That's great validation, to paraphrase Arthur C. Clarke:

> If an elderly but distinguished expert says that something will be successful he is almost certainly right, but if he says that it won't, he is very probably wrong.

You'd need a huge bankroll to get started. Financial startups aren't as easy as a social media web 2.0 site.

Look at prosper.com. Regulatory costs are astronomical. Between state and federal auditors and Sarbanes-Oxley and CRA, etc, you'll have your hands full.

Also, why would investor capital flow to you? You'd make a lower return with no upside of lower defaults, etc.

But yes go ahead. Start a low rate credit card company. I might sign up for your card!

More importantly, you'd have to cover lobbying costs for 5 or 6 years just to break into the tight oligopoly.

Discover finally settled a suit with Visa and Mastercard over anti-competitve practices: http://www.reuters.com/article/bankingFinancial/idUSN2735065...

FYI, Discover's been around since 1985 (introduced during '86 Superbowl), suit was filed in 2004 (along with a similar one by AmEx) and finally settled in October for $2.75 billion.

> Sarbanes-Oxley

Only if you're public in the US.

If you're not holding deposits/selling insurance, it's unclear why you'd have financial audits by govt organizations.

You'd have to deal with the restrictions on offering credit though.