Ep. 152. News: High Rate of Return

In this episode Caroline, Pete and the guys break down a trilogy of P2P payment stories featuring Facebook, Apple and… Walmart? Meanwhile Square’s Jack Dorsey is frustrated by the time it takes to get a banking license and Deutsche Bank signals the end of fiat money as we know it.

The second half of the show is almost entirely devoted to challenger banks as there were so many in the news this week! First up, Revolut apply for a European banking licence ahead of the Brexit agreements in order to not lose access to the European market, whereas N26 announce their plans to launch in the UK in 2018 with or without Brexit.

Monzo raises another £71M in VC investment while its rival Starling becomes the first mobile only bank to connect with Yolt, and ASOS and Klarna team up for a buy now pay later scheme that had a lot of people talking about whether its actually beneficial for consumers and will it ultimately cost them more in the long run?

Finally, rounding out the show is the news that Snoop Dogg’s VC firm is backing a cannabis lab-testing company, ahead of the recreational cannabis market in California opening in 2018 – has he dropped this (like it’s hot) just at the right time, and is he expecting a high rate of return?! All this and more in today’s news show!

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