Easing regs without mulling the consequences could hurt the financial system, but a fintech charter and other careful reforms could promote innovation, Patrick Harker said.
Hong Kong and Singapore have long been economic crossroads. China and India are economies with vast populations. And Shenzhen is bursting with innovative creativity. All of these contribute to the Asian fintech market being far ahead in adoption and ecosystem creation.
The deal marks a milestone in SoFi’s evolution into a private bank for millennials, but it won’t solve the challenges of the alternative lender’s funding model.
Arkadi Kuhlmann, the founder and CEO of the neobank Zenbanx who pioneered branchless banking at ING Direct, explains why he stopped pursuing a bank charter and made a deal with Social Finance.
The acquisition should allow the San Francisco-based online lender to fulfill a long-standing goal: offering a deposit account to its young, upwardly mobile customers.
Eastern Bank developed its own online lending platform to compete with the likes of Kabbage and OnDeck. It might now be able to cash in by licensing to other banks.
If offering a national regulation option to fintech players is the carrot, compliance with commonsense borrower protections could be the stick in promoting responsible financial innovation.