Last week, there was a marked shift towards innovation, with ideas taking over the space. That said, there were higher cases of regulation which changed the outlook of some sectors.
Headlines to take note of:
- Nasdaq increased its trade integrations with an FIA partnership;
- The CFTC (and others) caught J.P. Morgan being sloppy. They paid big time;
- Chainlink and Circle have stablecoin adoption ambitions;
- PayPal is eyeing ad revenue;
- Swift is big on AI for several reasons (read on to find out);
- And much more!
Of course, it’s your week in digital wealth!
WealthTech, RegTech, Regulatory, and Treasury
Nasdaq/FIA Tech
Premier exchange Nasdaq revealed a partnership with infrastructure-focused FIA to enhance post-trade activities. The collaboration integrates Nasdaq Real-Time Clearing into the FIA Tech Trade Data Network (TDN). Additionally, the FIA TDN unifies trade data from all parties under one umbrella.
On May 28, the trading sector was chaotic due to technical errors from boutique market operator MEMX. Opening hours for pre-market activities were delayed by two hours to 8:45 a.m. Eastern. MEMX iterated that the glitch caused its platform to accept orders between 6:50 a.m. and 6:45 a.m. Eastern. Furthermore, the incident had no connections with the upcoming T+1 transitions.
J.P. Morgan/CFTC
Banking behemoth J.P. Morgan and the CFTC agreed to a $100 million settlement in the ongoing client order surveillance investigation. The regulator had (previously) fined J.P. Morgan $200 million but halved the penalty because of previous settlements with the Fed and the OCC.
Investigations in 2021 revealed the bank’s failure to close surveillance gaps discovered during a transition between platforms.
Crypto, Blockchain, and Digital Assets
Payments giant PayPal expanded the utility provisions of the PYUSD stablecoin by including support on the Solana blockchain. Onramp options for the PYUSD include issuer Paxos, Phantom, and crypto.com.
Broadridge/J.P. Morgan
In furtherance of its tokenization plans, premier FinTech firm Broadridge revealed the deployment of the JPM Coin (by J.P. Morgan) on its distributed ledger repo (DLR) platform. The JPM Coin acts as a digital cash surrogate during transactions.
Oracle-focused blockchain Chainlink and stablecoin issuer Circle cooperated to improve options for developers. The collaboration integrates Circle’s stablecoin ecosystem with the Chainlink platform, improving EURC and USDC access.
FinTech, Personal Finance, and Apps
On the AI end, risk-focused Oscilar and identity solutions FinTech Socure revealed their cooperation to provide an alternative approach to issues FIs face. The cooperation integrates Oscilar’s risk solution with Socure’s identity management ecosystem.
American FinTech Sage unveiled updates to its Intacct solution. The updates include the availability of PwC insights, bank transaction imports and reconciliation, expense transaction allocations, supplies management, construction industry-focused integrations, and more.
The FIDO Alliance
The industry had a plus with the Face Verification Certification program (from the FIDO Alliance). Additionally, the certification program assesses the performance of a biometric identification platform using several factors. The program has over 10,000 tests that eliminate the incidence of false positives.
According to a May 28 Wall Street Journal report, e-commerce behemoth PayPal plans to leverage its consumer data trove to launch a digital ads business. Additionally, the analytics and insights will be (reportedly) available to advertising firms, enabling them to create targeted ads.
Zil Money Corporation
Swiss residents now have another remote account opening option with an announcement from Zil US announcing functionality. Business people can (now) open bank US bank accounts.
Banking, Payments, and Infrastructure
Treasury Prime/Footprint
Niche banking software firm Treasury Prime introduced its partnership with Footprint, a boutique identity and security FinTech. According to a May 28 press release, the collaboration includes Footprint in the Treasury Prime Partner Marketplace, giving FIs seamless access to compliance and security solutions on the go.
To improve in the collective fight against fraud, the global banking network Swift introduced two AI-focused experiments. The first experiment focuses on the Swift Payment Controls ecosystem. Swift focuses on anonymous data sharing between financial institutions in the second experiment.
Credit Unions have a new option with a partnership between payments-focused Pidgin and Corelation, an infrastructure-focused ecosystem. The cooperation enables faster onboarding timeframes and real-time payment integrations.
The American Fintech Council
Following a Request for Information (RFI) from the Treasury’s FinCEN, the American Fintech Council requested formalization. FinCEN had (earlier) implemented the rule under the Customer Identification Program (CIP), but the regulator hasn’t (yet) deployed a unified framework for the industry.
REtech, InsurtTech and Investing
In the Sunshine State, niche InsurTech Bindable collaborated with boutique home insurance ecosystem HoneyQuote. The cooperation extends Bindable’s options for Florida residents, with add-ons from HoneyQuote providing easy access to home insurance.
Boutique InsurTech Stride revealed its partnership with Roadie, the everyday logistics FinTech. The collaboration extends health coverage to 200,000 indie drivers within Roadie’s ecosystem and includes tax support and financial tools, enabling drivers to plan extensively.
Kalepa/Bowhead Specialty
Niche underwriter Bowhead Specialty revealed the deployment of Copilot, Kalepa’s AI solution, to mitigate risk and improve customer experiences. The integration follows Bowhead’s successful $128 million IPO.
Automations-focused Ascend collaborated with niche InsurTech aggregator Mylo to provide customers with richer experiences and efficient industry integrations. The cooperation also enables streamlined processes.
