“Robinhood Markets Inc. plans to launch a spending account feature alongside a new cash card with rewards, its latest push to grow beyond its core brokerage business…The spending account will be operated under a subsidiary. An accompanying upcoming Robinhood Cash Card will allow spending with cashback and offer the ability to automatically invest spare change from spending. It will also provide weekly bonuses between 10% and 100% for invested spare change.”

“So how are fintechs that offer banking services staying relevant? How are they competing with traditional banks that have a longstanding customer base and deeper pockets? Fintechs, taking advantage of their technological prowess and lower costs, are offering more features that banks generally don’t, such as analysis of customers’ spending and saving patterns, credit-builder products and lending products designed specifically for consumers who banks don’t typically target, like individuals with little or poor credit history. Fintechs also are placing bets on up-and-coming services such as helping consumers plan to reach their savings goals, cryptocurrency investing and crowdfunding.”

“Astra, Inc. (“Astra”), the automation platform for money movement, today announced the launch of its first-ever card-to-card instant payment API. Through a strategic partnership with Cross River Bank (“Cross River”), a technology-driven financial services organization that provides core infrastructure and embedded financial solutions, Astra is providing the critical infrastructure that will, for the first time, enable fintech developers to fund accounts and facilitate deposits via the debit card payment rails.”

“Cross River Bank (“Cross River”), a technology-driven financial services organization that provides core infrastructure and embedded financial solutions, today announced that it has partnered with Payment Approved, a fintech that offers an easy access to end-to-end payment solutions for clients in the Money Service Business (“MSB”) sector, e-commerce businesses, and retailers, to provide businesses with faster and broader payment options that are safe and secure.”

“The start-up is set to announce Tuesday that it secured a U.S. broker-dealer license, enabling it to compete with the likes of Robinhood and Square in the red-hot world of retail trading, according to CEO and founder Nik Storonsky.”

“Before Covid, payments companies were some of fintech’s fastest-growing. As the pandemic caused online transactions to spike, these startups went on an unprecedented tear. Stripe and Plaid nearly tripled their valuations in a year, reaching $95 and $13.4 billion, respectively. Marqeta is preparing to go public at a valuation rumored to be north of $10 billion, up from $4 billion a year ago.   Ten payments companies made the Fintech 50 this year. They range from fraud-fighting startups to a business that lets companies offer digital wallets to Latin American consumers to one that tries to make transferred bank funds available in one day, instead of five.”

“Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO, listed fintech as one of the “enormous competitive threats” to banks in his annual shareholder letter released Wednesday. “Banks … are facing extensive competition from Silicon Valley, both in the form of fintechs and Big Tech companies,” like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Walmart, Dimon wrote, and “that is here to stay.”   Fintech companies, in particular, “are making great strides in building both digital and physical banking products and services,” Dimon said.”

“Just as cheap cloud computing and smartphones once enabled a wave of new app start-ups, the financial technology sector has developed its own set of building blocks, allowing new companies to spring up faster. One of the building-block companies is Stripe . Founded in 2010, Stripe started out by offering to process payments for small businesses and start-ups. By 2018, it was worth $20 billion and had begun investing in other start-ups. Stripe now processes hundreds of billions of dollars in payments a year, has expanded to larger customers including Salesforce and Booking.com, and has made more than 30 investments in other fintech start-ups.”

“Brex, the company reimagining financial systems so growing businesses can realize their full potential, announced today that it has submitted an application with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Utah Department of Financial Institutions (UDFI) to establish Brex Bank, an industrial bank to be located in Draper, Utah. The proposed Brex Bank will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brex.”

“Today, Wealthfront announced that clients who use their Wealthfront Cash Account to invest in a Wealthfront Investment Account can have their money invested in the market within minutes. Wealthfront clients who direct deposit their paycheck into the Wealthfront Cash Account can already get paid up to two days early, and today’s announcement is the next step in the company’s efforts to put their clients’ hard earned money to work for them immediately.”

“Wemimo Abbey, a financial technology entrepreneur, knows firsthand how hard it is for immigrants to start new lives in new countries with no resources. When his family moved to Minneapolis from Nigeria in 2009, his mother had no choice but to accept a loan with a 400-percent-plus interest rate so she could get the family settled and pay for Mr. Abbey’s college education.”

“Marqeta, the global modern card issuing platform, announced today that it has been chosen by Goldman Sachs to partner on its Marcus by Goldman Sachs checking accounts, which will launch in 2021. Marcus’ upcoming digital checking product will be another cornerstone of the company’s growing consumer portfolio of digital-first banking initiatives. In their mission to build the leading digital consumer bank, checking will continue to help them better address the financial needs of their millions of customers.”

“Galileo , the API standard for card issuing and digital banking, announced today that it’s powering Dave Banking, an app-based spending account and debit card from Dave. Launched in 2017 as a way to help avoid overdraft fees, Dave was recently named the 26th most disruptive private company in the world. Dave helps its more than seven million customers budget, avoid overdraft fees, find work and build credit. To date, Dave has helped its customers avoid hundreds of millions in overdraft fees and earn more than $100MM through its job-finding feature, Side Hustle.”