FinTech IPO Index Surges 3.6% as Rate Cuts Boost Lending Platforms

With the new additions of Figure Technology Solution and Klarna, the FinTech IPO Index saw a healthy jump, adding 3.6% through the week.

The Fed, of course, cut interest rates this week, which in turn pushed lending platforms higher, on the read across that lower interest rates will spur customers to take out loans, including refinancing homes and consolidating debt.

To that end, Figure jumped nearly 20%, and OppFi gained about 16% through the past five sessions. Lemonade took on an additional 14%.

Gateways and Partnerships

nCino said that it had launched nCino Integration Gateway, a purpose-built integration-platform-as-a-service (iPaaS) that transforms how banks, credit unions and FinTech partners connect their technology ecosystems. nCino’s shares traded up a muted 0.3%.

Per the announcement, the gateway, formerly known as Glyue by Sandbox Banking,  delivers dynamic integration capabilities directly to financial institutions and enables FinTech partners to power their own integration services.  The company also said it would be able to expand its addressable market by offering connectivity solutions within third-party ecosystems. nCino said that solution enables FIs to use AI-driven applications more easily, eliminate manual data silos, and create connected customer experiences.

Opendoor share shares lost 5.5%. As reported via sites such as Yahoo Finance, Keith Rabois, newly returned as chairman, has said that the company’s staffing roster is “bloated” and said that “there’s 1,400 employees at Opendoor. I don’t know what most of them do. We don’t need more than 200 of them.”

Elsewhere, PYMNTS reported this week that Affirm has announced partnerships in which it will power pay-over-time options for two software platforms for service providers: ServiceTitan, which serves commercial and residential trades, and Vagaro, which serves beauty, wellness and fitness businesses.

The integration of Affirm with ServiceTitan’s digital payments solution will enable contractors to offer their clients a way to split home repair bills into biweekly or monthly payments, the companies said.

Affirm’s partnership with Vagaro will enable salons, spas, fitness studios and wellness providers to offer pay-over-time options during online and in-store checkout, per the announcement this week.

Affirm shares gained 10.4%

Cryptocurrency platform Kraken has launched a partnership with stablecoin issuer Circle.

The collaboration is designed to expand access to and the utility of the USDC and EURC stablecoins, digital assets pegged to fiat currencies, on the Kraken platform. The firms said that joint efforts would underpin “responsible growth of stablecoins” as the central infrastructure for the new online financial system. That means Kraken clients get new opportunities to deploy Circle’s USDC across Kraken’s applications, while Kraken will also introduce access to EURC, Circle’s euro-denominated stablecoin.  Circle’s stock rallied 5%.

Flywire has introduced enhancements to its Student Financial Software solution in the U.K.

The new offering include the solution’s first implementations featuring real-time student account presentment for British customers, which is then linked to Flywire payment capabilities. The full-service student account portal sits on top of a school’s receivable system, offering self-service functionality. This includes real-time views of account details in real time, and the ability to make one-time payments and enroll in payment plans, Flywire said.

Flywire also said it had introduced an enhanced solution for managing loans from the U.S. government and other, third-party alternative sources for students studying in the U.K.  Flywire shares slipped 1.6%.