Fintech Focus Roundup For August 8, 2020

Why The Rocket IPO Marks A Paradigm Shift In Finance

What Is Happening? Rocket Companies, home to Quicken Loans, the nation's largest retail mortgage lender, priced its 100-million share IPO offering at $18 per share, valuing the company at about $36 billion.
What Does It Mean? The IPO is just a milestone in the company’s aim to revolutionize finance, a natural extension of the firm’s core ISM: numbers and money follow; they do not lead.

Intercontinental Exchange To Acquire Ellie Mae

What Is Happening? Intercontinental Exchange, a leading operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of mortgage technology, data and listing services, announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ellie Mae, a cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry.
What Does It Mean? Through this complementary addition, ICE Mortgage Services will provide innovative technology that touches nearly every U.S. mortgage, accelerating additional digitization and streamlining of the mortgage manufacturing process, and ICE Data Services will be able to add to its offerings.

Charles Schwab To Adopt thinkorswim Trading Platforms

What Is Happening? The Charles Schwab Corporation announced it plans to integrate the award-winning thinkorswim and thinkpipes trading platforms, education and tools into its trader offerings for retail and independent advisor clients.
What Does It Mean? While the company has said that adopting Schwab platforms and systems generally will be the most effective way to achieve a successful and timely integration, Executive Vice President of Schwab’s Integration Management Office Jason Clague asserted that “We are committed to leveraging material advantages in TD Ameritrade’s platforms when doing so enables us to deliver a differentiated experience to all of our clients. That commitment drove these decisions.”

PayPal Cites ‘Death Of Cash’ As Firm Posts Record Earnings

What Is Happening? PayPal executives said society has reached an "inflection point" when it comes to the "death of cash," and noted that 70% of consumers now fear for their health when it comes to paying in stores.
What Does It Mean? In response to these trends, the company says it is investing heavily to improve its digital wallet, which it hopes will become a daily part of life for many consumers. PayPal is focused in particular on promoting the use of QR codes by merchants and Venmo users.

Trump Preps Bans On WeChat, TikTok, Stoking China Tension

What Is Happening? U.S. President Donald Trump has unveiled sweeping bans on U.S. transactions with the Chinese owners of messaging app WeChat and video-sharing app TikTok, escalating a high-stakes confrontation with Beijing over the future of the global tech industry.
What Does It Mean? The executive orders announced Thursday and effective in 45 days come after the Trump administration this week flagged increased effort to purge “untrusted” Chinese apps from U.S. digital networks, calling Tencent Holdings Ltd’s WeChat and Bytedance’s popular TikTok “significant threats.”