Report Provides Additional Insight into Previously Observed Trends

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today released research finding that consumers in majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, as well as younger consumers and those with low credit scores, are far more likely to have disputes appear on their credit reports. The new research is a part of a series of reports focusing on trends in the consumer financial marketplace, and uses data on auto loan, student loan, and credit card accounts opened between 2012 and 2019.

“Families living in majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods are far more likely to have disputes of inaccurate information appear on their credit reports,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “Error-ridden credit reports are far too prevalent and may be undermining an equitable recovery.”

The report shows that majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods continue to face significant challenges with credit records. In nearly every credit category reviewed (auto loans, student loans, credit cards, and retail cards), consumers residing in majority Black areas were more than twice as likely to have disputes appear on their credit reports compared to consumers residing in majority white areas. For auto loans, consumers in majority Black areas were more than three times as likely to have disputes appear on their credit reports (0.8% of accounts with disputes in majority white census tracts compared to 2.8% of accounts in majority Black census tracts).

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, people have a right to file a dispute with credit reporting companies to correct inaccuracies on their reports. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires consumer reporting companies to process and investigate the disputes in a timely manner, and correct any inaccuracies uncovered by the investigation. According to today’s report, these kinds of disputes are common. 

When credit reporting is sloppy or rife with errors, this can limit fair and equitable access to individuals and families nationwide. The CFPB is committed to further researching the root causes of credit information disputes, as well as investigating the reasons for the demographic disparities found in the report. In October, the CFPB, along with the Federal Trade Commission and the North Carolina Department of Justice, filed an amicus brief in a case regarding a technology company seeking to use Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to gain immunity from inaccurate, misleading, and false consumer reporting.

Read the report, “Disputes on Consumer Credit Reports.”

Digital bank Zopa has appointed Graham Robinson as its new Chief Risk Officer.  

Graham joins Zopa as it completes its successful first year as a digital bank and sets its sights on further growth. 

With over 20 years’ experience of leadership across credit risk, operations, and digital, Graham brings a wealth of knowledge from both established and challenger banking institutions. During over 18 years at Capital One, Graham held various positions including VP: Digital, VP: Customer Management, Collections & Recoveries, and Head of Credit in Italy. 

Most recently, Graham was the Director of Credit at Monzo where he built the credit risk management capability to support the scaling bank.  

Graham Robinson, Chief Risk Officer at Zopa said: “Zopa is unique as it has the energy and innovation of a new bank, but 16 years’ experience and expertise in the lending market. No other provider has this combination across digital banking. Zopa’s growth so far has been exciting, and I believe that its approach to risk management can continue to give it a competitive advantage in the future. I’m delighted to be joining Zopa at this pivotal point in its journey and to be part of a team delivering products and services that truly help people manage their money better.” 

Jaidev Janardana, Zopa’s CEO added: “At Zopa we have an ambitious vision. We will only achieve it by attracting the best talent across all functions, including in our senior leadership team. We’re delighted to welcome Graham to the team. He brings a wealth of experience in risk management which will enable Zopa to build a strong and well controlled platform for continued growth.” 

Over the last 16 years, Zopa has approved over £6 billion in personal loans. Since the launch of the bank in June 2020, Zopa has attracted £700m in deposits, issued 165,000 of its British Bank Award-winning credit cards becoming a top 10 credit card issuer, and more than doubled revenue per customer.   

Xantos Labs, the investment adviser for everyday folks, has announced its plans for international expansion following its partnership with Currencycloud, the experts simplifying business in a multi-currency world.

For several years Xantos Labs has been offering its transparent and pragmatic investment advice to everyday folks in the US who want to invest in US securities but have found offering its services to an international audience difficult. Each territory had specific solutions for their regions, but no one provider could offer the global coverage of Currencycloud.

Chuk Orakwue, Managing Partner at Xantos Labs, commented: “We looked at our competitors and realized that we could exercise a first market mover advantage if we were willing to jump into international markets. As we were evaluating different partners that could help us make this happen, Currencycloud stuck out as a particularly capable platform. We knew we could work together on delivering extremely high-quality investment advisory services to the world.”

David Heitzmann, Vice President Sales & General Manager, North America at Currencycloud, commented: “When we were talking with the team at Xantos Labs about their ambitions for global expansion, it soon became apparent that we could provide a solution that would support them in all their target territories. We look forward to working with them as a result of this partnership.”

Everyday investors around the world can now take advantage of Xantos Labs’ advice and investment platform with immediate effect.

GIFT City & International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) jointly launched I-Sprint’21 as the global FinTech Hackathon Series on the 7 October 2021. A series of Hackathons cutting across various financial services sectors have been planned under the banner of I-Sprint’21. Sprint01: BankTech, the first of the series focused on the "Banking" sector has been launched. It is being conducted virtually and is open to eligible FinTechs from across the Globe.

The Partners to the Hackathon are ICICI Bank, HSBC Bank, iCreate, Zone Start-ups and Invest-India. The aim of the Hackathon is to invite innovative and cutting-edge solutions for the given Problem Statements. These Problem Statements have been framed to solve the Business Problems related to Banking Units at GIFT IFSC and to promote retail business for the Banking Units at GIFT IFSC. The best solution may eventually be implemented by the Banking Partners.

IFSCA had introduced a framework for “Regulatory Sandbox” in October 2020 which allows the FinTech entities to have facilities and flexibilities to experiment with innovative FinTech solutions in a live environment with a limited set of real customers for a limited time frame. The FinTech Hackathon finalists will be allowed direct entry into IFSCA Regulatory/Innovation Sandbox.

Speaking about this Hackathon, Mr. Tapan Ray, MD and Group CEO of GIFT City said, “GIFT City receiving such large number of applications for its maiden edition of Global FinTech Hackathon is testimony to the immense interest and enthusiasm this project has in the fintech community. The fintech industry is an important accelerator to the progress of GIFT IFSC and their new age technology solutions will bring innovation to GIFT City  We expect GIFT City to evolve as a laboratory and hub for fintech research in future.”

The selected FinTechs will be provided Direct-Entry into IFSCA Regulatory/Innovation Sandbox. They will also get a chance to directly interact with the Partner Banks on the problem statement who will provide the APIs, mentoring and guidance. The selected Applicants will also get an opportunity to show-case their solution or product during the Flagship FinTech Forum of IFSCA scheduled during Dec’2021.

Chairman of IFSC Authority said “This is a great opportunity for FinTechs to get into the IFSCA’s Regulatory Sandbox. We will shortly launch hackathons focussing on Insurance and Capital Market segments as well.”

The last date of application is 4^th Nov 2021. For further details regarding the application process, eligibility and problem statements, please visit www.isprint.in or http://www.giftgujarat.in/

The CISI membership has elected Amyr Rocha Lima CFP^TM Chartered FCSI and Peter Moores, Chartered FCSI to its Board of Directors.

The CISI Board of Directors, comprising non-executive directors who are typically employed in senior positions in financial services sector firms, meets five times a year.

The directors are also CISI Trustees and elected either for a term of three years by membership ballot at the AGM or appointed by the Board.

Amyr Rocha Lima CFP^TM Chartered FCSI

Amyr holds both the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^™ and Chartered Financial Planner designations. He specialises in helping successful business owners and senior professionals with their retirement planning.

He is a partner at Holland Hahn & Wills LLP, a financial planning and wealth management firm based in Kingston upon Thames. Amyr is a frequent commentator on financial planning and wealth management matters for both national and specialist media.

Amyr is also chair of the CISI Financial Planning Forum, working with over 7,800 members to champion the financial planning profession in the UK. Originally from Brazil, Amyr has lived around the globe, spending his childhood in Australia and completing his education in the USA and the UK, where he graduated from Bayes Business School (City, University of London). His summers were spent on his family’s farm in Brazil, where he helped with raising cattle and horses, and setting up an apiary. Amyr and his wife, Patricia, have two young children. Outside of the office, Amyr enjoys spending time with his family and friends. He is a keen traveller, has a passion for world cinema and can often be found in one of London’s eclectic array of restaurants.

Peter Moores, Chartered FCSI

Peter (right) is chief executive officer at Raymond James, responsible for overseeing all its  businesses in the UK, including wealth management, capital markets and corporate finance. Peter started his career with Chase Manhattan Bank in New York where he completed both the Associate Development Programme and the Financial Analyst Programme. He spent ten years working at Chase Manhattan in New York, Frankfurt and London initially as a relationship manager for Chase International Institutional and then in Chase Asset Management & Mutual Funds as vice president, regional sales director, for Europe.

Peter then joined DAB bank, in Munich, Germany as head of group development and was seconded to DAB’s UK subsidiary, SELFtrade UK, as managing director and senior country officer. He then joined Raymond James Investment Services in December 2004 as managing director and became CEO in February 2005.

Peter was appointed as Raymond James country manager for the UK in July 2013, at which point he assumed responsibility for its capital markets businesses in addition to wealth management, and subsequently the Corporate Finance business when it opened in the UK in September 2017. Peter chairs the Raymond James TCF Committee. In addition, he is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment, Chair  of its Membership Committee. 

Peter is a member of the Institute of Directors and a mentor to start-up businesses in London Business School’s Summer Entrepreneurship Programme. He read Business Studies at Trinity College, Dublin – the city where he was born – and was conferred with both a B.B.S (Hons) and an M.A. degree. Peter has also completed executive education programmes at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and the London Business School. For five years in a row, 2017 to 2021, Peter has been named one of the PAM 50 Most Influential. He is also an ambassador for Co-operation Ireland’s Youth Leadership Programme, which seeks to help encourage young people from challenging backgrounds into leadership positions in their community, through leadership development training.

Michael Cole Fontayn MCSI, CISI Chairman said: “We are delighted to welcome Amyr and Peter to the CISI Board and we look forward to their support and guidance as we continue to grow our global membership and professional qualifications.”

Yapily, the leading open banking infrastructure provider, today announces it has appointed Maria Palmieri as its Head of Public Policy.

Maria brings extensive experience in policy communications, with a proven track record of success in the UK’s digital tech sector, developing and leading a number of cross-organisational projects including the Tech Nation Visa scheme and the Fintech Delivery Panel.

Prior to joining Yapily, Maria was Head of Government Relations at Tech Nation. She was the main point of contact for government and policymakers on a range of tech policy issues, including regulation, Brexit and access to finance. During her time at Tech Nation, Maria also provided Government relations and communications support to fast-scaling tech businesses. 

Maria has a genuine enthusiasm for the banking and Government sectors and joins the team with specialist experience in running tech and policy campaigns. The appointment follows Yapily’s Series B funding raise of $51m, led by Sapphire Ventures, to expand across Europe and beyond as open finance regulation is implemented globally. Maria will play a significant role in fulfilling Yapily’s commitment to advance the open banking and open finance cause, to help deliver better and fairer financial products and services for all. 

Speaking about her appointment Maria says, “I'm excited to join Yapily to further educate the market on the benefits of open banking and help shape the future policy agenda at such a pivotal time. The UK is winning when it comes to open banking adoption, and Yapily’s forward-thinking proposition acknowledges there is much more potential, and fintech is driving forward the open finance revolution.

“Open banking is such a critical enabler of more efficient, fairer financial products and I’m looking forward to working with regulators across Europe to increase awareness and adoption, as well as build the narrative towards open finance.”

Stefano Vaccino, Chief Executive Officer at Yapily says, “We are delighted to welcome Maria to Yapily. We have ambitious European expansion plans over the next 12 months and, with Maria’s expert knowledge and excellent connections to regulators and leading Government bodies, we can work with industry partners to create an ecosystem where innovation can thrive. We’re excited to continue and grow our discussions across Europe as we enter the new year and a new chapter for open banking and open finance.” 

Just in time for festive shopping, flexible in-store spending becomes available to customers nationwide 

Clearpay, a leader in “Buy Now, Pay Later” payments and known as Afterpay (ASX:APT) in the US, Australia and New Zealand, has today announced that its in-store solution is now available to UK customers at some of the best retail stores nationwide. 

Shoppers can use Clearpay to buy items in select retail stores using the Clearpay card, a virtual, contactless card stored in the Wallet app on iPhone or Apple Watch. Just like using Clearpay online, customers can pay for their in-store purchases in four installment payments, without the need to take out a traditional loan or pay upfront fees or interest. With the launch of the in-store solution, shoppers can now use the Clearpay they know and love, with the added benefit of taking home their purchase that very same day. 

Clearpay first introduced its in-store solution in 2016 in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), where from July 2020 to June 2021, 23% of underlying sales came from in-store. The service was launched in the U.S. in 2020, and became one of the only online payment companies to successfully offer its service in physical stores. And as autumn turns into winter, and crisp walks and festive functions are back on the agenda, shoppers can now use Clearpay at some of their favourite stores, including Pandora and The Fragrance Shop. Consumers can find the full list of in store locations at the Shop Directory on the Clearpay website and in the Clearpay app. 

“We are delighted to roll out our in-store capabilities to our UK customers just in time for the festive season, giving them the option to pay over time for their holiday shopping. By partnering with the nation’s favourite brands, we are making paying in-store more convenient, secure and contactless,” said Rich Bayer, Clearpay’s UK Country Manager. “Our in-store solution provides much needed positivity to the high street with new customers and more sales providing a boost in the run up to Christmas.” 

Clearpay has found that its customers who shop both online and in-store spend twice as much per annum than online-only shoppers, and shop 61% more frequently.2 

Customers can initiate a purchase in stores by simply tapping the card icon in the Clearpay app, which activates the Clearpay card in the Wallet app and can be used to make purchases with Apple Pay. Shoppers can then take their purchase home right away but pay over time, 

1 Late fees may apply. Full terms and conditions available at clearpay.com

2 Based on Afterpay Australia gathered merchant data, April 2020 - May 2021 

interest-free. More information about Clearpay’s in-store solution can be found here. 

The Wallet app lives right on your iPhone. It’s where you securely keep your credit and debit cards, transit cards, boarding passes, tickets, car keys, and more — all in one place. And it all works with iPhone or Apple Watch, so you can take less with you but always bring more. 

The U.S.-based startup revolutionising e-commerce is launching one-click checkout in the UK with Revolution Beauty

Fast, the world's fastest online checkout experience, today announced a major expansion into the UK in response to extraordinary demand for the company’s unique one-click checkout product.

Revolution Beauty, a publicly traded global mass beauty and personal care business, is one of the first British merchants to partner with Fast, bringing one-click checkout technology to their UK online customers.

By launching in the UK, Fast is offering merchants a checkout button that completes online orders in just a few seconds. After entering their contact information and payment details as they normally would for their first purchase on a merchant’s site, buyers are automatically signed up and can use one-click checkout at any online store with Fast Checkout.

Accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, retailers globally saw a dramatic increase in demand for frictionless online purchasing. Fast’s one-click checkout button enables UK customers to purchase online products seamlessly, just in time for the holiday season which is forecasted to be the busiest in e-commerce history.

“The UK has been at the very forefront of e-commerce for years. Merchants here truly understand how crucial a frictionless internet shopping experience is, and sophisticated shoppers demand speed and convenience,” said Domm Holland, co-founder and CEO of Fast. “Revolution Beauty has built a global business that has mastered this new era of online shopping. They are the perfect partner for Fast to bring the world’s quickest checkout experience to the UK”

Through the partnership with Fast, Revolution Beauty’s UK customers can now complete online orders using the company’s signature one-click checkout technology that has proven to increase conversion and reduce cart abandonment rates, two of the major pain points for online retailers globally.

“Revolution Beauty has seen exponential growth due to our unique digital experience and stress free, informative online environment,” said Sally Minto, digital director of Revolution Beauty. “We are excited to become the first beauty brand in the UK to partner with Fast and offer best in class one-click functionality, bringing frictionless & consistent purchasing to our valued and loyal customers. We foresee high user satisfaction post-Covid-19 pandemic, moving through peak period and beyond”

Fast already has several employees based in the UK and plans to open an office in London in 2022. The rapidly growing start-up is aggressively hiring in the UK thanks to the country’s highly educated and e-commerce-savvy talent pool.

Exabel, a data and analytics platform for investment teams, is partnering with ExtractAlpha to deliver a powerful new insights platform for ExtractAlpha’s investment clients. The ExtractAlpha Intelligence Engine will give portfolio managers and hedge funds additional insights based on ExtractAlpha’s diverse alpha signals. The platform delivers user-friendly dashboards, visualizations and KPI monitoring capabilities, with a focus on TrueBeats - ExtractAlpha’s advanced earnings and sales surprise forecasting model.  This assists investors in idea generation and fundamental analysis by spotting trend shifts in ExtractAlpha’s data. Partnering with Exabel gives alternative data vendors a compelling extra presentation and monitoring layer that investors value, utilising Exabel's unique Al analytics, financial modelling and data science platform. 

The ExtractAlpha Intelligence Engine forms part of Exabel’s growing partnership program.  The platform empowers data vendors to discover new value-added insights in their datasets, demonstrate extra value to potential customers in easy-to-create report cards, and deliver a new, proven Insights product that appeals to a wide group of professional investors. Through the partnership with Exabel, ExtractAlpha’s clients can now much more easily and quickly identify alpha generating investment opportunities from its TruBeats revenue and EPS predictions.  

ExtractAlpha is an independent research firm dedicated to providing unique, actionable alpha signals and datasets to institutional investors. ExtractAlpha’s rigorously researched quantitative products are designed for institutional investors to gain a measurable edge over their competitors and profit from these unique new sources of information.  

Neil Chapman, CEO of Exabel commented:  “We are delighted to be partnering with ExtractAlpha on this new insights platform. ExtractAlpha are well established in the alternative data world and their team’s magpie-like eye for value in a dataset has led to them accumulating an impressive portfolio of signals. We are proud to be able to help present these signals to ExtractAlpha’s clients in their best possible light. 

“Today most investors want to use alternative data, but many find the cost and complexity of modeling data in-house a prohibitive burden. Exabel allows active managers to benefit from alternative data immediately to supplement fundamental strategies.

“We are looking forward to working with ExtractAlpha to create actionable insights on its data. Dashboards, intelligent screening of KPI predictions and company drill down tools are among the many features our easy to use SaaS platform can deliver.”

Vinesh Jha, CEO of ExtractAlpha commented:

“Today’s institutional investors are inundated with interesting-sounding datasets, but the vast majority of these datasets do not have true predictive power and the data delivery is often not designed with the end user in mind.  We are excited to work with Exabel on addressing this issue by delivering our consistently profitable, predictive analytics via Exabel’s intuitive, user-focused, and feature-rich platform.  This collaboration will allow discretionary managers access to the same powerful insights which our quant clients have been leveraging for years - including the most accurate earnings prediction model available on the market - in a way which is designed for their individual workflow.”

Thanks to Banca Sella’s new "Banking As A Service" offer, the Spanish group will allow its customers to make local payments in Italy. 

As part of a broader international collaboration, Fabrick’s Open finance platform will serve some corporate customers of BBVA

The Spanish multinational banking group BBVA and the Sella group have entered into a strategic partnership for Open finance. The above will allow BBVA to offer its foreign customers willing to operate in Italy and those of the newly launched digital bank a series of local payment services such as F24, postal bills, CBILL and pagoPA.

The agreement provides that Banca Sella makes available to the Spanish financial group its products through the APIs (Application Programming Interface) managed through the platform of Fabrick, a company operating internationally to foster Open finance.

For the Sella group, therefore, this is one of the first initiatives in the "Banking As A Service" strategic area, which aims to enable and expand, in an innovative way, the range of services offered to corporate, fintech and international financial institutions. The agreement, moreover, is also part of a broader cooperation context that sees the Fabrick platform contributing to the International Open finance projects of BBVA.

The project, sharing the know-how of the three players to meet the new needs of the global market, has allowed BBVA to optimize technological investments, implementation times, organizational impacts and accelerate time-to-market.

“The strategic alliance with Banca Sella and Fabrick, a Sella group company recognized for its experience and credibility in the Italian market, was a powerful element in launching our tax payment proposal for Italian users. This alliance makes our pioneering vision, in which we combine our strengths and experience to provide our customers with the best possible experience tangible", commented Javier Lipúzcoa, Head of BBVA Digital Banking in Italy

“Banca Sella was among the first companies to seize the opportunities of open banking and to offer innovative tools in As A Service mode thanks to the advantage of being part of and encouraging an open financial ecosystem. The partnership with BBVA, one of the most established financial institutions globally, is a vital part of our strategy that aims to enable third parties with an open finance perspective“, said Andrea Tessèra, Head of Banking As A Service at Banca Sella.

 “Banking As A Service is a fundamental part of Fabrick’s offer: the platform model allows for easy integration of new financial services and enables banks and other players, whether Italian or foreign, to do so. What accomplished for BBVA is a unique offer on the market and only represents the tip of the iceberg of the infinite opportunities that Open finance allows and that Fabrick can achieve”, added Paolo Zaccardi, CEO of Fabrick.

Details of the partnership and the opportunities of the Banking As A Service will be the subject of the “Banking As A Service, a strategic choice” workshop, which will take place at the Salone dei Pagamenti on November 4, at 11.30.