This weekly recap features updates on bank technology, payments, online lending and other news in the financial technology space. Send tips, ideas and chatter to kate.garber@spglobal.com. For other recent fintech news, click here.
Digital small-business lender Fundation Group LLC sees real value in befriending banks and the merits of the OCC's proposed special-purpose bank charter for fintech companies.
The company's new partnership with Citizens Financial Group Inc. will allow the bank to offer Fundation's digital loan application platform to small-business borrowers. Going forward, CEO Sam Graziano said, Fundation will continue to add at least one large partner each year.
"Though I do anticipate that we may add more than one next year," he said.
The OCC's proposal to grant fintech charters is something Fundation is considering, according to Graziano. But in the context of small business and consumer lending companies, he said the fintech company may not need the charter very badly. That's partly because the company already abides by state commercial lending laws, he said.
"We are already an integrated partner in the banking system," Graziano said. "We've already made substantive investments in our compliance infrastructure."
But he sees the value in the OCC's proposed charter, saying it bodes well for the industry and for banks that want to work with fintech companies.
In other fintech news, Fiserv Inc. paired up with Green Country Federal Credit Union, which will become the first U.S. credit union to integrate a commercial lending module into Fiserv's Portico platform.
Social Finance Inc. has delayed its plans to go public amid sluggish growth and decreasing venture funding for fintech companies, according to Bloomberg.
PayPal Holdings Inc. filed a copyright infringement notice against Paytm, India's biggest mobile wallet provider, Mashable reported. PayPal complained that Paytm's logo is too similar to its own.
From Dec. 15 to Dec. 22, the SNL U.S. Financial Technology Index fell 0.60%.
S&P Global Market Intelligence released a fintech primer on four areas — digital lending, payments, blockchain and digital wealth management — of particular interest due to their rapid pace of growth, technological disruption, and regulatory and other risks. Click here to read the primer.