In one of the biggest M&A deals of 2023, Visa has purchased Pismo, a Brazilian start up that aims to enable financial services clients to launch payments and banking products “regardless of rails, geography or currency” per Pismo CEO Ricardo Josua. Pismo intends to keep its existing management team in place in São Paulo Brazil.
Many people think of “charge cards” as relics of the past, from the days of layaway plans and paper gift certificates. However, there is still a strong business case for their use in commercial payments, and the new Stripe offering is likely to see quick adoption. https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/42406/stripe-issuing-gets-charge-card-programme?utm_medium=newsflash&utm_source=2023-6-2&member=65770
The US Federal Government is joining 21 individual states in restricting the use of salary history to determine compensation when hiring. This is a positive move that will benefit women and people of color, traditionally paid less than white men for the same jobs. https://www.axios.com/2023/05/10/usa-jobs-salary-gender-pay-equity
To every loser, there is a winner? LendingClub may be seeing a decline in forecasted loan originations, but their deposit levels have gone up 13%, by almost $1 billion. This is directly attributable to wary Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank depositors who are seeking safer pastures. Discover Financial Services and Capital One are also […]
Apple has released its Apple Card savings account from Goldman Sachs. The account has no fees and no minimum balances or deposits, while paying 4.15% on balances. Jennifer Bailey, VP of Internet Services at Apple Pay, says “Our goal is to build tools that help users lead healthier financial lives”. This card should make that easier. https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/42159/apple-launches-savings-account?utm_medium=newsflash&utm_source=2023-4-17&member=65770
Walmart returns to their much-used “we’ll sue you” playbook to get out of another contract. A few years ago, they claimed financial hardship to extricate themselves from their contract with Synchrony and then moved their cards to Capital One. Now, they’ve made similar claims to try to extricate themselves from their agreement with Capital One. With few issuers left to […]
A mere 10 months ago, Aspiration‘s founding CEO Andrei Cherny was excited to announce the hire of Chief Sustainability Officer Olivia Albrecht. This week, as the current CEO, Olivia Albrecht has announced another 180 job cuts at Aspiration, only months after the first round eliminated 100 positions. It looks as if impeccable credentials are not […]
New Jersey Congressman Josh Gottheimer is demanding USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy explain what is being done to combat change of address fraud, which increased from 8,850 cases to 23,606 cases between 2020 and 2021. https://gottheimer.house.gov/posts/release-gottheimer-combats-change-of-address-fraud-and-identity-theft
First Citizens Bank can’t lose with this deal, purchasing $72 billion in Silicon Valley Bank‘s assets for $16 billion, and protecting themselves from any downside with a loss-share agreement with the FDIC. https://www.pymnts.com/news/2023/first-citizens-snaps-up-big-chunk-of-svb/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Main%20NL%2003/27&utm_term=Main%20Newsletter
Speaking as a consumer, rather than as a fintech headhunter, the initiatives by the Federal Trade Commission to require subscription companies to make cancelling as easy as subscribing (same number of clicks, no additional steps) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to restrict negative option renewals and automatic price increases are being eagerly awaited. https://www.pymnts.com/subscriptions/2023/ftc-wants-help-consumers-click-to-cancel-subscriptions?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Main%20NL%2003/24&utm_term=Main%20Newsletter