Avant, a Chicago-based digital lender that’s raised more than $600M in equity funding, and has connected more than 1.5 million customers to $7.5B in loans and 400,000 credit cards, has acquired Zero Financial and its digital challenger bank Level.
Read MoreSmall business lender BlueVine has hired Steve Allocca, former president of LendingClub, as the company’s first chief operating officer.
Read MoreThe Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) this week issued an interpretive rule clarifying that it will enforce a federal ban on sex discrimination in lending practices, which also applies to cases where discrimination is claimed on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Read MoreCredit bureau Equifax has acquired AccountScore, a 5-year-old U.K.-based company whose technology helps businesses obtain and understand bank transaction data. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Read MoreNew leadership at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), including the likely nomination of Rohit Chopra as director, is fueling industry speculation around possible changes to the credit system, credit bureaus, and high-interest lending.
Read MoreWe are almost into February and the growth of the SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) route to taking fintech companies public shows no sign of abating.
Read MoreLendingClub, the publicly-traded digital-lending marketplace, got the green light from regulators to complete the acquisition of Radius Bank, after getting preliminary approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in December.
Read MoreRent-A-Center, a retailer that offers home furnishings, appliances, and electronics, on a lease-to-own basis, is planning to acquire digital lease-to-own provider Acima Holdings in a $1.65B cash and stock transaction.
Read MorePrimaHealth Credit, a Newport Beach, Calif.-based lender, is taking the popular point-of-sale shopping model for retail and applying it to elective medical procedures.
Read MoreAffirm, an 8-year-old ‘buy now, pay later’ firm founded by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, filed to go public amid doubling year-over-year revenue in the third quarter and narrowing losses.
Read MoreNew York City-based fintech Payability is adding electronics marketplace Newegg to its list of e-commerce partners through an offering called Newegg Capital.
Read MoreTwitter and the Opportunity Finance Network announced the creation of the Finance Justice Fund, which aims to bring $1B in capital from corporate and philanthropic donors to underserved individuals and communities.
Read MoreSifted reports that a company run by the brother of deceased Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is suing point-of-sale lender Klarna for millions.
Read MoreFinancial product marketplace NerdWallet acquired Fundera, a platform that allows small business owners to compare loan offerings.
Read MorePoint-of-sale lender Klarna, a global company worth $10.6B, is in hot water with a U.K. privacy watchdog over unsolicited emails it sent to some consumers encouraging them to use the point-of-sale loan offering despite never having used it.
Read MoreThe Financial Revolutionist is weekly newsletter and blog focused on the torrid pace of financial innovation. Today, thanks to the exponential rate of technological change, explosion in global trade and new regulations ushered in by the Great Financial Crisis, a new financial revolution is under way. In this battle, virtually every aspect of the greater financial services sector is subject to rigorous challenge. With the Financial Revolutionist, we are aspiring to create a boots-on-the-ground and highly opinionated assessment of important financial innovation developments in the past week.
