By Christopher Hamman
Happy Presidents’ Day!
Gary Gensler and his team of miracle workers at the SEC seemed to function in overdrive.
Well, just maybe.
America’s top watchdog has its hands full, with actions against almost every niche in the financial services industry.
That said, Apple is reportedly deepening its foray into the “BNPL” space, and there’s a new player in the digital insurance space.
Here’s your week in digital wealth!
WealthTech, RegTech and Treasury
Addepar
Wealth solutions firm Addepar launched a new portfolio search bar in its “Analysis and Reporting” section, which gives platform users access to its Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS).
Access to GCIS enables clients to expand their investment research decisions, compliance checks, and more.
SEC
In a 3-2 vote, the SEC minimized the timeframe for stock trade executions. The nation’s top stock regulator also cut the settlement period to 24 hours instead of the current 48-hour cycle.
The moves are part of a series of actions designed to prevent situations similar to the 2021 GameStop chaos, which exposed retail investors to massive losses.
Red Oak Compliance Solutions/Synthesis
Texas-based Red Oak Compliance Solutions and financial automation solutions firm Synthesis partnered with a yet-to-be-named global asset manager to improve management and compliance processes.
The collaboration helped the asset manager to improve workflows across the board and is aimed at improving internal verticals and increasing efficiency.
Crypto, Blockchain and Digital Assets
CME Group
Derivatives exchange solutions company CME Group revealed it would include Bitcoin futures as a part of its event contracts bundle. The launch is expected on March 13th and depends on final regulatory approvals.
CME Group launched events contracts late last year, and over 300,000 such trades have occurred since then.
Tether
As the SEC continued its crackdown on crypto firms, leading stablecoin issuer, Tether’s market capitalization increased by $70 billion.
This occurred after the SEC ordered Paxos to discontinue minting BUSD, the Binance stablecoin.
United States Senate
Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) pushed forward a draft bill that, if passed, will expose 401 (k) retirement plans to cryptocurrency markets.
Tuberville’s position is based on the Financial Freedom Act, introduced in May 2022, and aims to reverse the Department of Labor directives regarding investment types in 401ks.
Fintech, Personal Finance and Apps
Apple
Media reports show Apple has been testing a buy now, pay later (BNPL) product, which will launch soon in the United States.
User spending history, device ownership, and other features are part of the criteria reportedly used to determine access to credit.
Loan offers are available for 30 days, and identifications are required, including government-issued IDs and social security numbers.
Wedge/Visa
Debit card provider Wedge teamed with payments giant Visa to offer “Wedge Visa” debit cards. Users will access the new cards and transaction details via the Wedge app.
The new cards will be issued in partnership with Visa-licensed partner banks.
Instacart
Instacart introduced two additional features that enable users within its ecosystem to earn while shopping.
“Queued Batches” allows users to complete multiple batch orders before completion and allows for flexible custom shopping preferences per batch.
“Multi-store add-on orders” allows users to shop from multiple retailers simultaneously. They also receive additional time to complete multi-store batches and compensation for those actions.
Banking, Payments and Infrastructure
Stripe/WPP
Creative transformation firm WPP revealed its partnership with Stripe. Per the partnership, both firms will aid WPP’s clients with products, strategy consulting, and access to Stripe’s payment infrastructure.
The cooperation will also improve the payments and commerce capabilities of over 13,500 commerce specialists.
WPP also became a consulting partner within the Stripe Partner Ecosystem.
DCI/Atomic
Digital banking solutions firm DCI revealed its cooperation with FinTech and banking connectivity solutions firm Atomic to deploy payroll solutions to banks and financial institutions.
DCI’s solutions “GoBanking” and “GoDeposits” will integrate with Atomic’s infrastructure to allow seamless transactions for clients.
Okta/Plaid/OAth
Identity management solutions firm Okta partnered with financial solutions company Plaid to enable banks and financial institutions to integrate open banking solutions and deploy the open authentication standard OAth for broader inclusion and integrations.
The cooperation will enable financial institutions to create secure application programming interfaces (APIs) via OAth, thus enabling seamless operations within the financial services industry.
Goldman Sachs
Per media reports, investment giant Goldman Sachs shut down plans for consumer credit cards. Had they gone forward, AppleCard, its partnership with the iPhone manufacturer, would have been the end-game
Retail plans got shelved with the cancellation of Marcus personal business loans.
REtech, Insurtech and Investing
WeSure Global Tech
WeSure Digital Insurance Services, the US subsidiary of global digital insurance provider WeSure Global Tech launched nationally.
Starting with Property and Liability insurance offerings and its SME-oriented Business Owner Policy (BOP) in Ohio State, the digital insurance provider will include other additional products and expansions in the year’s course.
CIS Insurance Services/Duck Creek Technologies
CIS Insurance introduced its collaboration with insurance software solutions firm Duck Creek Technologies.
Per the partnership, CIS will provide its products to Duck Creek’s clients, including its Performance Testing and Trace Tools and on-site infrastructure management.
