Fintech Focus Roundup For September 5, 2020

Metromile, Ford Motor Change Car Ownership
What's The Problem: Today, fewer consumers fit the traditional profile of car owners. Instead, among other things, many use ride-share services such as Uber Technologies Inc UBER and Lyft Inc LYFT. The problem with these evolving preferences: traditional insurance solutions don't recognize and tailor their rates to behavior.

What's The Solution: Metromile, a pay-per-mile insurance fintech powered by data science and machine learning, on Thursday announced it partnered with Ford Motor Company F, to provide vehicle owners with built-in, intelligent car insurance.

How Republic Let's You Invest Like The Top 2%
What Happened: After Regulation CF, or Title III of the JOBS Act was enacted by the Securities and Exchange Commission in May 2016, entrepreneurs were allowed to capture funding from non-accredited, public investors for the very first time. The private market markets, prior to this, were only open to the wealthiest 2%.

How To Take Advantage: Founded in 2016, Republic is a fintech built on this recent regulatory evolution, democratizing and digitizing startup investing. The company is a pioneer in the crowdfunding industry and has helped over 750,000 members of the general public, family offices, and institutions invest in Regulation CF deals, as well as private companies Robinhood, SpaceX and EquipmentShare.

Trading 212, Eyes Innovation, EU Dominance
What Happened: Alongside the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic lockdowns, investors around the world flocked towards highly engaging activities, such as day trading. In light of the impressive rise in retail trading volumes, Trading 212, a commission-free broker, saw its number of accounts funded rise to 600,000 in 2020.

What Does It Mean: “A new generation is coming and they have high expectations for user experience. They don’t want excess fees and commissions. They want a slick interface and no small prints in their contracts,” said co-founder Ivan Ashminov. “They’re very much self-directed and we’re catering for that.”

How Save Earns You 7% In Interest On Savings
What's The Problem: To buoy the expansion and pandemic recovery, central bankers employed unprecedented stimulus, pushing savers into higher yielding risk assets, such as the stock market.

What's The Solution: Founded in 2018, Save is a fintech specializing in taking plain banking products, such as savings and checking accounts, and converting them into investment vehicles. The company’s yield enhancement products help savers hurt by the low rate environment gain riskless exposure to the market.

MX Unlocks Open Standards With Data API
What Happened: As part of a vision to unlock access to open standards in the financial system, MX introduced its Open Finance APIs, which make it easier for banks and credit unions to connect to other financial institutions using MX’s 50,000+ connections.

Why Does It Matter: "With open standards and open-source code, MX Open provides organizations with the APIs they need to define and launch their open finance strategy and innovate faster with the vendors and technology providers that will serve their customers best.” - Brett Allred, Chief Product Officer, MX.