The past year’s been tumultuous for consumer loans – while almost every sector of the economy has been impacted in some way, federal moratoria on foreclosures and evictions in combination with mortgage forbearances have put a huge piece of consumer loan servicing on an indefinite hold, as deadlines have shifted from initial positions at the end of February to the end of June, … [Read more...] about An Approaching Crisis in Consumer Lending
Buy Now, Pay Later Eats Credit Card Profits
Discover Financial reported last week that credit-card loans were down 9% for the year ending Jan. 31, 2021, reports Crain's Chicago Business. Meanwhile, Affirm, a leader in installment lending, announced a debit card with BNPL features to make the increasingly popular financing method easier to use at retail point-of-sale, according to PaymentsSource. "The trend eats away … [Read more...] about Buy Now, Pay Later Eats Credit Card Profits
Payments FinTech Continues to Rise
PayPal wants to be a "super app." Stripe gets a new valuation from investors of $115 billion. Marqeta, a global card-issuing platform, files for an IPO. All three companies are more evidence of the shift in the payments applications and revenues to technology platforms. Investors are betting on the tech firms. Stripe's payment volumes are relatively small, Forbes … [Read more...] about Payments FinTech Continues to Rise
Digital Transformation Challenges Remain for Banks
The world of payments is going digital. That’s been a story for years, now – and one that took on a new urgency in the wake of a pandemic that demanded real changes to the ways banks do business. But for financial institutions to really achieve the kind of digital transformation that the times demand, they’re going to need more than a website or online balance … [Read more...] about Digital Transformation Challenges Remain for Banks
The Changing Face of Bitcoin
Note: On Tuesday morning 2/16, Bloomberg reports that bitcoin reached a new record price, breaking $50,000, as institutional investors continue to buy in. Bitcoin continues to capture headlines, as summarized by CoinDesk. As its price gains continued on news that Elon Musk purchased $1.5 billion worth of the cryptoasset for Tesla, several mainstream financial organizations … [Read more...] about The Changing Face of Bitcoin
Bitcoin Gains Increasing Credibility
Bitcoin's captured media attention ever since its introduction a decade ago, and it's here again - setting new record prices multiple times over the past year, it's set for yet another rise following major investments in recent weeks. Bitcoin's rapid rises - and sometimes equally-rapid falls - are nothing new on their face, but this institutional attention is something that … [Read more...] about Bitcoin Gains Increasing Credibility