I didn't see 'cash management accounts' on the list, but I think these are among the best products. They're not too common, but more are appearing now.
There's the classic ones that combine various investment products and slush balance that's insured by a bank sweep in the same interface, and the new ones that abstract completely away from the underlying storage of the money, and provide some familiar features (debit card, bill pay, ACH transfers) and perks (high interest rate, no fees).
The latter kind is a great, low-risk, low-effort store of spending money for people with unpredictable income and/or spending who have little time or cushion to invest in products with higher returns and need the liquidity. It's a compelling alternative to a traditional US checking account at a large bank, where most of this demographic has their money.
Is this disruptive? Fidelity and Schwab both have great, free, cash management accounts that refund all ATM fees domestically (Schwab even refunds international ATM fees, making it great for nomads).
We [https://griffin.sh] are building a bank-as-a-platform in the UK due to the friendlier regulatory environment compared to the US. We see a huge opportunity in this space and most of the existing incumbent institutions have stumbled into the space rather than building a purpose-built company to solve the issues that a platform bank can solve.
Your pricing models from what I have found are truly awesome. I've been quoted anywhere from £1 an account a month but needing £150k for setup fees to £250 for an account setup, and more monthly and other setup fees. In other words, very costly!
The only problem is that it's UK/EU only. It would probably be better if you can start adding ibans much like Iban First [0].
If Griffin can do something like:
1) Onboard anyone in the world, using e-kyc.
2) Have the ability to handle 50 other currencies.
3) Remittence funds using either Ripple (XRP) or IBM World Wire.
You would definitely have something special.
I know other companies such as getbabb [1] and railsbank [2] are trying to do something similar. But they are years behind.
Agreed! I want to do a much bigger international scan and am working with some colleagues in Europe and Asia.
I know a decent amount about open banking and have been gathering my thoughts (I.e. I keep writing and rewriting without finding the right angle) about it more generally. PSD2 is being perused primarily from a compliance perspective rather than a revenue generating perspective.
It's not hard to see what are disruptive models in fintech.
I have 5 bank accounts and you can see, based on the login method, how modern a banking software is.
There is a ton of potential just not be used at all.
Even without much change at the original banking software layer, putting a modern analysis tool upfront would make a huge difference. Just imagine having a secured mobile app which has limited permissions but allows you to perform a few basic things like checking your balance or transfering small amounts of money.
Or just a web ui which doesn't suck. If it doesn't suck, how about income analysis?
I left Wells Fargo for a credit union. The online banking experience the credit union provides is not as nice.
It doesn't matter. I don't need all those features. The product is commodified.
And I'm happy to be gone from a horrible company that actively victimizes its customer base. I don't have to watch my back, and I don't have to regret that my deposits help Wells to build systems which extract maximum wealth from its most defenseless users and funnel that wealth to its executives and shareholders.
Crazy fintech innovation idea: how about just actually serving the customer's interests?
"Demographic-focused products" or flat out racist products as they are otherwise known. How about we have products for categories that people choose to be part of, like "credit cards for stoner rock fans" rather than "credit cards for people who are Hispanic"! I guess that if that happens it'll only be weeks until someone launches "the card for the everyday Klansman".
I previously worked in the fintech space, on a product that provided remittance services to multiple countries – people in America send money home to India, Mexico, more.
The preferences among customers sending to each country were meaningfully different. These countries have differing economic climates, which means the people on the receive side have needs that are distinct among nations but fairly uniform among people within those nations. Similarly, people on the send-side tended to cluster into a handful of common industries (and therefore income brackets) depending on where they were sending to. Some demographics were, on average, high earners who were more rate sensitive than time sensitive. Others were lower earners who tended to send in emergencies and were time/delivery-sensitive more than rate sensitive.
Those financial products don't look the same. And it would be a mistake to try and build the average of the two and underserve everybody because you don't want to "look racist" by intentionally accommodating the varied needs of your customers.
It is a fact that many financial products have racist origins or overtones. Bank redlining has a dark history in America, and things like payday loans gouge customers who are desperate and unsophisticated.
But that does not make it racist to build financial products that fit a specific customer segment's needs in a way that those same people find constructive and self-select into. I don't know which products you're speaking about specifically, but abstractly, a service that makes it easier and cheaper for hispanic people specifically to save money or provide for their families is a positive force in the world, IMO.
We (RedCarpet.Cash) are also innovating in India on opening up to unbanked to credit (similar to Tala and Branch in Africa). These are typically customers that are new-to-bureau , so underwriting is particularly tricky.
We now have a regulated lending license from our central bank in India. Talk to us if you want to talk banking and credit in India.
Does anyone know if anything in the space can allow for P2P microtransactions? Maybe in batches: people send each other a few pennies at time and cash out at the end of the month?
From my review it seemed like this is hard to manage with money laundering regulation but I would love to know if a fintech company can make this work.
Maybe I'm missing the whole point but I've never completely understood the concept of fintech. From what I've seen it's just moving banking services online isn't it? There doesn't seem to be much actual innovation in terms of tech
As a client of open banking and an employee of a startup in the fintech space, I'd say that its a little more nuanced than that. Token (my employer) provides a platform that enables PSD2 and RTS compliance, open API's, crypto-based security, identity and programmable money amongst others to enable banks and merchants to rapidly adopt open banking and remain complaint with legislation governing the industry.
I would define fintech as any financial technology. So working at a bank is also fintech. Working at stripe is fintech. Working at disruptive startups for wall street is also fintech.
-Robo-advisory and asset allocation stuff, like Betterment, Wealthfront, and Personal Capital
-They mention API companies, but don't have Plaid and Yodlee, which enable a lot of consumer fintech.
Those robo-advisors definitely shook things up, but it seems like the giants (Schwab, Fidelity, etc) have rolled out their own in order to compete. It actually is now a really competitive landscape where the incumbents can offer additional support for a fee which Betterment and Wealthfront aren't able. And a lot of people get comfort from knowing that they can pick up the phone and call someone.
Note: I'm not in that camp, I have multiple Wealthfront accounts (Investment, IRA, and child's accounts) and am really happy with it, but I don't need or want to ask anyone questions about my asset allocation
[+] [-] sarcasmic|6 years ago|reply
There's the classic ones that combine various investment products and slush balance that's insured by a bank sweep in the same interface, and the new ones that abstract completely away from the underlying storage of the money, and provide some familiar features (debit card, bill pay, ACH transfers) and perks (high interest rate, no fees).
The latter kind is a great, low-risk, low-effort store of spending money for people with unpredictable income and/or spending who have little time or cushion to invest in products with higher returns and need the liquidity. It's a compelling alternative to a traditional US checking account at a large bank, where most of this demographic has their money.
[+] [-] toomuchtodo|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ddoran|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] venantius|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] no1youknowz|6 years ago|reply
The only problem is that it's UK/EU only. It would probably be better if you can start adding ibans much like Iban First [0].
If Griffin can do something like:
1) Onboard anyone in the world, using e-kyc.
2) Have the ability to handle 50 other currencies.
3) Remittence funds using either Ripple (XRP) or IBM World Wire.
You would definitely have something special.
I know other companies such as getbabb [1] and railsbank [2] are trying to do something similar. But they are years behind.
[0]: https://www.ibanfirst.com
[1]: https://getbabb.com
[2]: https://www.railsbank.com
[+] [-] morenoh149|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nr152522|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TACIXAT|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nice__two|6 years ago|reply
The whole authentication scheme based on EIDAS is a shot show, though and really very horrible.
[+] [-] achow|6 years ago|reply
In India UPI (Unified Payment Interface) brought in some sort of revolution in P2P & merchant digital payment transactions. No mention of that.
As of March 2019 there are 142 banks live on UPI with a monthly volume of 799.54 million transactions and a value of ₹1.334 trillion (US$19 billion)... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Payments_Interface
[+] [-] zt|6 years ago|reply
Agreed! I want to do a much bigger international scan and am working with some colleagues in Europe and Asia.
I know a decent amount about open banking and have been gathering my thoughts (I.e. I keep writing and rewriting without finding the right angle) about it more generally. PSD2 is being perused primarily from a compliance perspective rather than a revenue generating perspective.
[+] [-] sigi45|6 years ago|reply
I have 5 bank accounts and you can see, based on the login method, how modern a banking software is.
There is a ton of potential just not be used at all.
Even without much change at the original banking software layer, putting a modern analysis tool upfront would make a huge difference. Just imagine having a secured mobile app which has limited permissions but allows you to perform a few basic things like checking your balance or transfering small amounts of money.
Or just a web ui which doesn't suck. If it doesn't suck, how about income analysis?
[+] [-] rectang|6 years ago|reply
I left Wells Fargo for a credit union. The online banking experience the credit union provides is not as nice.
It doesn't matter. I don't need all those features. The product is commodified.
And I'm happy to be gone from a horrible company that actively victimizes its customer base. I don't have to watch my back, and I don't have to regret that my deposits help Wells to build systems which extract maximum wealth from its most defenseless users and funnel that wealth to its executives and shareholders.
Crazy fintech innovation idea: how about just actually serving the customer's interests?
[+] [-] gumby|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sgt101|6 years ago|reply
Save us all...
[+] [-] RickS|6 years ago|reply
The preferences among customers sending to each country were meaningfully different. These countries have differing economic climates, which means the people on the receive side have needs that are distinct among nations but fairly uniform among people within those nations. Similarly, people on the send-side tended to cluster into a handful of common industries (and therefore income brackets) depending on where they were sending to. Some demographics were, on average, high earners who were more rate sensitive than time sensitive. Others were lower earners who tended to send in emergencies and were time/delivery-sensitive more than rate sensitive.
Those financial products don't look the same. And it would be a mistake to try and build the average of the two and underserve everybody because you don't want to "look racist" by intentionally accommodating the varied needs of your customers.
It is a fact that many financial products have racist origins or overtones. Bank redlining has a dark history in America, and things like payday loans gouge customers who are desperate and unsophisticated.
But that does not make it racist to build financial products that fit a specific customer segment's needs in a way that those same people find constructive and self-select into. I don't know which products you're speaking about specifically, but abstractly, a service that makes it easier and cheaper for hispanic people specifically to save money or provide for their families is a positive force in the world, IMO.
[+] [-] sandGorgon|6 years ago|reply
We now have a regulated lending license from our central bank in India. Talk to us if you want to talk banking and credit in India.
[+] [-] mizay7|6 years ago|reply
From my review it seemed like this is hard to manage with money laundering regulation but I would love to know if a fintech company can make this work.
[+] [-] theptip|6 years ago|reply
Has very low transaction fees and supports fiat-pegged tokens like https://stronghold.co/stronghold-usd/.
[+] [-] TACIXAT|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ackbar03|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] psnosignaluk|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] morenoh149|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] acjohnson55|6 years ago|reply
-Robo-advisory and asset allocation stuff, like Betterment, Wealthfront, and Personal Capital -They mention API companies, but don't have Plaid and Yodlee, which enable a lot of consumer fintech.
[+] [-] chasedehan|6 years ago|reply
Note: I'm not in that camp, I have multiple Wealthfront accounts (Investment, IRA, and child's accounts) and am really happy with it, but I don't need or want to ask anyone questions about my asset allocation