Month: June 2020

If you haven’t been using these hidden Alexa capabilities, you should start today. Your Amazon Echo speaker is awesome at playing music, powering on your smart home devices and making phone calls. But are you really using Alexa to its full potential when you’re only calling on it for the basics? After all, there are tons of things Alexa can do that you may not … Continue reading 5 unexpected uses for your Amazon Echo that go beyond the basics Continue Reading →

Assicurazioni Generali, the third-largest insurance firm in the world, is eyeing up an acquisition of US-based Brightsphere Investment Group. The Generali headquarters in Trieste According to Reuters sources, Generali is looking to expand its presence stateside. Meanwhile majority shareholder in Brightsphere, Paulson & Co, is aiming to cash out. Founded in 1831, the insurance firm … Continue reading Italy’s Generali considers Brightsphere acquisition in US Continue Reading →

Pending home sales continue to be sluggish, according to year-over-year data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The Pending Home Sales Index, an advance look at home sales based on signed purchase and sale agreements, fell 5.1 percent in May compared to the same month last year. When compared to April of 2020, the news was much better. … Continue reading Pending Home Sales Down In May YOY, But Rose From Last Month Continue Reading →

Resurs Bank, a niche Swedish bank focusing on flexible payments and financing solutions, has partnered with Nordic API Gateway for open banking. Earlier this month, Resurs welcomed its new CEO – Nils Carlsson The bank has roughly 6.2 million customers – which are both consumers and retailers – across Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. New … Continue reading Resurs Bank’s new CEO prioritises open banking Continue Reading →

The number of tax audits on corporations plunged amid the pandemic, with the IRS saying in the National Taxpayer Advocate’s “Objectives Report to Congress” report for Fiscal Year 2021 that it began 716 corporate examinations from April 1 to June 1 this year compared to 2,445 during the same time last year, a 71 percent drop. The advocate also … Continue reading IRS Corporate Audits Drop 71 Pct, Individual Audits Fall 65 Pct Continue Reading →

With U.S. banks seeing the savings rate hit a historic 33 percent in April, COVID-19 has fundamentally reordered financial priorities for people and businesses. Yet despite the new frugality, pent-up consumer demand – especially for nonessential items like apparel and jewelry – is already starting to materialize. How people pay is what’s changing in 2020. As … Continue reading ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Readies For Pent-Up Demand Continue Reading →

solarisBank, the German banking-as-a-service fintech, has landed a $67.5 million Series C funding round. The round was led by German venture capital (VC) firm HV Holtzbrinck Ventures. Existing backer yabeo – an early-stage German investor – also committed a follow-on investment. Other new investors included Vulcan Capital, Samsung Catalyst Fund and Storm Ventures. BBVA, SBI … Continue reading SolarisBank lands $67.5m in Series C round Continue Reading →

ING’s Belgium banking arm has deployed Minna Technologies’ subscription management solution. The Swedish start-up, founded in 2016, claims to have saved users more than €40 million For Swedish fintech start-up Minna, this is its first Belgium roll out. ING joins existing clients Danske Bank, Sparebank1 and OP Financial Group. ING Belgium has roughly 1.8 million digital banking customers. … Continue reading ING Belgium deploys Minna Technologies’ subscription manager Continue Reading →

The COVID-19 pandemic and the related U.S. recession have combined to make already-soaring healthcare costs even more of a crisis. But an increasing number of players are wondering if lowering healthcare costs might be less complicated than it seems. They aim to compete on price and pressure the existing, inefficiently expensive system to cut costs. … Continue reading Is Disruption The Cure To US Healthcare’s High Costs? Continue Reading →