Amazon, which has been slowly adding financial services products to its portfolio, has entered the hot “buy now, pay later” space. Last Friday, the e-commerce giant announced its partnership with Affirm, a buy-now-pay-later platform that allows customers to pay for purchases in installments. This partnership means customers shopping on Amazon will be able to ... READ MORE >
Financial Services
Comprising everything from private equity firms to family offices, financiers are active participants in the middle market. They provide the vital capital infusions needed to take growth companies to the next level.
Booming first half for private equity activity sets stage for a record year in 2021
At the current run rate, private equity deal activity is on pace for its best year on record. With $457 billion worth of deal activity recorded over the first half of the year, according to data from PitchBook, the cumulative activity midway through the year is the strongest it has ever been in terms of both deal value and deal count. Deal activity in the ... READ MORE >
Executive order targeting banking M&A expected to bring more scrutiny
An executive order signed by President Biden in early July is expected to bring more scrutiny of banking mergers, a significant development given that the number of deal announcements continues to gain steam heading into the second half of the year. The order encourages the Department of Justice, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance ... READ MORE >
How an ESOP can preserve a business, and a legacy
After more than a year of whipsaw change brought on by the pandemic, many business owners have decided to retire. A recent survey of business owners conducted by the Wilmington Trust found that the pandemic is behind this rush to retire, adding another unexpected wrinkle to a devastating year. But what’s the right succession plan? It’s no small ... READ MORE >
SPAC IPO market pauses as investors and regulators reevaluate
Initial public offerings of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have almost ground to a halt, a rapid and spectacular reversal of one of the hottest trends in 2020 and the first quarter of 2021. SPACs’ share price performance—as reflected by the Defiance Next Gen SPAC Derived Exchange-Traded Fund, which consists of hundreds of SPACs at various ... READ MORE >
5 key themes from SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s House testimony
With Gary Gensler sworn in as the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission in April, the direction of the agency under his leadership is now beginning to take shape. This was especially clear during the third and final House Financial Services Committee hearing Thursday on the surge in meme stock trading fueled by social media earlier this ... READ MORE >
CHART OF THE DAY: The CLO market is back
The market for collateralized loan obligations (CLO) is back in full swing after more or less freezing in March and April last year. The bulk of leveraged loans used to finance private equity buyouts generally end up packaged into CLO products, making the volume and pricing of new issuances in the CLO market a crucial component of a vibrant dealmaking ... READ MORE >
Federal Reserve to end supplemental leverage ratio capital break
The Federal Reserve announced on Friday that it would not extend an important rule accommodation put in place last spring that helped banks continue to lend to small and medium-size businesses as the economic effects of the pandemic took hold. The rule change allowed banks to exclude Treasury securities and deposits with the Federal Reserve from a ... READ MORE >
Short-term rates and economic expansion at risk without Fed’s SLR extension
With the economic recovery still in its early stages, an important component of the Federal Reserve’s response to the economic collapse last spring is in danger of expiring. It’s called the supplemental leverage ratio, or SLR, and the Fed lowered it last spring to help banks maintain liquidity and continue lending through the deepening crisis. In the ... READ MORE >
With embedded finance, Walmart takes aim at consumer financial services
The recent announcement that Walmart has hired away two executives from Goldman Sachs to run its nascent fintech division was the clearest sign yet that the retail giant intends to compete in the consumer financial sector, especially with players in the middle market. David Stark and Omer Ismail, both former partners at Goldman Sachs, will build what ... READ MORE >