founding team.
- Africa: Fintechs inspire with mobile technology.
- China: Futu Securities downsizes U.S. IPO.
- United States
- Fintech Startup SoFi to Roll Out Crypto Trading Via Partnership With Coinbase (CoinTelegraph), Rated: AAA
- Millennial online lender SoFi to offer zero-fee ETFs, an unexpected rival for index fund giants Vanguard, iShares (CNBC), Rated: A
- FTC orders SoFi to stop misleading consumers (MPA Mag), Rated: B
- Digital lender founded by ex-SoFi CEO raises $ 65M to fuel expansion (American Banker), Rated: A
- Walmart teams with Affirm to offer point-of-sale loans (American Banker), Rated: AAA
- Affirm’s latest partnership brings its alternative financing to Walmart’s US stores and website (TechCrunch), Rated: A
- Loan app Affirm CEO breaks down new Walmart partnership (CNBC), Rated: A
- ABS Vegas – 2019 Securitization Update; Square Charter Status (PeerIQ), Rated: AAA
- The Housing Market’s 10 Year Challenge — Comparing The Housing Market of 2009 to Today (LendingTree), Rated: AAA
- Gen Xers Carry the Biggest Auto Loan Burden; Study Finds (One World Herald), Rated: A
- Personal Loan Interest Rates for February 2019 (Nerdwallet), Rated: AAA
- Elevate Credit (ELVT) Posts Earnings Results, Meets Expectations (Fairfield Current), Rated: A
- Hunt Real Estate Capital buys RealtyMogul’s proprietary loan underwriting program (Housing Wire), Rated: A
- Elevate’s Joan Kuehl Named Dallas ORBIE CIO of the Year (The Progress), Rated: B
- A Recession Coming? Small Business Lending Platform Kabbage Says It’s Prepared (Forbes), Rated: A
- Here’s more on the AJC Top Workplaces midsize companies (AJC.com), Rated: B
- Diversifying a Self-Directed IRA Made Simple with New Offering from CrowdStreet (The Progress), Rated: A
- Liquid P2P and Interest Radar Announce Strategic Partnership (Liquid P2P), Rated: A
- Direct Lending Investments Suspends Investor Withdrawals (Lend Academy), Rated: A
- Fintech deal will provide access to midsize businesses in U.S. (American Banker), Rated: A
- Venmo debuted a limited-edition rainbow-colored card (Business Insider), Rated: A
- Why digital identities will be so important in the next few years, according to Mastercard’s vice chairman (CNBC), Rated: A
- Credit Karma’s Dana Marineau: ‘We want users to think of us as more than just free credit scores’ (Tearsheet), Rated: A
- Why this small bank created a separate, digital-first brand (American Banker), Rated: AAA
- The Future Is Plastic: Fintech Unicorn Brex Launches New Credit Card For E-Commerce Merchants (Forbes), Rated: A
- YieldStreet raises $ 62M to democratise alternative investments in shipping, real estate and more (TechCrunch), Rated: A
- Guaranteed Rate Leads Mortgage Executive Magazine’s List of Top Loan Originators in America (GlobeNewswire), Rated: A
- Americans Focus On Debt Management But Lose Focus On Retirement Savings (Forbes), Rated: A
- U.S. banking regulator fights NY lawsuit over fintech charters (Reuters), Rated: A
- Blockchain and data protection: the main concerns (JDSupra), Rated: A
- LoanStreet positions for growth with new hires (LoanStreet Email), Rated: B
- White Oak Business Capital Hires Carol Bader Apicella to Expand Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Markets (GlobeNewswire), Rated: B
- United Kingdom
- Funding Circle fund adds firepower for buyback strategy (AltFi), Rated: AAA
- Orca Innovative Finance ISA Launches, Enables Diversified P2P Investment (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: AAA
- Experian, ClearScore scrap merger plans (Reuters), Rated: A
- NatWest launches account aggregation as Open Banking takes hold (AltFi), Rated: A
- Will Open Banking boom in 2019? (AltFi), Rated: A
- Aave Launches Platform to Pay Bills Using Crypto (Finance Magnates), Rated: A
- Investing in crowdfunded development projects – what you need to know (Property Investor Today), Rated: A
- Failed Lender Reaching ‘From Beyond The Grave,’ MPs Warn (Law360), Rated: A
- Some Bankers Are Doing Even Worse Than in 2009 (The Washington Post), Rated: AAA
- Marketplace Lending – A Growing and Dynamic Global Market (DBRS Email), Rated: AAA
- Bank on it: How Enova’s software expands credit access worldwide (Built in Chicago), Rated: A
- Blossom Capital scores $ 85m from Robinhood and Funding Circle backers (AltFi), Rated: A
- Eight Simple Ways to Earn Bitcoin Online Legally (The Crypto Updates), Rated: B
- European Union
- Grid Finance suspends taking investments below € 100,000 (Irish Times), Rated: AAA
- Dragon Victory International: Exposure To The Chinese Crowdfunding Market At A Regulatory-Driven Discount (Seeking Alpha), Rated: AAA
- China Fintech Today: The P2P Boom Is Truly Over (SupChina), Rated: A
- A Crypto Project That Raised $ 20 Million Is Caught Faking Its Founding Team (CoinDesk), Rated: A
- Tencent-backed brokerage firm downsizes US IPO amid weak market demand (Technode), Rated: A
- How should accountants talk to clients about fintechs? (In the Black), Rated: A
- LenDenClub crosses 1,00,000 borrowers and lenders milestone (News Barons), Rated: AAA
- Why Do Fintech Startups and Investors See a Huge Potential in Lending? (Entrepreneur), Rated: AAA
- Banning of UDS to benefit P2P Lending Industry (Inventiva), Rated: A
- Singapore fintech investments rose two-fold to US$ 365m in 2018 (SBR.com.sg), Rated: AAA
- Validus Capital raises $ 15m for SME financing (Fintech Futures), Rated: A
- Latin America
- PayPal expands its small business loans initiative to Mexico (Leaprate), Rated: AAA
- ID Finance eyes ‘pivotal moment’ for Latam fintech as revenue in region climbs 403% (Fintech Finance), Rated: A
- Challenger bank N26 expands to Brazil (Fintech Futures), Rated: A
- How FinTech Companies Inspire Africa With Mobile Technology (PYMNTS), Rated: AAA
Fintech Startup SoFi to Roll Out Crypto Trading Via Partnership With Coinbase (CoinTelegraph), Rated: AAA
Fintech startup SoFi — known for its online lending services — is partnering with major United States-based crypto exchange Coinbase to roll out crypto trading support, according to a CNBC report Feb. 26.
Millennial online lender SoFi to offer zero-fee ETFs, an unexpected rival for index fund giants Vanguard, iShares (CNBC), Rated: A
The race to zero-fee exchange-traded funds has found an unlikely competitor: Online lending and personal finance platform SoFi, which has filed for two index ETFs that will waive management fees for the first year. In making the move to zero-fee ETFs, the online lender is crashing an ETF party dominated by Vanguard and BlackRock‘s iShares.
FTC orders SoFi to stop misleading consumers (MPA Mag), Rated: B
The Federal Trade Commission has ordered online lender SoFi to stop lying about how much borrowers can save by refinancing with the company.
Digital lender founded by ex-SoFi CEO raises $ 65M to fuel expansion (American Banker), Rated: A
The new company founded by Mike Cagney, the former embattled chief executive of Social Finance, plans to announce a $65 million funding round on Wednesday, bolstering firm’s expansion into other financial services, including wealth management.
With the new venture, Cagney is using some of the strategies from his tenure at SoFi — like diversification into areas typically only occupied by traditional banks. However, the new company, Figure, is focusing on different customers, and it’s taking steps to avoid scandals similar to the ones that saw Cagney step down from the SoFi helm.
Walmart teams with Affirm to offer point-of-sale loans (American Banker), Rated: AAA
Walmart will offer its customers point-of-sale loans for the first time — both on its website and in nearly 4,000 U.S. stores — under a partnership with the Silicon Valley lender Affirm.
Under the deal, Walmart shoppers will be able to get Affirm loans of three, six or 12 months to finance purchases ranging from $150 to $2,000. The loans are already being offered in Walmart stores, and they will be available to Walmart’s online shoppers in the coming weeks.
Affirm’s latest partnership brings its alternative financing to Walmart’s US stores and website (TechCrunch), Rated: A
The companies announced this morning that Affirm’s financing options would be made available in more than 4,000 Walmart Supercenters across the U.S., and will roll out to Walmart.com in the weeks ahead.
The offering will go live across Walmart Supercenters nationwide, except in Iowa, West Virginia and Puerto Rico, and will be soon available on Walmart.com.
Loan app Affirm CEO breaks down new Walmart partnership (CNBC), Rated: A
ABS Vegas – 2019 Securitization Update; Square Charter Status (PeerIQ), Rated: AAA
In regulatory news, Square’s ILC charter application has received opposition from 37 community groups. The groups are concerned about Square’s CRA activities and have asked the FDIC to bolster Square’s CRA requirements. Before this letter from community advocates, nearly all of the 15 letters the FDIC received were in favor of Square’s bid. Square is the furthest along the path to getting an ILC charter and its experience will determine whether other FinTechs follow its lead.
Structured Credit Investor magazine explores the challenges facing the maturing marketplace lending sector. Issuers need to distinguish between the borrower experience that they provide and manage liquidity. The article also makes the point that the sector is ripe for consolidation, although we haven’t seen any M&A yet.
2019 Securitization Update
The first two months of 2019 saw 5 securitization deals totaling $1.7 Bn in new issuance. The issuance volume represents a 23% drop over that seen in the first two months of 2018, as the market recovers from the volatility in equity and credit markets seen at the end of 2018. Total securitization issuance now stands at $46.2 Bn, with 147 deals issued to date.
The Housing Market’s 10 Year Challenge — Comparing The Housing Market of 2009 to Today (LendingTree), Rated: AAA
When the real estate bubble burst in late 2008, many Americans saw their home values fall drastically, but a lot has changed in the 10 years since — housing prices have rebounded from their lows during the Great Recession. And though prices are now starting to cool, in many cases, home values have even exceeded their 2006 highs.
On average, median home values have increased by nearly $50,000 across the 50 largest metros in the United States since 2009.
Metros where housing prices have recovered the most since 2009
San Jose, Calif.
Median home value 2009: $638,300
Median home value 2017: $957,700
Median home value change: $319,400
Median unemployment rate change: -6.4%
Median household income change: $32,991
Median home value 2009: $591,600
Median home value 2017: $849,500
Median home value change: $257,900
Median unemployment rate change: -5.4%
Median household income change: $27,889
Median home value 2009: $463,600
Median home value 2017: $617,100
Median home value change: $153,500
Median unemployment rate change: -5.0%
Median household income change: $11,467
Gen Xers Carry the Biggest Auto Loan Burden; Study Finds (One World Herald), Rated: A
According to the loan comparison website, the median balance of Gen Xers who have auto loans is $18,741 is higher than other age groups. It is 9% more than baby boomers’ $17,185 median balance. This is higher than millennials’ $16,200 and 37 percent more than the lowest median balance of $13,666 held by Gen Z.
Personal Loan Interest Rates for February 2019 (Nerdwallet), Rated: AAA
Personal loan interest rates, whether you’re considering a loan from a bank, credit union or online lender, generally range from about 6% to 36%. The actual rate you receive depends on factors such as your credit score and history, annual income, existing debt and where you get the loan.
Online lenders offer the lowest starting interest rates on personal loans to borrowers with good to excellent credit.
LightStream and Marcus both require a minimum credit score of 660. LightStream accepts joint applications, and one applicant can have a credit score lower than its minimum. SoFi has a slightly higher credit score requirement and requires at least $45,000 in annual income.
Elevate Credit (ELVT) Posts Earnings Results, Meets Expectations (Fairfield Current), Rated: A
Elevate Credit (NYSE:ELVT) announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 11th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.09, Bloomberg Earnings reports. The business had revenue of $207.29 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $212.42 million. Elevate Credit had a return on equity of 15.72% and a net margin of 1.59%. Elevate Credit updated its FY 2019 guidance to $0.55-0.65 EPS.
Hunt Real Estate Capital buys RealtyMogul’s proprietary loan underwriting program (Housing Wire), Rated: A
Hunt Real Estate Capital, which offers financing for all types of commercial real estate, will soon have a new underwriting system to help it originate those loans, as the company is buying a proprietary loan underwriting system from RealtyMogul.
Elevate’s Joan Kuehl Named Dallas ORBIE CIO of the Year (The Progress), Rated: B
Elevate Credit, Inc. (“Elevate”) today announced that Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer Joan Kuehl has been named the Large Enterprise CIO of the Year by the Dallas ORBIE CIO of the Year Awards. The award honors chief information officers who have demonstrated excellence in technology leadership.
If those predictions prove true, it will be the first major economic downturn for some of the nation’s leading fintechs. Born out of the ruins of the recession, these startups have enjoyed nearly a decade of success buoyed by strong economic growth, a bull run in the stock market and low unemployment.
Here’s more on the AJC Top Workplaces midsize companies (AJC.com), Rated: B
Kabbage has been named to the list for five consecutive years and this is its first year in the top five. The private financial technology company, founded in 2009, has 489 global employes and 367 at its U.S. headquarters in Atlanta. Flexibility at work and perks, such as a daily catered lunch and snacks, are among reasons employees appreciate working for Kabbage. Wellness benefits include fitness classes, health equipment onsite, biweekly meditation classes, CPR training, an annual flu shot clinic and sponsoring sports clubs. It also fully pays health benefits for individuals and provides annual bonuses and a 401(k) match. Through its sabbatical program, employees of five years can receive six weeks of paid time off and an additional $6,000. In 2018, Kabbage participated in the Atlanta PRIDE parade and also took a stand against gun violence after the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School. Workers in 2019 will build a Habitat for Humanity home as part of its Kabbage Kares program, which also has supported PAWS Atlanta, Easter Seals and the Epilepsy Foundation.
Diversifying a Self-Directed IRA Made Simple with New Offering from CrowdStreet (The Progress), Rated: A
CrowdStreet, an online marketplace for direct equity investment in commercial real estate (CRE), today launched a streamlined, investor-friendly approach to investing qualified retirement account funds into commercial real estate offerings. This new option makes it easier than ever for individuals to access CRE investments with their self-directed IRAs (SDIRA), thus reducing their investment exposure to a volatile stock market and achieving more independence in managing their investments.
Liquid P2P and Interest Radar Announce Strategic Partnership (Liquid P2P), Rated: A
Liquid P2P and Interest Radar are pleased to announce that they have entered into a strategic partnership. The two third-party investing services for online peer-lending giant Lending Club will combine strengths under a single platform to deliver a more comprehensive automated tool with a patent-pending liquidity solution.
Direct Lending Investments Suspends Investor Withdrawals (Lend Academy), Rated: A
Earlier this month Brendan Ross, the CEO of Direct Lending Investments, Inc., sent a letter to investors notifying them that they have suspended withdrawals and redemptions effective February 8, 2019. Lend Academy was able to obtain a copy of this investor letter, dated February 11, that provides some color into what happened. The reason given was the delinquency of a large holding, VOIP Guardian, a telecom receivables factoring company.
Fintech deal will provide access to midsize businesses in U.S. (American Banker), Rated: A
Add HSBC to the list of banks partnering with commercial online lenders.
The bank on Tuesday announced a partnership with Neptune Financial, a San Francisco online lender that focuses on businesses with $10 million to $100 million in assets. The bank estimates that, with the access it will get to Neptune customers, the deal represents a $1.5 trillion opportunity.
Venmo debuted a limited-edition rainbow-colored card (Business Insider), Rated: A
Venmo, the PayPal-owned peer-to-peer (P2P) giant, debuted a limited-edition rainbow-colored version of its physical card product. The card will function the same as regular Venmo cards, allowing customers to pay wherever Mastercard is accepted, split costs and tips, withdraw funds from select ATMs, and manage their Venmo balance, but it will only be available for as long as supplies last, according to Venmo.
Why digital identities will be so important in the next few years, according to Mastercard’s vice chairman (CNBC), Rated: A
The pace with which we are moving toward the internet of things is “very rapid” but we “can’t have the internet of everyone without the inclusion of everyone,” according to the vice chairman of payments giant Mastercard.
“You have to start focusing on how does the human get involved, and that’s going to be through having a digital identity,” Ann Cairns told CNBC’s Karen Tso on Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Credit Karma’s Dana Marineau: ‘We want users to think of us as more than just free credit scores’ (Tearsheet), Rated: A
Today’s marketer on the hot seat is Dana Marineau, Credit Karma’s vice president of brand, creative and communications. People love Credit Karma for its free credit scores, but the company provides so many other free tools. Dana’s team is tasked with elevating the brand beyond just free credit scores, as a place to get help with financial decisions and achieve financial progress. She brings a 15 year experience at EA, working on many of the top sports games in the business.
Why this small bank created a separate, digital-first brand (American Banker), Rated: AAA
When Midwest BankCentre, a community bank in St. Louis, launched the digital-first Rising Bank in February, it joined the ranks of other financial companies —generally large players such as JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and MUFG Union Bank — that have created separate, digital-only brands. Unlike them, the $1.9 billion-asset Midwest hopes to keep a community bank feel at the internet-only unit.
The Future Is Plastic: Fintech Unicorn Brex Launches New Credit Card For E-Commerce Merchants (Forbes), Rated: A
Brex, a San Francisco credit card startup that reached a valuation of $1.1 billion late last year, 22 months after its founding, is launching its second product, a physical credit card for e-commerce companies. Its first card, targeted to venture-backed tech startups, has attracted more than 3,000 customers by providing higher spending limits and simplifying the application process.
YieldStreet raises $ 62M to democratise alternative investments in shipping, real estate and more (TechCrunch), Rated: A
YieldStreet — which provides a platform for making alternative investments in areas like real estate, marine/shipping, legal finance, commercial loans and other opportunities that in the past were only open to institutional investors — is today announcing that it has raised $62 million in a Series B round of funding.
Guaranteed Rate Leads Mortgage Executive Magazine’s List of Top Loan Originators in America (GlobeNewswire), Rated: A
For the seventh consecutive year, Guaranteed Rate has the most loan originators of any lender on Mortgage Executive Magazine’s annual list of the “Top 200 Mortgage Originators in America,” including the number one originator.
Guaranteed Rate led the way with 36 originators ranking within Mortgage Executive Magazine’s Top 200, including three of the top five. Shant Banosian of Boston, Mass., was named the nation’s 2018 Top Originator by funding $536 Million in total loan volume.
Americans Focus On Debt Management But Lose Focus On Retirement Savings (Forbes), Rated: A
U.S. banking regulator fights NY lawsuit over fintech charters (Reuters), Rated: A
The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has asked a Manhattan federal court to dismiss a lawsuit by a New York financial regulator over its plan to issue banking charters to fintech companies, saying the lawsuit is premature.
Blockchain and data protection: the main concerns (JDSupra), Rated: A
Blockchain’s usage is no longer limited to digital crypto currencies, as blockchain databases may be deployed in innumerable circumstances and scenarios, including, for instance, within the financial services and insurance sectors for money transfer, peer-to-peer lending and transfer of securities, as well as automatic execution of contracts.
LoanStreet positions for growth with new hires (LoanStreet Email), Rated: B
After the launch of LoanStreet’s commercial lending product and the announcement of their $6.5 million funding round, LoanStreet – the first fully-integrated platform that streamlines the process of sharing, managing, and originating loans – has appointed three credit union industry veterans to support LoanStreet’s aggressive growth.
These new hires include Mike Doherty, Managing Director and Head of Credit Union Sales; Tony Harter, Business Development Director; and Joe Parvin, Business Development Director.
White Oak Business Capital Hires Carol Bader Apicella to Expand Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Markets (GlobeNewswire), Rated: B
White Oak Business Capital, Inc. (“WOBC”), an affiliate of White Oak Global Advisors, LLC, has announced that Carol Apicella has joined the firm as Senior Vice President and Senior Business Development Officer. Apicella will be responsible for expanding the firm’s markets in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.
Funding Circle fund adds firepower for buyback strategy (AltFi), Rated: AAA
The portfolio, an investment trust, of loans originated by Funding Circle lowered its dividend expectations amid lower projected returns last year prompting a discount to its net asset value.
Following a move to a more than 10 per cent discount last year it started share buybacks in a bid to narrow its discount. It has now made additional capital available from its free cash flow to be deployed into share buybacks, the fund said yesterday.
Orca Innovative Finance ISA Launches, Enables Diversified P2P Investment (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: AAA
Orca Money is finally launching its long-anticipated Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA). Orca’s spin on the savings vehicle allows investors to spread their money across multiple peer-to-peer lenders (P2P) thus providing a heightened degree of diversification. Additionally, Orca Money conducts due diligence on behalf of IFISA investors.
Currently, the Orca IFISA allows access to 5 P2P platforms: Lending Works, Assetz Capital, Landbay, Octopus Choice and Lending Crowd.
Experian, ClearScore scrap merger plans (Reuters), Rated: A
Experian Plc, the world’s biggest credit data firm, said on Wednesday that it had agreed with rival ClearScore to abandon their proposed merger, after Britain’s competition watchdog indicated that it may block the deal.
NatWest launches account aggregation as Open Banking takes hold (AltFi), Rated: A
It’s been a long time coming, but Open Banking is finally spreading through the traditional banking industry, this week with the launch of account aggregation for NatWest customers.
The RBS subsidiary becomes the UK’s 4th bank to let customers connect rival current accounts.
Will Open Banking boom in 2019? (AltFi), Rated: A
It has been over a year since the Open Banking UK initiative under the Competition and Markets Authority order and Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) was launched and has become one of the industry’s biggest technology and regulatory shake ups in recent years. It is no surprise that the initiative’s first year has seen a relatively low consumer uptake. This has been coupled with reports that consumers’ knowledge of the scheme appears to be markedly low.
Aave Launches Platform to Pay Bills Using Crypto (Finance Magnates), Rated: A
In an attempt to bring crypto closer to the mainstream, the London-based fintech startup has announced the launch of Aave Pay.
The app will allow its users to pay their utility bills using digital coins by converting crypto into fiat in real-time using bank transfer facility. The company is claiming that the platform can be used to business expenses as well including employee salaries, income taxes, and other commercial or corporate expenses.
Investing in crowdfunded development projects – what you need to know (Property Investor Today), Rated: A
You can invest in peer to peer development loans for the short term or in an Innovative Finance ISA for a longer commitment period, but with the potential to earn tax free returns.
By comparison, a peer to peer lending platform with its own development company will have much more control over its projects and be able to give you more detailed and trustworthy updates.
Failed Lender Reaching ‘From Beyond The Grave,’ MPs Warn (Law360), Rated: A
Failed payday lender Wonga is damaging the finances of thousands of customers “from beyond the grave” because they cannot seek redress for allegedly missold loans as the company was not covered…
Some Bankers Are Doing Even Worse Than in 2009 (The Washington Post), Rated: AAA
It may not feel like it, but some corners of banking are suffering as badly as they did during the depths of the financial crisis. Global volumes of initial public offerings and share placings in January and February have been nearly 60 percent lower than in the same period last year. The numbers are worse than the first two months of 2009. If activity doesn’t pick up soon, it would be worrying evidence of the fragility of investor sentiment.
The hope is that the lull is temporary, and technical. The government shutdown in Washington has gummed up U.S. IPOs. Uncertainty over the U.K.’s future relationship with Europe just drags on. And the December stock-market wobble probably killed off deals that were being planned for the window that traditionally opens between January and the start of the full-year earnings season in late February.
Marketplace Lending – A Growing and Dynamic Global Market (DBRS Email), Rated: AAA
I wanted to share with you a new joint report from our U.S. and European structured finance teams. The new report, attached to this email, analyzes the growth of the marketplace lending market around the globe.
The commentary includes the following topics:
— The evolution in finance, from traditional banking to FinTech.
— FinTech’s influence on marketplace lending around the globe.
— Growth hurdles.
— Securitization considerations.
Bank on it: How Enova’s software expands credit access worldwide (Built in Chicago), Rated: A
Not all credit histories are created equal.
That’s the case for a large part of the world’s population who can’t get access to a loan from a traditional credit provider — like a bank — creating a world in which the hardest working people don’t always get access to the credit they need. Enova, however, believes it has a solution. The fintech company draws on the power of machine learning and data to offer products that expand access to credit for consumers and small businesses.
Blossom Capital scores $ 85m from Robinhood and Funding Circle backers (AltFi), Rated: A
Blossom Capital, which has already backed five startups including rental marketplace Fat Lama, today raised $85m which it will use to lead Series A rounds of between $5m and $10m in Europe.
Eight Simple Ways to Earn Bitcoin Online Legally (The Crypto Updates), Rated: B
Earn Bitcoins as the interest payments: If you have earned some Bitcoins already, you can put the Bitcoins to earn for you. Lend them out at particular interest rate. You can lend the Bitcoins directly to someone known at a greed interest rate and repayment period. You need to assess trustworthiness of borrower. Peer to peer Bitcoin lending is another way to let the earned Bitcoins earn for you. There are many peer-to-peer lending websites where the borrowers post the borrowing requests. Over these websites, you can act as a lender. It is also possible to fund the small portion of numbers of loans to reduce the risk.
Grid Finance suspends taking investments below € 100,000 (Irish Times), Rated: AAA
One of the largest providers of peer-to-peer loans in the State has shut down a key part of its business aimed at smaller investors, blaming an absence of regulation in the crowdfunding space.
Grid Finance, which is backed by Enterprise Ireland, wrote to holders of its “Brick” accounts – that facilitate the investment of up to €100,000 – in recent days stating that it would withdraw the offering from the marketplace.
Dragon Victory International: Exposure To The Chinese Crowdfunding Market At A Regulatory-Driven Discount (Seeking Alpha), Rated: AAA
In recent years as China winds down its industrial and manufacturing powerhouse growth, it’s looking to other developed nations to determine which platforms it should invest in and pave the way to sustained economic growth. As most other major developed nations have done over the past century, financial services and engineering have been a very profitable platform and companies in China are quick to launch their own services to capitalize on the triple-digit growth in online financial services exhibited since 2003.
Similar to Hexindai (HX), which I’ve previously covered as a leading online lender which is capitalizing on the middle class appetite for debt to finance their lives and vacations, Dragon Victory International Limited (LYL) is taking on the crowdfunding segment in the People’s Republic of China. Similar to countless other platforms around the world, the company’s services are around financing new companies and capitalizing entrepreneurs through public funding and they already have over 4.5M users who use their services, a number nearly doubling each year.
China Fintech Today: The P2P Boom Is Truly Over (SupChina), Rated: A
This year, the government has continued to lead a reorganization of the industry:
- More companies will die: As of February 17, only 60 percent of online lending institutions had disclosed their operational information for January 2019, including five problematic platforms.
- However, the current asset quality of the online lending industry has improved significantly according the data from firms that did report.
- As of the end of January 2019, the accumulated amount of the online P2P online loan industry was about 7.78 trillion yuan ($1.16 trillion). The total loan amount in January was 91.4 billion yuan ($13.61 billion), down 55.1 percent year-on-year and down 1.3 percent from the previous month.
- Further consolidation of industry players is certain. Some experts quoted in media reports predict that the scale of future online loans will continue to shrink because of regulation.
- Some listed companies, such as Aoma Electric and Panda Financial Companies, have abandoned their P2P businesses.
- Aoma Electric issued a letter of concern to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on February 14, attributing the decision to the broader economic slowdown, and a high number of overdue loans.
- Panda Gold Control in 2018 was also dragged down by its P2P business, and expects a net loss of 41.16 million ($6.13 million) to 57.63 million yuan ($8.58 million) in 2018. Faced with the uncertainty of the P2P sector, Panda Gold Control chose to divest.
How should accountants talk to clients about fintechs? (In the Black), Rated: A
Like the ombudsman’s office, ASIC has also made information available to educate consumers and advisers, including on its MoneySmart Borrowing Basics and Peer-to-Peer Lending sites.
Is any flexibility possible, Shiel wonders, with a peer-to-peer lending model in which the borrower likely doesn’t know who is providing the funds?
LenDenClub crosses 1,00,000 borrowers and lenders milestone (News Barons), Rated: AAA
LenDenClub, one of India’s fastest growing peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms, recently crossed an important landmark with more than 1,00,000 borrowers and lenders on its platform. The breakdown of borrowers to lenders is 83,300 and 16700, respectively. The company crossed this milestone by keeping up with latest market trends, and saw an increase in the use of its product InstaMoney, which was launched in June 2018.
Why Do Fintech Startups and Investors See a Huge Potential in Lending? (Entrepreneur), Rated: AAA
Today, thanks to the ongoing digitization, borrowing has become as easy as it can get in India. For contrast, all it takes now is the touch of a few buttons, answers to a few verification-related questions, and anyone can receive a loan in a matter of hours or days, if not minutes. And all of this is without any collateral and while enjoying the comfort of your home. Now, compare this with taking a day off to go to the bank, doing extensive paperwork, visiting frequently to check the progress of your loan application, and ultimately, getting your application rejected because of the loan officer’s misjudgement. All while wasting two months of time in the constant to and fro and taking multiple days off from your office.
It is beyond doubt that the advent of fintech startups has altered the game of lending in India. It has become both simpler and convenient to borrow using their revolutionary approaches driven by state-of-the-art technologies. Currently, more than 1,500 fintech startups (of all shapes and sizes) are catering to the Indian market, and more than half of these startups have been launched over the last 3 years. This gives us a clear picture of how lucrative the sector is becoming for our startup ecosystem. But what is essentially fuelling this trend? Let’s find out.
Banning of UDS to benefit P2P Lending Industry (Inventiva), Rated: A
The latest ordinance of the Banning of Unregulated Deposits (UDS) 2019, was passed by the government to provide a comprehensive mechanism to ban UDS as well as to protect the interest of depositors. This is in line with the Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines on the NBFC-P2P sector, issued in October 2017 to regulate the unorganized lending business in the country.
Singapore fintech investments rose two-fold to US$ 365m in 2018 (SBR.com.sg), Rated: AAA
US$102.2m of the total funds raised went to lending fintech companies such as the homegrown Funding Societies.
Fintech investments in Singapore more than doubled to US$365m in 2018 from US$180m in 2017, putting the country amongst the top five fintech markets by funds raised last year in Asia Pacific, behind China, India, Australia and Japan, according to Accenture’s analysis of CB Insights data. The number of deals in the country rose to 71 from 61 in 2017, making it the third busiest market in the region, behind only China and India.
Validus Capital raises $ 15m for SME financing (Fintech Futures), Rated: A
Validus Capital, a Singapore-based SME financing platform, has raised SGD 20.5 million ($15.2 million) in a Series B funding round, led by FMO, a Dutch public-private development bank.
PayPal expands its small business loans initiative to Mexico (Leaprate), Rated: AAA
Online payment giant PayPal launched its Working Capital initiative in 2013 as an alternative method for business to access working capital much faster than through traditional means. Many small and medium-sized business (SMB) clients embraced the program and since then the company has advanced more than $6 billion in loans to over 170,000 businesses in the UK, US, Germany and Australia.
PayPal also recently revealed that it has partnered with Konfio, a Mexican online lender that utilizes unconventional data sources to facilitate fast credit assessments, in a deal that will allow PayPal to extend its Business loan and working capital programs to Mexican businesses.
ID Finance eyes ‘pivotal moment’ for Latam fintech as revenue in region climbs 403% (Fintech Finance), Rated: A
ID Finance, the fintech company operating in Europe and Latin America, saw revenue of $49m in 2018. This represents growth of 236% for the business, which was formally separated from its operations in Russia and CIS region last year.
The company is enjoying particularly strong growth in Latam, one of the world’s fastest growing markets for fintech adoption thanks to high mobile penetration and a sizeable underbanked population – according to the World Bank 61% of Mexico’s population is excluded from the traditional banking system, while 40% of Brazil’s 207m population are blacklisted. The company now has 141 employees in Latam and saw revenue growth of 403% in the region last year.
Challenger bank N26 expands to Brazil (Fintech Futures), Rated: A
Germany-based mobile challenger bank N26 is powering on yet again as it has revealed its plans to expand to Brazil.
How FinTech Companies Inspire Africa With Mobile Technology (PYMNTS), Rated: AAA
With the potential for rapid growth and job creation, FinTech firms in Africa have caught the attention of global investors. According to the London Stock Exchange Group’s 2019 “Companies to Inspire Africa” report, which highlights these firms, the FinTech sector has the second highest growth rate representation of technology and telecoms as well as financial services. As it stands, companies in this space represent more than a quarter of 360 featured firms from 32 different countries. Pan-African payments firm Cellulant is among the companies that appeared in the first and second editions of the report.


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Original press post appeared on Boston Orange. ACE Next Gen's Women's Initiative event, Women Running Businesses in Fashion event on May 16, 2019 in Boston at 9Tailors. The event got press featured in the Boston Orange. At...
Elizabeth Yang joins fashion designer powerhouse, Melina Nmili, founder of Lalla Bee, in the SOLD OUT Diversity on the Runway show on June 13, 2019.
Elizabeth Yang’s journey to unite Hmong women across the globe started with a heartbreaking talk with her 7-year-old daughter. It was bedtime and they were talking about their day. “And for some reason, I happened to ask her if she told her friends at school that her Hmong name was Nouchi because she was very adamant that at school I call her Evelyn,” Yang said of that conversation last fall.
Elizabeth Yang and her daughter Evelyn Nouchi Vang, wearing scarves that can be purchased at the online shop. Photo by Elizabeth Yang. Elizabeth Yang’s seven-year-old daughter just wanted her friends at school to think she was Asian, not Hmong.