The UK-based Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE) compiled a list of the 157 fintech unicorns to date (those valued over $1 billion), per its blog post.

By the numbers: Unsurprisingly, the 81 unicorns in the US are more than in all of the other countries combined.

• The next fintech hubs are China (11), UK (10), India (9), Brazil (7), and Germany (7).

Looking ahead: The US undoubtedly will maintain its vast lead for the foreseeable future, but recent developments point to a reshuffling among the next four biggest unicorn hubs:

1. China. Tech giants Alibaba and Tencent secured the No. 2 spot for China.

• These super apps combine social, commercial, and financial solutions that cater to hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers and ease their access to other fintech startups.
• As a result, Chinese fintech unicorns' average market cap is $43 billion, compared with $11 billion in the US.
• However, the government regulatory crackdown against these tech giants—and more recently cryptos and insurtechs—will hinder their growth and create a less nurturing environment for new startups.

2. UK. Despite concerns over the country’s lead raised by Brexit at the start of the year, the UK has maintained a thriving ecosystem.

• The $5.7 billion of fintech funding during H1 already exceeds all of 2020.
• Fintechs now constitute the largest share of the UK’s 100 tech unicorns at 34%, surpassing other subsectors, like health and food tech.
• The government has recently adopted a series of proposals that should support more fintechs with potential to join the unicorn club. These include bolstering the country’s regulatory sandbox environment and making public listing reforms.

3. India. While China’s crackdown has inhibited fintech growth, in India they’re thriving.

• Sixty-seven percent of fintech startups launched in the last five years alone, and they already account for 40% of all the country’s unicorns, per CFTE.
• And fintech firms from abroad such as UK neobanks Revolut and Tide are eager to expand in India to capitalize on demand for fintech solutions.

4. Brazil. In generating decacorns (firms valued above $10 billion), Brazil surges up the rankings to tie for third place with the UK, highlighting the growing maturity of its fintech sector.

• In the short term, the country is poised to churn out more unicorns: Brazil took home 70% of LATAM’s record-breaking fintech funding in Q2.
• Local consumers have become incredibly receptive to digital solutions during the pandemic, with Nubank acquiring 41,000 new customers a day in September, while trading volume through the crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin was higher in H1 than all previous years combined.

• UK Public Finance data released this morning shows a sharp improvement compared to where the Government’s finances were a year ago.
• Public Sector Net Borrowing in July almost halved, to £10.4bn, although this is still the second worst July for borrowing levels since records began. Both sides of the equation improved; spending fell by £2.9bn to £79.8bn, whilst government tax receipts of £70.0bn were up by £9.5bn on the prior year run-rate.
• Much of the improvement came from higher Self-Assessed Income Tax receipts, which improved by £3.7bn, or 76%, which likely reflects the catching up of receipts after 2020’s introduction of tax payment deferrals.
• With borrowing below expectations, total Public Sector Net Debt of £2.22 trillion stayed just below 100% of GDP, but at 98.8%, the level is at its highest since March 1962.

Commenting on the numbers, Steve Clayton, HL Select Fund Manager said:

“You can almost hear the sigh of relief coming from 11 Downing Street this morning. Chancellor Rishi Sunak must feel as if someone has poured cream on his cornflakes. These numbers could have been so much worse, but with the UK economy turning up, government finances are fast improving. This bodes well for the Chancellor’s flexibility going into the next Spending Review and makes it easier to keep the promise of no return to austerity.

But after the initial relief subsides, the stark truth remains; the pandemic played havoc with public finances and borrowing is way above anything that economists expected in late 2019. Whilst interest rates are rock bottom, this higher level of debt can easily be supported. But the Treasury will be keen to see debts brought down before the day interest rates eventually rise and servicing those trillions of debt becomes increasingly challenging.”

Combined effort further supports financial institutions with best-in-breed digital banking products and services

Marstone, Inc., a leading digital wealth technology firm, today announced it is partnering with banking technology solutions provider Nymbus. The collaboration brings together Marstone’s relentless focus of promoting financial health and literacy with Nymbus’ mission of accelerating growth for banks and credit unions through new routes to market.

“As we move forward in a post-pandemic environment, banking has shifted significantly with an arising need for greater financial planning tools as a core component to end-clients’ life and stability,” said Allison Netzer, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer at Nymbus. “At Nymbus, we know that there are best-in-breed solutions already in the market to help our clients achieve their goals quickly and easily. Marstone’s digital wealth management platform will play a critical role as we continue to remove the hurdles historically associated with digital banking innovation.”

In addition to a complete suite of banking technology applications offered for core, onboarding, lending and CRM services, Nymbus formed a Labs unit to amplify the capabilities of traditional institutions and extend their reach to new niche customer segments. It brings together Nymbus’ world-class development, marketing, and user-experience teams—and key partners such as Marstone—integrating everything needed to build out and operate a full-scale digital bank positioned for success on day one.

Marstone offers a comprehensive, industry-leading digital wealth management platform and financial health and wellness toolkit that can be implemented in a fraction of the time it would take to build in-house, helping organizations create a seamless digital experience that creates backend efficiencies and cost-savings, all while meeting evolving end-user demands.

“COVID accelerated the already growing number of consumers shifting their wealth and banking to digital offerings,” said Margaret J. Hartigan, Co-Founder and CEO, Marstone. “To remain successful, financial institutions need to recognize that digital financial management and education are essential. We’re thrilled to be partnering with Nymbus as they incorporate our turnkey digital wealth management platform into their rapidly growing solution set for niche banking players.”

Today’s partnership comes on the heels of Marstone’s recent $5 million Series A financing announcement as well as the company’s partnership with Amerant Bank to accelerate customer-centric digital wealth management solutions.

To learn more about Marstone’s offerings, please visit https://www.marstone.com or contact us at info@marstone.com.

A new Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data report on residential mortgage lending trends released today by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finds that the total number of closed-end originations, as well as applications, increased substantially between 2019 and 2020. Closed-end originations (excluding reverse mortgages) increased in 2020 by 65.2 percent, from 8.3 million in 2019 to 13.6 million in 2020. Most of the increase was driven by the refinance boom observed in 2020. The data point also notes that, while the number of financial institutions reporting 2020 HMDA data declined compared to 2019, the number of closed-end records in 2020 increased compared to the previous year. While mortgage activity generally increased, year over year, significant differences between demographic groups persisted, including higher interest rates and denials among Black and Hispanic consumers in the mortgage market.

“Initial observations about the nation’s mortgage market in 2020 are welcome news, with improvements in the overall volume of home-purchase and refinance loans compared to 2019,” said CFPB Acting Director Dave Uejio. “Unfortunately, Black and Hispanic borrowers continued to have fewer loans, be more likely to be denied than non-Hispanic White and Asian borrowers, and pay higher median interest rates and total loan costs. It is clear from that data that our economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic won’t be robust if it remains uneven for mortgage borrowers of color.”

The 2020 HMDA data mark the third year of data that incorporates amendments made to HMDA by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Changes included new data points, revisions to certain existing data points, and authorizing the CFPB to require new data points. The CFPB issued a final rule implementing significant changes in October 2015 (2015 HMDA rule), reflecting the changing needs of homeowners and evolution in the mortgage market. Because these changes began with the 2018 HMDA data, today's report only covers HMDA data from 2018 to 2020 and focuses on trends in mortgage applications and originations during these three years. Among other recent trends in mortgage applications and originations found in the 2020 HMDA data point are: 

• 4,472 financial institutions reported at least one closed-end record in 2020, down from 5,505 financial institutions who reported in 2019;
• The number of home-purchase loans secured by site-built, one-to-four-family properties increased by about 387,000, whereas the number of refinance loans increased by 149.1 percent from 3.4 million in 2019 to 8.4 million in 2020;
• The number of open-end line-of-credit originations (excluding reverse mortgages) in 2020 decreased by 16.6 percent, from 1.04 million in 2019 to 869,000 in 2020;
• The share of loans secured by closed-end home-purchase loans for site-built, one-to-four-family, first lien, principal-residence properties for Black borrowers increased in 2020 and the share of refinance loans for Asian borrowers increased in 2020; and
• The refinance boom observed in 2020 largely continued the trends since the second quarter of 2019.  

Enacted by Congress in 1975, HMDA requires many financial institutions to maintain, report, and publicly disclose loan-level information about mortgages. Each year, millions of people apply for mortgages. HMDA data allow policymakers, industry, and the public to learn what happened to a great majority of those applications and compare the data to previous years. These data help show whether lenders are serving the housing needs of their communities, provide information that can help create more fair and equitable mortgage markets and policies, and shed light on lending patterns that could be discriminatory. The public data are modified to protect applicant and borrower privacy. 

Read more about HMDA.

More than half of the LendTech’s newly onboarded retailers in 2021 are home improvement brands

Following a strong year for the DIY and home improvement market during 2020, leading UK LendTech company, DivideBuy, has revealed that 54% of retailers onboarded in 2021 are based in this sector.

The increasing number of home improvement brands turning to interest free credit (IFC) solutions has stemmed directly from the sheer amount of property upgrades occurring during the nationwide COVID-19 lockdowns.

By introducing IFC options to their checkout, home improvement retailers have been able to increase their basket values and drive the sales of bigger ticket items. In particular, desirable items such as expensive furnishings or home electronics are prime candidates to experience a sales uplift.

Due to the benefits IFC brings to both retailers and consumers, in 2020 alone, it racked up £9.6 billion in UK sales. That figure is expected to rise to £26.4 billion by 2024, with DivideBuy predicting a further use of IFC in the DIY, building and consumer technology sectors – where average ticket values tend to be larger.

James Bradley, Director of Sales and Business Development for DivideBuy, commented: “Consumers are increasingly favouring the flexibility of interest free credit to spread the cost of purchases. It’s now one the world’s fastest-growing payment methods – a trend that we’ve seen home improvement brands leverage in order to increase sales and better service their customers at a time when they’re spending more time at home and looking to make changes.

“More than this, through IFC, retailers give consumers more responsible and supportive finance options that enable access to the products they need without high or unknown costs. And being powered by an innovative LendTech like DivideBuy gives both retailers and consumers an added security over each sale.”

IFC can be integrated at both online and in-store checkouts. Unique to DivideBuy, retailers can register, approve and onboard customers in a matter of seconds through soft credit checks that don’t leave a mark on their credit score. Also individual to this LendTech is that it provides both the technology and the credit lending facility, cutting out expensive middlemen and enabling retailers to use transaction data to improve marketing strategies and customer service.

As a result of its distinctive offering, DivideBuy has grown rapidly over recent years, with it recently being named the UK’s fastest growing technology company by multinational professional services firm, Deloitte.

James Bradley continued: “While there’s a particular spotlight on the home improvement space, we’re seeing a marked increase in retailers providing flexible IFC checkout options across almost every sector. This is since more than a third of consumers value the convenience, transparency and spending control that it provides.

“Interest free credit has proven pivotal in helping businesses stand out from the competition to capture consumer attention or recoup funds lost during pandemic lockdowns. Seeing more and more retailers onboard with us each month demonstrates how truly important IFC facilities are to the market right now.”

Farmington, Mo.-based First State Community Bank ($3.5 billion in assets) partnered with HC3 to build more engaging, interactive customer statements and notifications. The bank selected HC3, a data-driven tech company that makes complex financial data practical, meaningful, and attractive to consumers, to eliminate numerous manual practices in the design and production of statements.

The bank utilizes HC3’s Smart Campaign Manager. This platform provides a tool that allows for real time editing and proofing of statements and notices, along with the ability to optimize each document to serve as a cross-selling piece. This results in their staff saving time on back office tasks and using their time to be with customers.

“Statements and notices have historically been a standardized document with limited uses,” said Nikki Masters, vice president of Retail/Digital Channel Manager at First State Community Bank. “By using HC3’s services, we’ve been able to not only educate our customers on their account information but also use these required touch points as cross-selling and upselling tools by utilizing key data elements to deliver targeted messages on the bank statements and bank notices.”

Customer communication is an important part of maintaining and growing business. By managing white space, utilizing single line transaction details, and designing statements and notices with clear customer focal points, First State Community Bank is able to innovate documents to maximize their benefits.

“First State Community Bank optimized their statements and notices to serve as multi-purpose tools through our redesign process,” said Griffin McGahey, president of HC3. “With the help of our Smart Campaign Manager tool, they have the ability to use the statement to send relevant, targeted communications to their customers."

Addition comes amidst significant growth and expansion for Tier1 Financial Solutions and will help the company scale globally  

Tier1 Financial Solutions , a leader in client relationship management (“CRM”), AML compliance and fraud prevention solutions, has appointed Franca Marinelli as Chief Human Resources Officer. In addition to managing human resources and organization development at Tier1, Marinelli’s goals will also include accelerating growth and transformation through leadership, creating unique models to cultivate the best talent, and building a culture of engagement and innovation.

Marinelli is a highly accomplished, business-oriented human resources professional with more than 25 years of experience in providing strategic leadership in the development and successful implementation of organizational and integrated human resources programs. Before joining Tier1, Marinelli held various senior executive positions in human resources and organizational development with BTI Systems, St. Joseph Communications, CATENA Networks, and Spar Inc.

“As we continue to expand our operations globally, especially in light of Tier1’s recent acquisitions of Alessa and Satuit, alignment of values across our organization will be vital to delivering the best possible experience to our clients,” said Tier1 Financial Solutions CEO Jiro Okochi. “I’m excited to welcome Franca to Tier1 and know she will be an invaluable member of our executive team, given her impressive track record in recruiting, corporate and employee development, and employee relations in multinational companies.”

Earlier this year, Tier1 expanded its senior leadership team with the hire of James Mitchell as Managing Director (International) to accelerate the adoption of Tier1’s advanced CRM and compliance solutions across Europe and drive further global expansion within Asia Pacific. 

Recently, Tier1 was voted ‘Best Mobile Solutions Provider’ in the 2021 Waters Rankings, an annual awards program recognizing the leading technologies, services and providers across the banking and capital markets landscape, for the second year in a row. 

FXCM Group, LLC, the leading international provider of online foreign exchange (FX) trading, CFD trading, cryptocurrencies¹ and related services, announced today that it has been crowned the winner of three categories of the Ultimate Fintech Awards 2021. The firm won Best Customer Service, Best Trading Platform and Broker of the Year.

FXCM was first listed for the awards by Ultimate Fintech, which, every year, determines leading market participants that are spearheading groundbreaking achievements, innovations, and progressive contributions in the fintech industry. The final list was then put to subscribed and logged in users to cast their votes. FXCM received the most votes for Best Customer Service, Best Trading Platform and Broker of the Year.

Having recently launched its ‘Client First, Trader Driven’ initiative, which focuses on expanding the company’s product offering and boosting its client service, the award is a testament to FXCM’s commitment to client service and bringing the most sought-after trading opportunities to its clients.

Over the past year, the firm has rolled out popular and emerging products to the retail trading market, adding 79 products, including SSCFDs, cryptos and stock baskets. FXCM has demonstrated its client service commitment so far in 2021, reporting that its average live-chat pick-up time was five seconds, whilst 100% of calls were answered in 45 seconds and emails replied to within a day.²

Brendan Callan, CEO of FXCM, said: “Over the past year, we’ve really focused our efforts on connecting with our clients and providing a best-in-class trading experience from the moment they start their trading journey. Being crowned winners of three categories at the Ultimate Fintech Awards 2021 is testament to our team’s hard work and we look forward to continue working closely with our clients to provide them the service they deserve.”

The firm also won a number of other awards in the past year, including the Best Zero Commission* Broker in the ADVFN International Financial Awards 2021, Best FX Platform at the 2021 Online Personal Wealth Awards and Best Forex Trading Platform (Global), Most Trusted Forex Broker (Africa) and Best Value Broker (Europe) at the 2020 Global Forex Awards.

¹Cryptocurrency products are only available to Professional and Eligible Counterparty Clients under FXCM LTD.

²Jan – May 2021 FXCM Service data

*Award granted to the FXCM Group by ADVFN in March 2021. FXCM can be compensated in several ways, which include but are not limited to adding a mark-up to the spreads it receives from its liquidity providers, adding a mark-up to rollover, etc. Commission-based pricing is applicable to Active Trader account types.