Fintech Focus For February 5, 2021

Quote To Start The Day: Robinhood Markets, GameStop Corp. and hedge funds are all on the wish list that House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters is assembling for a hearing that will dig into the Reddit-fueled stock trading that has shocked Wall Street and lawmakers.

“I’m trying to get everybody that has a role to play,” Waters said in an interview, without naming specific executives that she plans to ask to testify. “I want Reddit there. I want Robinhood there. I even want GameStop there. And I want a couple of the hedge funds there.”

Source: Bloomberg

One Big Thing In Fintech: SIFMA and 26 other organizations representing more than 544,000 workers in the financial services industry in New York State and throughout the U.S., and other business groups in the state, sent a letter opposing the STT to New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, President Pro Tempore and Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Speaker of the Assembly Carl Heastie.

SIFMA issued the following statement from SIFMA president and CEO Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. on the New York stock transfer tax (STT).

“SIFMA strongly opposes the imposition of a stock transfer tax (STT) due to the cost to retirement savers, investors, businesses and the economy. The STT is nothing more than a sales tax on investors and it runs counter to many longstanding policies promoting savings and economic growth. This type of tax has, in actual practice, resulted in a migration of trading volume to other jurisdictions which have not imposed a STT, which is a predictable result in today’s predominantly electronic and globally connected markets.

Source: Markets Media

Other Key Fintech Developments:

• BBVA planning to sell Holvi to Keru.
• Fed narrows timeframe for FedNow.
• Tastyworks launches crypto trading.
• Venmo honing in on crypto, savings.
• PBOC, SWIFT partner on a venture.
• BitMEX backs new investment fund.
• Varo unveiling a new brand identity.
• European Treasury bonds on DLT.
• SellersFunding intros flex accounts.
• Saving money with Nerdio Manager.
• Joompay unveils EU payments app.
• Goldman eyes climate data initiative.
• Barclays, Flux partnership bears fruit.
• United Fintech buys TTMzero stake.
• bitFlyer on state of investing, crypto.
• Revolut is allowing permanent WFH.
• InvestX launching GEM trade tech.
• AcreTrader sees investment growth.
• Fintechs looking to financial literacy.

Watch Out For This: Denmark has approved a plan to build the world’s first energy island in the North Sea that will produce and store enough green energy to cover the electricity needs of three million European households.

The artificial island, which in its initial phase will be the size of 18 football fields, will be linked to hundreds of offshore wind turbines and will supply both power to households and green hydrogen for use in shipping, aviation, industry and heavy transport. It will connect to several European countries.

Source: Al Jazeera

Interesting Reads:

• Alex Rodriguez raising $500M SPAC.
• High speed trading firm goes to war.
• Guide on business valuation process.
• How to file for missing stimulus funds.
• How does short selling actually work.
• HubSpot acquires The Hustle startup.

Market Moving Headline: The global auto industry is taking two structural directions. Greener, with new energy vehicles, and smarter with autonomous driving and connectivity. Companies with smart EV exposure will increasingly trade like tech stocks.

Source: J.P. Morgan