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SoFi’s Ferrari Engine

PayPal, Intuit QuickBooks approved to take part in SBA emergency loan program - PayPal and Intuit are among the first non-bank, fintech companies to be approved for the program. The SBA published guidelines for non-bank lenders to apply as approved lenders on Wednesday evening (application form). Read more

Missed rent payments cascade across the real estate industry - Just 69% of renters paid their rent by April 5, compared to 81% who paid by March 5, according to data from 13m units published by the National Multifamily Housing Council. Roughly 15m households—about 30% of mortgage borrowers—could miss payments. Read more

Supply-chain finance is a new risk in crisis - S&P Inc. called supply-chain finance a “sleeping risk” that can “mask episodes of financial stress.” A prime concern is that the banks or other lenders may yank the financing from struggling companies, cutting off a source of cash at a time when it needs it most. Read more

Will coronavirus be the death of cash? - In a dramatic shift to digital, it has been predicted that 30% of the UK population could move permanently away from using cash because of coronavirus. Early signs of this are ATM withdrawals across the UK have more than halved. Read more

Goldman Sachs launches installment loan business with JetBlue - The bank quietly released a website for something called MarcusPay this week, allowing users to break up big-ticket purchases into monthly payments. Loans ranging from $750 to $10,000 are repaid over 12 or 18 months at a fixed rate of 10.99% to to 25.99%, with no fees apart from interest. Read more

Most insurers won’t touch coronavirus coverage for businesses. In China, it’s easy to get - Since February, dozens of Chinese property-and-casualty insurers have rolled out new policies or expanded existing ones to provide compensation when workers contract Covid-19. Read more

Now the banks’ problem is too much cash - The US Fed has succeeded in flooding the market with cash. U.S. commercial bank deposits grew by more than $420b from the end of February to March 18—an extraordinary amount that puts March on track for a year’s worth of deposit growth. Read more

Move fast, make things — UK fintech’s response to the coronavirus crisis continues - The U.K.’s fintech’s response to the coronavirus pandemic so far might best be described as “move fast, and make things,” as multiple and sometimes impromptu teams roll out financial technology solutions to help combat the crisis. Read more

Visa teams with startup Fold for Bitcoin rewards on new card - Mounting evidence indicates that Visa is warming up to crypto after a rocky start - and a new partnership with startup Fold will now allow Visa users to earn BTC as a reward next to familiar incentives like airline miles. Read more

Vodacom and Safaricom acquire M-Pesa to accelerate mobile money services in Africa - M-Pesa is Africa's largest payments platform with some 40m users in Kenya, Tanzania, and other African countries. It processes over a billion transactions every month, according to Vodacom. Read more

LatAm digital banking gets Covid-19 push - Banks’ digital channels in Latin America are getting a sharp boost from coronavirus social distancing. But it remains unsure whether this can become a long-term trend. Read more