Fintech

Battered fintech sector’s next play: sell ads

20 Jan 2023

Erstwhile financial technology stars like $47 bln Block and Klarna are suffering from falling valuations and slowing sales. Yet they’re sitting on potentially valuable insights about punters’ spending habits. That points to an opportunity in helping retailers reach their users.

Fintech fight tests Fed’s transparency mission

19 Jan 2023

The Federal Reserve will soon disclose which firms it approves for valuable master accounts. It’s the latest in the central bank’s push toward greater transparency, but change has been slow. Fintechs seeking master accounts of their own will check the Fed’s sincerity.

Capital Calls: British jolt

17 Jan 2023

Concise views on global finance: The collapse of UK battery group Britishvolt leaves a gaping hole in the country’s auto manufacturing sector.

India can credibly push digital currencies to talk

11 Jan 2023

The e-rupee will be a hard sell at home but it could slash costs of overseas transfers. As a receiver of $100 bln annual household remittances and champion of interoperable payments, New Delhi can use its G20 presidency to foster global cooperation to tap the compelling use case.

New buy-now-pay-later fad runs old-school risks

8 Dec 2022

After Klarna and others saw their valuations slashed, venture investors are now pouring money into business-focused lenders like Wayflyer. It sounds like digital trade finance, which has a patchy past. There’s often a good reason that small borrowers can’t get money elsewhere.

Blockchain hype gets useful Aussie wake-up call

17 Nov 2022

Bourse ASX is pausing its much-delayed distributed-ledger clearing system and taking a $170 mln hit. The troubled project was beset by old-school problems like poor communication and planning. Such human flaws, though, bleed into how the technology gets developed.

Sam Bankman-Fried did financial system a favour

14 Nov 2022

The curly-haired cryptocurrency kingpin pushed regulators and politicians to legitimise assets like bitcoin. A few more years and his now-bankrupt exchange FTX would have burrowed deeper into mainstream finance, amplifying the damage. His downfall sends the process into reverse.

Musk’s messy Twitter deal could have an X-factor

5 Oct 2022

The billionaire’s on-again $44 bln acquisition will be financially burdensome, for him and his bankers. But look past that immediate challenge, and it’s possible Musk could tie Twitter to Tesla and SpaceX and do something game-changing. If, that is, his attention doesn’t wander.

Capital Calls: Tesla greases supply-chain fears

3 Oct 2022

Concise views on global finance: The $760 bln electric-car maker manufactured more vehicles in the third quarter but delivered fewer than analysts were expecting, raising fresh concerns about the industry’s ability to get production running smoothly again.

Capital Calls: Clock ticks for reining in TikTok

26 Sep 2022

Concise views on global finance: The Chinese-owned social media network’s prodigious growth will make the U.S. government’s attempts to allay security concerns trickier still.

India’s fintech fest is a vibrant coming-out party

23 Sep 2022

Crashing valuations did not dampen spirits at a Mumbai confab this week drawing 7,000 daily visitors. Officials celebrated startups, their global potential, and offered a checklist for not running afoul of evolving regulation. Questions on profitability will be for another day.

Capital Calls: Sea’s distress call

21 Sep 2022

Concise views on global finance: The boss of Singapore’s $26 bln e-commerce to video-games outfit has laid out plans to achieve financial self-sufficiency, sending a wake-up call to other cash-burning peers in the region.

Capital Calls: UBS fintech U-turn, UK housebuilder

5 Sep 2022

Concise views on global finance: CEO Ralph Hamers cancels the $1.4 bln acquisition of robo-adviser Wealthfront; Countryside Partnerships accepts a 1.3 bln pound offer from UK rival Vistry just three months after rejecting a higher bid.

Fintech’s next big down round may have an upside

24 Aug 2022

After pay-later group Klarna raised cash at an 85% discount to its previous valuation, candidates for the next giant markdown include $25 bln Chime and $32 bln FTX. But it isn’t all bad news. By raising money when others can’t, they could grab market share or scoop up rivals.

Recession could be U.S. banks’ guilty pleasure

23 Aug 2022

Big lenders like JPMorgan and Bank of America are prepared for an economic downturn that investors have already half priced in. Not only would banks survive even a savage contraction, they might even emerge stronger as fintech rivals would face a much heavier pummeling.

Capital Calls: Paytm protest vote

22 Aug 2022

Concise views on global finance: A majority of the Indian fintech posterchild’s public institutional investors voted against the pay of founder and boss Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

Alibaba offers false ray of China’s economic dawn

4 Aug 2022

Quarterly revenue at the $260 bln e-commerce giant was flat, beating horrid expectations. As lockdowns ease, the hope is that consumers will spend more. But online advertisers, Alibaba’s core customers, are cutting budgets, suggesting a protracted slowdown is on its way.

Jack Ma’s exit would smooth Ant’s IPO march

29 Jul 2022

The Alibaba founder may cede control of the fintech giant. This could mark a big advance in Ant's efforts to clean up governance and placate the officials who derailed its $37 bln float in 2020. A simpler ownership structure puts the company one step closer to a revived listing.

Meta Platforms, like wine, gets better with age

27 Jul 2022

Sure, advertising is under threat, Facebook’s user growth is slowing, and Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse risks becoming a kind of corporate midlife crisis. But maturity brings financial advantages, like profitability. Even if revenue falls, Meta’s valuation is on solid ground.

Fintech crash is an M&A opportunity for bold banks

21 Jul 2022

Financial technology groups like $8 bln Affirm, Klarna and Robinhood have plunged in value. Heavy losses and obstinate founders make them tough takeover targets. But lenders like Goldman Sachs could in theory run them more profitably – and boost their own growth in the process.