Fintech

Intuit shows how to tame a fintech unicorn

25 February 2020

The $75 bln owner of TurboTax will pay over $7 bln for finance portal Credit Karma. As personal finance gets disrupted, established firms are realizing they can either join in or stand aside. But the large sums at stake mean there’s no free lunch for consumers.

Revolut speeds towards a valuation paradox

25 February 2020

Nik Storonsky’s digi-bank is now worth $5.5 bln. To justify the price tag, he’ll need multiples of the $76 mln revenue it generated in 2018. Subscriptions for services like stock-trading help. But a lending push may eventually prompt investors to judge Revolut like a normal bank.

Fintech M&A shows bank disruption stuck in infancy

21 February 2020

LendingClub set out to upend retail finance by making small loans online. But like Radius, the digital bank it’s now buying, it’s still small fry. Sure, venture-capital funding for such upstarts is robust, but deep-pocketed incumbents like JPMorgan retain the upper hand.

Bank of England’s AI approach will toughen up

21 February 2020

UK finance has yet to face many restrictions on using artificial intelligence. But the technology brings risks as well as opportunities, the BoE’s fintech director told Breakingviews. A light-touch approach will change as machines make increasingly important financial decisions.

Hong Kong’s new banks will move fast, break things

3 February 2020

The city’s first digital-only bank, backed by insurer ZhongAn, is paying around 6% deposit interest. Similar promotions may come from newbies backed by Ant, Xiaomi, and others. The aggressive entrance suggests incumbents may lose revenue share fast to rich upstarts.

Flying cars are a cool solution to a tiny problem

23 January 2020

Toyota has pledged $394 mln to support aviation startup Joby; Geely and Hyundai are also dabbling. Technology advances have put commercialisation within reach, and regulators will slowly come to grips with the idea. The final frontier is finding actual customers.

UK’s $13 bln tech scene may already have peaked

15 January 2020

Startups in Britain raised 44% more money last year than in 2018. Relative to the size of its economy, UK technology investment now matches the U.S. A Brexit-induced talent squeeze, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s strategic pivot away from London, will cap future growth.

Buy now, pay later faces Juul-style backlash

24 December 2019

Companies offering the credit innovation say it can drive online sales and help retailers deal with refunds. One player, Klarna, is valued at $5.5 bln. But making it a lot easier to shop for free could prompt a reaction like that which befell the vaping heavyweight.

China’s e-yuan will be more cryptic than crypto

23 December 2019

Beijing is primed to launch the world's first digital sovereign currency in 2020. The rollout will give authorities a powerful tool to tackle fraud and money laundering. Deploying the breakout innovation into the wheeling-dealing banking system could also aid a cleanup.

Review: Bloomberg primer goes beyond hagiography

20 December 2019

A recent bio of the former New York mayor and Wall Street information tycoon was given relevancy by his unconventional bid to replace Donald Trump. It’s a book that might have just sat on the shelf gathering dust but for the fact he might have a shot at the presidency.

Air seeps quickly out of SoftBank bubbles

12 December 2019

Ping An’s bank-software vendor OneConnect slashed its IPO valuation to half the $7.5 bln imputed when Masayoshi Son’s Vision Fund backed it last year. SoftBank also just took a loss on dog-walking outfit Wag. Dozens of startups from Didi to Oyo may soon be feeling deflated, too.

Ping An’s fintech halo is losing its glow

4 December 2019

China's top insurer may list its OneConnect banking software business at a $5 bln valuation. That would be a third lower than its last funding round, which included SoftBank’s Vision Fund. Other cutting-edge ventures have hit bumps, too. Ping An is falling short of the hype.

Online loans party leaves Seoul set for a hangover

3 December 2019

Peer-to-peer lending is flourishing in South Korea, despite trouble elsewhere. That’s thanks to government support and dysfunctional banks. But with the economy slowing and households already carrying $1.3 trln of debt, there is credit pain ahead. Web upstarts will feel it first.

The Exchange: Kill your terminal

26 November 2019

Traders resent expensive tools like Bloomberg and Eikon, but they need them to chat. Goldman-backed Symphony, at $20 a month, wants to break in. CEO David Gurle talks about the challenges of compliance, his deal with China’s Tencent, and the future of finance software.

Lisbon tech confab is antidote to WeWork gloom

11 November 2019

Entrepreneurs and investors who joined the 70,000-strong Web Summit crowd were unfazed by plunging valuations of SoftBank-backed companies, including the office sublessor. Still, the reality check is making sustainable growth and positive cash flow the industry’s new watchwords.

WeWork’s rescue choice couldn’t be easier

18 October 2019

The cash-guzzling office-sharing outfit has offers of $5 bln more equity from SoftBank or, if investors can stomach it, super-pricey debt which could put the company under even more quickly. If Masayoshi Son is willing to inject more, WeWork’s co-CEOs should bite his hand off.

Wirecard is becoming uninvestable

15 October 2019

The $15 bln payments group’s share price fell 19% after the FT said it overstated sales. The company disputes the claims. Persistent volatility makes life hard for short-term traders. Long-term investors may be put off as the latest allegations involve a bigger chunk of revenue.

Wirecard’s 2025 crystal ball smacks of complacency

8 October 2019

The $19 bln German payments group reckons transaction volumes, revenue and EBITDA will rise more than sixfold compared with 2018. Such forecasts ignore the risk of big tech groups like Facebook muscling in. Accusations of accounting impropriety still weigh on its valuation.

Digi-banks seem short on financial innovation

1 October 2019

Revolut and Monzo wooed millions of customers and secured multi-billion dollar valuations with slick apps and low fees. But they’re not earning much revenue. If flogging subscriptions and commission-based products fails, the temptation will be to lean on old-school bank charges.

Tencent is stuck in a losing battle with Beijing

28 August 2019

A year after a video-games crackdown hit the web giant, its $21 bln music-streaming arm may be under antitrust scrutiny. That makes Pony Ma's hopes of building an entertainment empire look fragile. It’s a reminder too that China's tolerance of its new economy champions is waning.