Fintech Focus For March 24, 2021

Quote To Start The Day: Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.

Source: Alexander Graham Bell

One Big Thing In Fintech: M1 is staking its claim as an alternative to the gamification of investing popularized by apps like Robinhood but also an alternative to traditional asset management shops like Fidelity and Schwab.

The Chicago-based firm is growing at a bristling pace. The company announced a $75 million Series D funding round on March 9, revealing that it had grown to $3.5 billion in assets under management.

Source: Axios

Other Key Fintech Developments:

• Reuters, Armanino partnered up.
• Freetrade app raises new funds.
• Robinhood planning to go public.
• oneZero added new technology.
• Neobrokers add social elements.
• NYDIG unpacked bitcoin buying.
• Crypto.com will launch NFT tech.
• AvidXchange looks to a Q2 IPO.
• Guide to the top bank challenges.
• Uniswap team reveals v3 plans.
• Refinitiv added Wealth Connect.
• Mint, Rocket add in-app approval.
• OKEx Korea plans to shut down.
• Irwin has launched new solutions.
• Mobile and fintech collaborations.
• Abra adding crypto banking tech.
• Huckleberry, Berkshire partnered.

Watch Out For This: On March 23, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, with fellow Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia and Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, will introduce the Housing Supply and Affordability Act. The bipartisan bill would authorize $1.5 billion for federal grants to local governments that commit to increase their supply of local housing, to be distributed over the next five years.

Source: Bloomberg

Interesting Reads:

• Goldman responds to surveys.
• Microsoft plans to buy Discord.
• Florida’s pandemic responses.
• Unpacking the Clubhouse UX.
• Kargo unveiled publishing tech.
• GameStop taps a tech veteran.

Market Moving Headline: Rising rates have a silver lining for mortgage investors. To be sure, a sharp increase in rates can increase the likelihood of a convexity event occurring. But a convexity event is less likely today than in the past, given the increase in the Fed’s holdings of MBS and the reduction in the GSEs’ portfolios. Moreover, a modest rate increase can place downward pressure on MBS net supply, lower prepayment risk, and narrow mortgage spreads.

When making investment decisions, MBS investors must consider the multi-dimensional impact of rate movements on mortgage collateral as well as the complex interactions between mortgage market hedging activity and rates themselves.

Source: FactSet