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Wonders & Blunders: Ready, Set, IPO

02.28.2018
By: Kevin Dinino
Category: Uncategorized
 
OUR CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE WEEK’S NEWS
Welcome to the final Wonders & Blunders of February! This week’s wonders start with Goldman Sachs’ success in increasing consumer services and fintech. Next up, a possible change to IPO regulation could allow all companies to talk privately with investors before launching the stock offering. Another big bank blunder made headlines, this time related to customers logging into the wrong online account. We round out the news this week with a brief note about utility tokens, a close cousin to cryptocurrency.
 
Goldman Sachs Emphasizing Consumers
Wonder: Goldman Sachs, Adviser to the Elite, Wants to Be Your Local Bank – by Liz Hoffman and Peter Rudegeair in The Wall Street Journal via MarketWatch.
 
Goldman Sachs’ increasing emphasis on its subsidiary, Marcus, sends a powerful message to financial institutions: Go mainstream if you want to grow your business and remain relevant. The success of Marcus shines light on the future of financial services and importance of consumer banking, consumer credit, fintech partnerships and robo-advisors.
IPOs Set to Takeoff in 2018
Wonder: Companies Could Get More Flexibility to Launch IPOs – by Dave Michaels in The Wall Street Journal.
 
2018 could be a record year for initial public offerings (IPOs) thanks to new regulations in progress. Securities regulators are debating part of the IPO process, to allow all companies to hold private talks with investors before selling stock. Currently, only smaller firms have this option.
Whose Account Am I Logged Into?
Blunder: JPMorgan Glitch Gave Customers Access to Others’ Online Accounts – by Jennifer Surane in Bloomberg.
 
A computer glitch gave JPMorgan Chase customers access to other customers’ accounts last week. Customers voiced their complaints via Reddit about the inability to access their own bank accounts. The bank’s spokesperson states that the problem was very limited in scope and has been resolved.
Utility Tokens to Withstand Crypto Crash
Wonder: When the Cryptocurrency Bubble Pops, These Tokens are Built to Survive – by Mike Orcutt in MIT Technology Review.
 
Utility tokens provide access to an application or service. They are one of the three classes of tokens, along with cryptocurrency and asset tokens. Orcutt gives a helpful arcade analogy, comparing utility tokens to arcade tokens because they are designed to work in a specific network.
» IN THE NEWS
Forbes speaks with Charles Thorngren, CEO of Noble Alternative Investments, about Litecoin.
» BOTTOM LINE: Top 3 A.I. Innovations Debuting at the 2018 Winter Olympics
The 2018 Olympic Games are underway in PyeongChang and more than half a million travelers from around the world will be making their way to South Korea to see the action live. The breeding ground to technology leaders such as Samsung, LG and Hyundai, South Korea is leveraging the spotlight of the Olympic Games to solidify its standing as a global leader in the development of artificial intelligence technology. We’ve rounded up the top three A.I. innovations taking center stage in the Olympic Village.
» FEATURED CASE STUDY: Intrinio
Intrinio, a financial marketplace driven by machine learning and artificial intelligence, wanted to appeal to investors, developers and financial services companies as a data provider that delivers enormous efficiencies at a lower price point than firms such as Capital IQ and Bloomberg. The company formed a strategic partnership with QUODD Financial Information Services to provide Nasdaq’s real-time data directly to enterprise clients (institutions and banks). Previously, Nasdaq’s data was provided in a raw and unfiltered form. The partnership provided enterprise users with faster implementation and a lower cost to access Nasdaq basic on the market.
 
 

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