The Week in Review

The Week in Review

Friday July 31, 2020 –

Here are the new and noteworthy stories we have been following this week.

Dave Announces Exclusive Partnership With Mastercard and Roll-Out of Dave Banking to Its 7MM Customers

Startup financial services provider Dave has announced a partnership with Mastercard for its debit cards and is actively pushing forward with its digital bank (that it soft-launched in May); according to the company, it has signed up 100,000 new banking customers in the last two months out of the 220,000 invitees. (Separately Dave reported a data breach at one of its providers that exposed the personal information of its 7.5 million users.)

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200723005897/en/Dave-Announces-Exclusive-Partnership-Mastercard-Roll-Out-Dave

Wells Fargo Tightens Purse Strings to Ride Out Coronavirus Pandemic

Wells Fargo is slashing costs, cutting staff and tightening up on lending to ride out the coronavirus recession; the bank is looking to cut about $10 billion in expenses and rationalize its operations while ensuring prudent risk management.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/wells-fargo-tightens-purse-strings-to-ride-out-coronavirus-pandemic-11595669400

Enova to Acquire OnDeck to Create a Leading FinTech Company Serving Consumers and Small Businesses

Online digital credit provider Enova is acquiring OnDeck for $90 million to increase its heft in small business; OnDeck was one of the pioneers of online digital lending that went public in 2014 and at one time had a valuation of $1.9 billion.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/enova-to-acquire-ondeck-to-create-a-leading-fintech-company-serving-consumers-and-small-businesses-301101550.html

JPMorgan Chase partners with fintech start-up Marqeta to launch ‘virtual’ credit cards

Chase will be using Marqeta as a card issuer processor / provider for virtual real-time issue commercial cards (similar to cards used by delivery companies); according to Chase the virutal card feature will be available in early 2021.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/28/jpmorgan-partners-with-marqeta-to-launch-virtual-credit-cards.html

Intuit Introduces QuickBooks Cash, a New Business Bank Account With a 1% High-Yield Interest Rate

Intuit has announced the launch of QuickBooks Cash, a business bank account that earns high-yield interest, which, when used with the QuickBooks suite of business services simplifies financial management for small business owners; Intuit’s banking service is supported by Green Dot Bank.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200729005270/en/%C2%A0Intuit-Introduces-QuickBooks-Cash-New-Business-Bank

Big banks back Canadian launch of Financial Data Exchange

Canada’s big five banks are among 31 organisations onboard for the launch of Financial Data Exchange (FDX); FDX is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to unifying the financial industry around a common, interoperable, and royalty-free standard for the secure access of user permissioned financial data, aptly named the FDX API,

https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/36308/big-banks-back-canadian-launch-of-financial-data-exchange

Monzo gambles on new products to survive coronavirus crisis

Monzo is facing a difficult future as its debit card interchange driven business model comes under pressure; according to the company;’s latest annual report, the bank said uncertainties created by the pandemic “cast significant doubt” on its ability to continue as a going concern.

https://www.ft.com/content/2dc84111-ac47-401a-aa09-92bc65dc1f07

Atlanta tech teams up with PayPal, Venmo on touchless checkouts at CVS

Atlanta-based InComm will be supporting PayPal’s QR code checkout deal with CVS stores by enabling CVS’ POS to accept QR codes; CVS customers using the PayPal QR code will be able to pay for their products using stored debit or credit cards, bank accounts, PayPal balance or PayPal Credit.

https://www.americaninno.com/atlanta/tech-news/atlanta-tech-teams-with-paypal-venmo-on-touchless-checkouts-at-cvs/

Affirm Prepares IPO That Could Value Fintech Firm at Up to $10 Billion

POS lender Affirm is reportedly exploring an IPO and is working with Goldman Sachs; there is also the possibility that Affirm could use a ‘blank-check company’ to pursue the public markets.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/affirm-prepares-ipo-that-could-value-fintech-firm-at-up-to-10-billion-11596143292

Point wants to provide credit card rewards with debit cards

Point a new fintech is launching via an invite model; Point’s primary value proposition is a decoupled debit card that provides spending based rewards.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/30/point-wants-to-provide-credit-card-rewards-with-debit-cards/

Varo Money granted national bank charter

Varo Money has become the first US consumer fintech firm to be granted a national bank charter; Varo was granted the charter by the OCC and has secured regulatory approvals from the FDIC and Federal Reserve to open Varo Bank N.A.

https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/36318/varo-money-granted-national-bank-charter

Apple Buys Startup to Turn iPhones Into Payment Terminals

Apple has acquired Mobeewave, a Canadian startup with technology that could transform iPhones into mobile payment terminals for $100 million; Mobeewave’s technology lets shoppers tap their credit card or smartphone on another phone to process a payment leveraging Near Field Communications (NFC).

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-01/apple-buys-startup-to-turn-iphones-into-payment-terminals