Fintech Focus For June 3, 2021

Quote To Start The Day: "You can't be a real networker unless you’re connected."

Source: Michael Gruen

One Big Thing In Fintech: Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser recently said that the bank is considering opening more branches in more cities. That seems a bit counterintuitive in this age of Venmo, Cash App and customers with years of online banking experience. Why would a bank want to open new branches?

Brick-and-mortar bank branches still play a few key roles. “People are not taking out a mortgage with an app,” said Mayra Rodríguez Valladares at MRV Associates. She said branches can help customers with issues that can’t be handled easily online.

“You still want to go see a human being who’s going to go explain to you what the mortgage is, what the responsibilities are, what the rates are,” Rodríguez Valladares said.

Source: Marketplace

Other Key Fintech Developments:

• Synctera added a Series A round.
• Ally Financial cut its overdraft fees.
• Unpacked: Ether scalability - L2s.
• Veem expanding no-fee payments.
• Checkout.com added new leaders.
• TaTaTu tackles sharing economy.
• Citizens Financial CEO on fintech.
• Standard Chartered, BC eye tech.
• CrossTower adds new leadership.
• Yieldstreet nabs $100M Series C.
• Tourmaline added to trading team.
• FIS, Venture Center help fintechs.
• Cota looks to grow fintech practice.

Watch Out For This: Half of U.S. states, all of them led by Republican governors, are cutting off billions of dollars in unemployment benefits for residents, rebuffing a key part of President Joe Biden’s response to the coronavirus recession.

Source: Reuters

Interesting Reads:

• Etsy has bought Depop for $1.6B.
• Tesla steps up senior recruitment.
• Nasa looking to go back to Venus.
• Start of a commodity supercycle?
• Twitter to add local news service.

Market Moving Headline: The meme-stock frenzy is back -- and bigger than ever.

On Wednesday, shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. skyrocketed to an all-time high in a wild trading session as the Reddit retail-trading army came back in force, leaving many Wall Street pros wondering, yet again, what on Earth had become of the U.S. stock market.

The money-losing movie-theater rose 95% and closed at a record high at $62.55. At one point the stock rose as much as 127%, pushing its total gains for the year to 3,000% as its market value briefly soared past the $33 billion mark. The shares continued their advance postmarket, rising 5%.

Source: Bloomberg