News Comments
- Today’s main news: LendingPoint closes $178M personal loans securitization. OnDeck hits $879M in online financing in Texas alone. RateSetter adds three products. Funding Circle lenders face longer cash out waits. Yirendai files Form 6-K.
- Today’s main analysis: International P2P lending volumes for August 2019.
- Today’s thought-provoking articles: Silicon Valley is building a social credit system like China’s. Yirendai’s earnings call transcript. Best and worst places to retire in 2019. Fall fintech conferences around the world.
United States
- LendingPoint closes $178 million ABS. Congratulations!
- OnDeck reaches $879 million in online financing for small business in Texas. Excellent achievement. Congratulations.
- The best and worst places to retire in 2019. Five of the top 10 are in Florida. An excellent analysis from LendingTree.
- Silicon Valley is building a social credit system like China’s. This is an excellent read. While there seems to be some evidence that social credit data is useful for determining risk to lenders, consumers are growing more weary of the tactics used to gather that data.
- Fundrise Opportunity Zone Fund has raised over $22 million.
- Kabbage acquires Radius Intelligence.
- The top alternative lenders in 2019.
- Chime has 5 million customers.
- Interview with BlockFi’s Zac Prince.
- Even Financial raises $25 million.
- Credit Sesame snags $43 million.
- CrowdBureau closes $1.1 million equity round with $9.7 million valuation.
- Some companies are offering employee loans.
- Lendingblock launches institutional crypto lending platform.
- How American Express uses machine learning for fraud detection.
- A SoFi financial planner says there is opportunity to build wealth during recession.
- Are P2P loans viable for your portfolio?
- Judge rejects fintech charter challenge–again.
- White Oak to administrate PACE program.
United Kingdom
- RateSetter revamps investment products. Adds three new offerings.
- Funding Circle lenders face longer cash out wait times.
- Funding Circle included in FTSSE4Good index.
- Funding Circle on FTSE 250 casualty list.
- P2PGI blames Funding Circle bad debts for poor July performance.
- Investors nearly double IFISA holdings.
- Lending Works targets profitability and 10 million GBP turnover for 2019.
- Folk2Folk tops 300 million GBP in lending.
- P2PFA’s Paul Smee says Lendy was an outlier.
- Curve raises 4 million GBP on Crowdcube in record time.
China
- Yirendai files 6-K. Yirendai appears to be struggling. Loan originations are down from last quarter while the cumulative number of borrowers is up.
- Yirendai’s earnings call transcript for Q2.
- China Rapid Finance retains China Merchants Bank, Pangea Finance.
- Central bank to include P2P lending in credit system.
- Regulations tighten.
- P2P lender operational status irrelevant.
- Founder of Zendai Group was arrested over Laocaibao.
International
- P2P lending volumes for August 2019. Bondora, Fellow Finance, Mintos, and Thincats report milestones in cumulative volume. Total volume across the board was 634 million euros.
- Fall conference season. A great list of must-attend conference to attend from September to December from Los Angeles to China.
- Klarna launches international marketing campaign.
Other
- India: Namaste Credit launches digital-only bank.
- APAC: Funding Societies revamps executive team.
- Portugal: Revolut is hiring 400 customer support staff.
- Switzerland: N26 is setting up shop.
- South Africa: AlphaCode invests $1.5 million in three fintechs.
- Europe: Binance expands crypto lending platform.
- India: IndiaMoneyMart opens first East-India branch for NBFC-P2P lending.
- India: Panel believes P2P platforms can ease credit supply.
- APAC: Top 10 APAC startups in future finance.
- Australia: PoolTogether has innate flaws.
- India: Government pushes for fintech, regtech adoption.
- India: Fintech regulatory sandbox.
News Summary
- United States
- LendingPoint : Closes $ 178 Million Personal Loans Securitization (MarketScreener), Rated: AAA
- TyMac Electric Powers Business Success with Online Financing from OnDeck (PR Newswire), Rated: AAA
- 2019’s Best & Worst Places to Retire (WalletHub), Rated: AAA
- Silicon Valley is building a Chinese-style social credit system (Fast Company), Rated: AAA
- Fundrise Opportunity Zone Fund Has Raised Over $ 22 Million (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: A
- Kabbage acquires Radius Intelligence, the marketing tech firm with a database of 20M small businesses (TechCrunch), Rated: A
- Here is a list of the top nonbank and alternative lenders in 2019 (Business Insider), Rated: A
- Chime now has 5 million customers and introduces overdraft alternative (TechCrunch), Rated: A
- Zac Prince of BlockFi (Lend Academy), Rated: A
- Even Financial raises $ 25 million to connect banks with channel partners (VentureBeat), Rated: A
- Credit Sesame, a platform for managing loans and credit scores, picks up $ 43M en route to IPO (TechCrunch), Rated: A
- Fintech startup CrowdBureau closes $ 1.1 million Series A equity funding with $ 9.7M valuation (Tech Startups), Rated: A
- Some Companies Offer a New Benefit: Payroll Advances and Loans (WSJ), Rated: A
- Lendingblock Launches Institutional Crypto Lending Platform (Lendingblock), Rated: A
- How American Express uses machine learning to detect fraud (American Banker), Rated: A
- A financial planner says there’s a ‘huge opportunity’ to build wealth during a recession (Business Insider), Rated: A
- Are P2P Loans A Viable Investment for Your Portfolio? (Yahoo! Finance), Rated: A
- Judge Rejects States’ Fintech Charter Challenge, Again (Bloomberg Law), Rated: A
- White Oak Global Advisors Announces Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Financing Program (GlobeNewswire), Rated: B
- United Kingdom
- RateSetter revamps investment products (P2P Finance News), Rated: AAA
- Funding Circle Amateur Lenders Facing Longer Waits To Cash Out (Morningstar), Rated: AAA
- Funding Circle reveals inclusion in FTSE4Good Index Series (Funding Circle), Rated: A
- Woodford trust is on the FTSE 250 casualty list (The Times), Rated: B
- P2PGI blames writedowns and Funding Circle bad debts for poor July (P2P Finance News), Rated: A
- Investors ‘nearly’ double IFISA holdings (AltFi), Rated: A
- Lending Works targets profitability and £10m turnover in 2019 (P2P Finance News), Rated: A
- Peer to Peer Lender Folk2Folk Tops £300 Million in Lending (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: A
- P2PFA boss Paul Smee: ‘Lendy was an outlier that should not have been authorised’ (AltFi), Rated: A
- UK Fintech Curve fastest startup ever to reach £4m Crowdfunding on Crowdcube (Fintech Finance), Rated: B
- China
- Form 6-K Yirendai Ltd. For: Sep 30 (Street Insider), Rated: AAA
- Yirendai Ltd. (YRD) Q2 2019 Earnings Call Transcript (The Motley Fool), Rated: AAA
- China Rapid Finance Retains China Merchants Bank New York and Pangaea Finance as Co-Financial Advisors for Recapitalization and Restructuring (Yahoo! Finance), Rated: AAA
- Central bank to include troubled P2P lending industry in credit system (Technode), Rated: A
- China’s credit system to cover P2P lending in tightening regulation (Xinhua), Rated: A
- China Central Bank’s Credit System to include P2P Lending Platforms amidst tightening regulations (China Knowledge), Rated: A
- Chinese entrepreneur among 41 arrested over illegal P2P platform (CGTN), Rated: A
- European Union
- Revolut is looking to hire 400 customer support staff following compliance complaints (Business Insider), Rated: AAA
- German online bank N26 expands to Switzerland (Verdict), Rated: A
- Binance Crypto Lending Program expansion – a bad idea for traders (FX Street), Rated: A
- International
- International P2P Lending Volumes August 2019 (P2P-Banking), Rated: AAA
- Fall Conference Season for Fintech Kicks Into Gear This Month (Lend Academy), Rated: AAA
- I WISH I’D BOUGHT IT WITH KLARNA (The Drum), Rated: B
- Australia
- Ethereum lossless lottery PoolTogether is still innately flawed despite updates (finder), Rated: A
- India
- Online lender Namaste Credit launches digital-only bank (Finextra), Rated: AAA
- IndiaMoneyMart opens the first East-India branch for NBFC-P2P Lending (United News of India), Rated: A
- Making sense of regulatory sandbox for Fintech startups (Vantage Asia), Rated: A
- India Government Panel Pushes for Fintech, Regtech Adoption (Regulation Asia), Rated: A
- Why fintech panel believes P2P platforms can ease credit supply (India Times), Rated: A
- APAC
- Leading Southeast Asian Peer to Peer Lender Funding Societies Revamps with New Executive Team (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: AAA
- Top 10 APAC Startups Reigning the Future Finance Industry (Banking CIO Outlook), Rated: A
- Africa
- AlphaCode of South Africa Invests $ 1.5 Million in Three Domestic Fintech Startups (CryptoNewsZ), Rated: AAA
United States
LendingPoint : Closes $ 178 Million Personal Loans Securitization (MarketScreener), Rated: AAA
LendingPoint, the company revolutionizing and democratizing commerce, announced today that it closed its inaugural securitization of consumer loans. LendingPoint Receivables Trust 2019-1 (“LDPT 2019-1”) issued $177.85 million of notes backed by a pool of $187.22 million of direct-to-consumer loans originated on the LendingPoint platform.
The LendingPoint Receivables Trust securitization was rated by Kroll Bond Rating Agency, Inc. and includes $117.76 million of Class A notes rated “A-“, $24.74 million of Class B notes rated “BBB-“, $23.68 million of Class C notes rated “BB-” and $10.67 million of Class D notes rated “B-.” The notes priced at a blended yield of 4.05% per annum and provided for a 95% advance rate. The transaction has a 5% overcollateralization Deposit and a 5% overcollateralization Target. The risk adjusted yield of the receivables securing the notes is expected to be 13.14% per annum.
TyMac Electric Powers Business Success with Online Financing from OnDeck (PR Newswire), Rated: AAA
OnDeck today announced that TyMac Electric of Plano, Texas is its Small Business of the Month for August, 2019. The 30-person company serves the Dallas-Fort Worth area with high-quality, professionally managed electrical services.
Over the last two years, OnDeck has provided additional financing to TyMac Electric as the business grew to meet demand in the Dallas-Fort Worth commercial marketplace.
Overall, OnDeck has provided more than $879 million in financing online to small business owners in the State of Texas.
2019’s Best & Worst Places to Retire (WalletHub), Rated: AAA
Best Retirement Cities
Overall Rank (1 = Best) |
City | Total Score | ‘Affordability’ Rank | ‘Activities’ Rank | ‘Quality of Life’ Rank | ‘Health Care’ Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Orlando, FL | 60.87 | 9 | 11 | 68 | 48 |
2 | Tampa, FL | 59.06 | 10 | 19 | 45 | 95 |
3 | Scottsdale, AZ | 58.35 | 98 | 22 | 3 | 58 |
4 | Charleston, SC | 58.30 | 42 | 21 | 56 | 51 |
5 | Miami, FL | 57.21 | 51 | 5 | 105 | 74 |
6 | Denver, CO | 57.08 | 113 | 17 | 43 | 17 |
7 | Fort Lauderdale, FL | 56.58 | 65 | 18 | 82 | 56 |
8 | Cape Coral, FL | 56.50 | 19 | 51 | 15 | 109 |
9 | Minneapolis, MN | 56.46 | 145 | 3 | 58 | 5 |
10 | Cheyenne, WY | 56.06 | 2 | 142 | 50 | 33 |
Silicon Valley is building a Chinese-style social credit system (Fast Company), Rated: AAA
Have you heard about China’s social credit system? It’s a technology-enabled, surveillance-based nationwide program designed to nudge citizens toward better behavior. The ultimate goal is to “allow the trustworthy to roam everywhere under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step,” according to the Chinese government.
Many Westerners are disturbed by what they read about China’s social credit system. But such systems, it turns out, are not unique to China. A parallel system is developing in the United States, in part as the result of Silicon Valley and technology-industry user policies, and in part by surveillance of social media activity by private companies.
Fundrise Opportunity Zone Fund Has Raised Over $ 22 Million (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: A
Real estate investment platform Fundrise has raised over $22 million for their Opportunity Fund. The information was revealed in a recent Form D 5o6c filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Kabbage acquires Radius Intelligence, the marketing tech firm with a database of 20M small businesses (TechCrunch), Rated: A
Data is the new oil, as the saying goes, and today Kabbage — a fintech startup backed by SoftBank that has built a business around lending up to $250,000 to small and medium enterprises, using AI-based algorithms to help determine the terms of the loan — is picking up an asset to expand its own data trove as it looks to expand into further SMB financial services. The company has acquired Radius Intelligence, the marketing technology firm that has built a database of information on some 20 million small and medium businesses in the U.S.
Here is a list of the top nonbank and alternative lenders in 2019 (Business Insider), Rated: A
Nonbanks and alternative lenders have garnered attention in the banking industry due to their ability to partner with legacy banks and utilize technology to make financial transactions more efficient and convenient for users.
Chime now has 5 million customers and introduces overdraft alternative (TechCrunch), Rated: A
Challenger bank Chime has reached 5 million customers in the U.S. The San Francisco-based startup is creating an FDIC-insured mobile bank without any physical branch. The company also promises fewer fees.
Back in March, Chime said it had 3 million customers when it announced its $200 million Series D round. So that’s 2 million additional customers in roughly 5 months.
Zac Prince of BlockFi (Lend Academy), Rated: A
Even Financial raises $ 25 million to connect banks with channel partners (VentureBeat), Rated: A
Even Financial, a four-year-old New York-based provider of APIs for financial services search, acquisition, and monetization, today announced that it’s raised $25 million in a strategic round of investment co-led by Citi Ventures and MassMutual Ventures, with additional participation from LendingClub. Existing backers American Express Ventures, Canaan Partners, F-Prime Capital, GreatPoint Ventures, and Goldman Sachs also participated in the round, which brings the company’s total raised to $50 million.
Credit Sesame, a platform for managing loans and credit scores, picks up $ 43M en route to IPO (TechCrunch), Rated: A
Credit Sesame — which lets consumers check their credit scores and evaluate options to rebalance existing debts and loans to improve that score and thus their overall “financial health,” in the words of CEO and founder Adrian Nazari — has raised $43 million. With the company already profitable and growing revenues 90% each year for the last five, Nazari said that this round is likely to be the last round the company raises before it goes public.
Household debt in the U.S. continues to rise and as of this year now stands at nearly $14 trillion.
Fintech startup CrowdBureau closes $ 1.1 million Series A equity funding with $ 9.7M valuation (Tech Startups), Rated: A
CrowdBureau Corporation, a fintech startup and index provider, has closed $1.1 million Series A equity funding to expand its series of benchmarks and launch a pilot program for its patent-pending regulatory technology product. The round, which values the company at $9.7 million, was led by Clydagh Limited, Estuary Holdings Ltd. and Alpama Limited along with existing investors.
Some Companies Offer a New Benefit: Payroll Advances and Loans (WSJ), Rated: A
A growing number of companies are helping workers gain access to payroll advances and loans, reflecting concern over the impact money problems are having on productivity levels and worker retention.
Employers including Walmart Inc. and Pima County, Ariz., have recently added these services. The aim is to help cash-strapped employees, many with damaged credit, cover unexpected expenses without resorting to high-cost debt.
Lendingblock Launches Institutional Crypto Lending Platform (Lendingblock), Rated: A
Lendingblock, the regulated, open exchange for institutional borrowing and lending of digital assets, today announces the launch of its institutional lending platform on September 3, 2019. The lending product, which is a reinvented version of securities lending from traditional capital markets, is the first exchange fully dedicated to pure crypto lending and aims to support the needs of the broader cryptocurrency market by providing a secure and liquid venue for lending and borrowing needs of institutional market participants.
Upon launch, Lendingblock platform users will be able to borrow and lend BTC, ETH, PAX and USDT on a fully collateralized basis, for loan terms of 1, 7, 14 and 30 days, with a minimum trade size of $100,000 equivalent of a specified digital asset.
How American Express uses machine learning to detect fraud (American Banker), Rated: A