Category: online lenders

Thursday September 12 2019, Weekly News Digest

bank technology

News Comments Today’s main news: KBRA assigns preliminary ratings to SoFi Consumer Loan Program 2019-4 Trust. Stripe debuts corporate credit cards. College Ave completes $300M securitization of private student loans. Yirendai issues earnings results. Today’s main analysis: Deregulating Fannie and Freddie (A MUST-READ REPORT FROM THE U.S. TREASURY). Today’s thought-provoking articles: Average FICO scores hit […]

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bank technology

News Comments

United States

United Kingdom

China

International

Other

News Summary

United States

KBRA Assigns Preliminary Ratings to SoFi Consumer Loan Program 2019-4 Trust (Yahoo! Finance), Rated: AAA

Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) assigns preliminary ratings to four classes of notes issued by SoFi Consumer Loan Program 2019-4 Trust (“SCLP 2019-4”). This is a $465 million consumer loan ABS transaction.

Preliminary Ratings Assigned: SoFi Consumer Loan Program 2019-4

Class

Preliminary Rating

Class Principal

A

AAA (sf)

$360,000,000

B

AA+ (sf)

$29,500,000

C

A+ (sf)

$47,500,000

D

BBB+ (sf)

$28,000,000

OnDeck CEO Noah Breslow to Deliver Keynote Address at 2019 LEND360 Conference (GuruFocus), Rated: A

OnDeck today announced that Chairman and CEO Noah Breslow will be a keynote speaker at the LEND360 Conference in Dallas, Texas on Thursday, September 26, 2019. Mr. Breslow will discuss industry trends in alternative data and how they are improving many aspects of online lending to small businesses.

Case activity for On Deck Capital, Inc. vs Beautyshea, LLC on Sept. 9 (Pennsylvania Record), Rated: B

‘Judgment Entered For $6,593.50 On 09-09-2019 236 Notice Of Judgment Sent 09-09-2019’

Payments giant Stripe debuts a credit card in its latest step into the financing fray (TechCrunch), Rated: AAA

Last week, when the popular payments startup Stripe made some waves with its first move into money lending through the launch of Stripe Capital, we reported that the company was also soon going to be launching a credit card. Now, that news is official. Today, the company is doubling down on financing with the launch of corporate cards for business customers.

College Ave Student Loans Completes $ 300 Million Securitization of Private Student Loans (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: AAA

Student loan marketplace, College Ave Student Loans, announced on Tuesday it has completed a $300 million securitization of private student loans, its third securitization and largest to date. According to College Ave, the transaction was oversubscribed attracting a broad and diverse group of repeat investors and new participants. Barclays and Goldman Sachs were joint lead underwriters on the transaction with Barclays serving as structuring agent and sole bookrunner.

The Deregulation of Fannie and Freddie; Rate Cuts; “Full Stack” Banks (PeerIQ), Rated: AAA

This week, the Trump administration released their long awaited housing finance plan that will privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The plan would require a significant recapitalization – up to $180 Bn.

Read the full report here.

Source: Federal Reserve, PeerIQ

Average FICO score hits all-time high (CNBC), Rated: AAA

For the first time, the average national credit score has reached 706, according to FICO, the developer of one of the most commonly used scores by lenders.

Source: CNBC

U.S. Consumer Debt Surges on Jump in Credit-Card Balances (Bloomberg), Rated: A

U.S. consumer borrowing swelled in July by the most since late 2017 as Americans carried larger credit-card balances to fund both everyday and online purchases.

Total credit rose by $23.3 billion from the prior month, exceeding all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists, Federal Reserve figures showed Monday. Revolving debt outstanding increased by $10 billion, also the most since November 2017, while the growth of non-revolving credit was little changed from a month earlier.

Kabbage Launches New Small Business Revenue Index (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: A

Global financial service platform Kabbage announced this week the launch of its new Small Business Revenue Index. According to Kabbage, the index has two million live data connections the platform maintains across its customer base of more than 200,000 small businesses.

The Current State of the Small Business Lending Sector (Lend Academy), Rated: AAA

The companies that I view as pioneers in this space are Kabbage and OnDeck.

Although Kabbage and OnDeck were early to small business lending there are many other names in this space with varying models and scale including Funding Circle, Streetshares, Fundbox, BlueVine, Biz2Credit, Fundation and Credibly to name a few. LendingClub also has a small business lending operation but they primarily work with partners Funding Circle and Opportunity Fund today to originate these loans.

The Challengers of Small Business Lending

Probably the most recognizable name is PayPal and the Working Capital product which, according to deBanked, has surpassed OnDeck in small business lending volume.

Patriot Financial leads $ 15 million round for Numerated (American Banker), Rated: A

Numerated, the loan technology company that incubated inside Eastern Bank and spun off on its own in May 2017, has raised $15 million from bank investment fund Patriot Financial Partners. Existing investors Venrock, Fintop Capital and Hyperplane also joined the round.

TBF Financial Buys $ 60 Million in Commercial Debt from Major Online Lender (PR Newswire), Rated: A

TBF Financial purchased nearly $60 million in non-performing loans from a major online small business lender in recent transactions, CEO Brett Boehm announced today.

TBF bought the pools of post-charge-off loans as the highest bidder in transactions arranged through multiple brokers. In most cases, the company purchases directly from alternative lenders, equipment leasing companies and banks.

LendingTree Ranks the 50 Most Expensive Towns in America (NewKerala), Rated: A

No. 1 Vineyard Haven, Mass.

Total population 17,321
Median individual income $39,045
Median home value $674,600
Affordable housing costs for a median income earner $911
Calculated mortgage payment for a median priced home $2,767
Median rent payment $1,441
Home affordability deficit -$1,856
Rent affordability deficit -$530

Coinbase Joins DeFi Trend With 2M USDC Investment (Cryptovest), Rated: A

The DeFi trend is accelerating and gaining acceptance, with Coinbase joining the fray. The leading brokerage has created the Coinbase Bootstrap Fund, to boost DeFi projects. Coinbase will invest in two projects, the Compound crypto lending scheme, and the dy/dx crypto derivative exchange.

The 30-somethings guide to creating passive income (Ladders), Rated: A

You might not have $30,000 saved up to buy a rental property right now, but do you have $500? The beauty of REITs like DiversyFund is you can start investing for the amount of money you might drop on a new pair of shoes.

There are public and private REITS as well as funds classified as real estate crowdfunding. Compare your options and find the best one that works for you.

PeerStreet Named CRETech 2019 Real Estate Tech Award Winner (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: B

Real estate investment platform PeerStreet announced on Tuesday it won first place in CRETech’s 2019 Real Estate Tech Awards (RETAs for the Information & Intelligence – Crowdfunding category.

Zillow chooses Impac Mortgage COO Rian Furey to lead mortgage expansion (Housingwire), Rated: B

Zillow announced Monday that it is naming Rian Furey president of Zillow Home Loans.

Balboa Capital Continues Accelerated Growth, Adds 125 New Employees in First Half of 2019 (Yahoo! Finance), Raated: A

Balboa Capital, an online lender that specializes in equipment financing and small business loans, hired 125 new employees during the first six months of 2019 to accommodate the company’s rapid increase in new business and acquisition of several new strategic partners.

United Kingdom

Why crowdfunding may not be the great democratising force in investment after all (The Conversation), Rated: AAA

The digital revolution has had a huge impact on the way new and small companies are financed – and crowdfunding has been at the forefront.

Initially, crowdfunding brought great optimism that it would have a “democratising effect” on finance. On the one hand it would enable entrepreneurs excluded from traditional sources of finance to attract funding. And, on the other, it would provide new opportunities for people with even relatively modest amounts of money to invest. For example, private investors looking for higher returns than those available with high street banks have been attracted to various lending platforms – also known as peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms.

Sonovate raises £110m to drive invoice finance (Fintech Futures), Rated: A

Finance tech provider Sonovate is looking to expand internationally and deploy more working capital to SMEs and mid-market businesses after raising £110 million, reports Jane Connolly.

Spotcap find 77% of SME brokers are upbeat about Brexit (AltFi), Rated: A

Over three-quarters of commercial finance intermediaries in the UK expect the number of loans they broker to increase after Brexit, with more than half saying the number will rise “by a lot”.

In July Berlin-based online lender Spotcap asked 132 UK brokers, accountants and advisers about the future of SME finance in the UK, the results of which it published today as part of a report entitled The State of Commercial Finance in the UK.

FCA urges firms to prepare for no-deal Brexit and launches helpline (P2P Finance News), Rated: A

FIRMS should prepare for the possibility of a no-deal Brexit, says the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as it launches a dedicated helpline for businesses.

The City watchdog, which oversees the peer-to-peer lending market as well as the rest of the financial servcies sector, says firms who have not prepared appropriately for the UK leaving the EU without a deal may see an impact on their business.

Foreign firms eyeing P2P market entry (P2P Finance News), Rated: A

REGULATORY consultancy Bovill has reported a steady stream of interest from new entrants to the peer-to-peer lending market, particularly from overseas firms.

Brown attributed the slowdown to the fact that P2P is a more mature market, meaning there was “less of a gold rush” for new players.

H&M extends Klarna ‘buy now, pay later’ service to the UK (Fashion United), Rated: B

Swedish fast-fashion giant H&M has extended its partnership with payment provider Klarna to the UK market, offering Brit shoppers the option to ‘buy now, pay later’.

New SME services added to Starling Bank’s marketplace (AltFi), Rated: B

Digital Risks is an insurance provider for small and medium-sized digital businesses, including cover for specific threats like commercial legal protection, cyber security, management liability, employers liability, public liability and professional indemnity.

While CyberSmart is a platform for SMEs to identify digital weaknesses and achieve their Cyber Essentials Certification, the government-backed accreditation for companies looking to protect against cyber threats.

China

Yirendai (NYSE:YRD) Issues Earnings Results (Mayfield Recorder), Rated: AAA

Yirendai posted its earnings results on Tuesday, September 3rd. The technology company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.24), Morningstar.com reports. Yirendai had a return on equity of 32.93% and a net margin of 15.30%. The firm had revenue of $322.89 million for the quarter.

LexinFintech Secures $ 300 Million Private Placement of Convertible Notes with PAG (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: A

Chinese consumer financing platform LexinFintech announced on Wednesday it has entered into a convertible note purchase agreement with PAG issue and sell convertible notes in an aggregate principal amount of $300 million through a private placement. 

IceKredit Raises $ 47M in Pre-Series C Funding (FINSMES), Rated: A

IceKredit, Inc., a Los Angeles, CA and China-based credit risk and credit management company, raised $47m in pre-Series C funding.

These Chinese Online Lenders Are Not For the Weak at Heart (GuruFocus), Rated: A

Beijing-based online lender Yirendai (NYSE:YRD) and Shanghai-based Paipaidai, or PPDAI Group (NYSE:PPDF), shares have been pummeled down to their lowest levels in the past year. Yet aside from receiving credit lines from large Chinese institutions amid China’s crackdown on fraud lending in their industry, both lenders appear to remain in a healthy state.

PPDAI — the older and bigger of the two lenders — came out strong in its recent quarter, beating earnings expectations. The $1.2 billion online lender reported it had 29% year-over-year growth in loan origination volume to $3 billion, compared to just 1.6% growth a year earlier.

Hexindai Announces Support For Regulators’ Decision to Include P2P Platforms in Central Bank’s Credit System (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: B

Chinese peer-to-peer lending platform Hexindai (NASDAQ: HX) announced on Tuesday its support for the decision by industry regulators to include the country’s P2P platforms in the central bank’s credit system. The online lender reported that it believes this as a positive move for the P2P industry.

Sequoia-Backed P2P Lender Huobank Collapses As Beijing Mops Up Online Finance Risks (China Money Network), Rated: A

European Union

Banks raise concerns ahead of ECB meeting (Irish Examiner), Rated: A

The president of Germany’s powerful savings banks association, community lenders that dominate the country’s shopping streets, joined Dutch bank ING yesterday in criticising the ECB’s loose monetary policy.

Its 50 million customers have increased their savings by almost 5% since last year to €965bn which is roughly the size of the Dutch economy. With lending amounting to about €860bn, the banks are left with a chunky unused surplus.

Fintech Europe Selects Eight Startups for its Fourth Batch (Yahoo! Finance), Rated: B

Fintech Europe, Plug and Play’s fintech-focused innovation platform based out of Frankfurt, Germany, announced today the eight startups selected for its fourth batch. The platform has grown its partner base to 11 Financial Institutions since its inception in May 2018. Together with Deutsche Bank, TechQuartier, BNP Paribas, Nets Group, UniCredit, Aareal Bank, Abanca, Danske Bank, DZ Bank, Elo, and Finablr, it runs two 12-week innovation programs a year.

CashDirector 

CashDirector SA is a technology company providing SMEs and banks with a Digital CFO integrated with on-line banking, helping with SMEs manage cash flow and accessing financing.

Credit Kudos

Credit Kudos is a credit bureau that uses financial behaviour to measure creditworthiness.

International

Technology Is Banks’ New Battleground (WSJ), Rated: AAA

European banks are spending vast sums on technology—but it may not be enough to defend against the incursions of bigger, richer American rivals.

U.S. lenders already dominate investment banking in Europe. The big risk for the continent’s banks is that slicker tech could give their American rivals a platform to make gains in lending to companies—the Europeans’ traditional stronghold.

This year, Europe’s banks plan to make technology investments worth in aggregate $77 billion, according to consulting firm Celent. That compares with $105 billion for their U.S. rivals. Faster, more seamless trading systems have long been a priority, but tech spending has shifted across business lines and from back office to front office. It can cover everything from maintaining decades-old systems to cutting-edge artificial intelligence.

Source: Celent

Wirecard Teams Up With Credibly to Digitalize Funding Disbursements (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: A

Germany-based global provider of digital payments and commerce solutions Wirecard announced on Wednesday it is partnering with U.S. business funding fintech Credibly to digitalize funding disbursement. Wirecard claims to be one of the largest issuers of payout cards in the U.S. and is now offering fully digitalize solutions.

PwC to AM industry: disrupt yourself or face extinction (City Wire Selector), Rated: A

The European financial services industry is facing an ‘Amazonisation’ moment, in which those offering consumer-first solutions underpinned by sustainable finance will survive and the others will cease to compete.

That is the headline finding of 52-page report co-authored by PwC Luxembourg and Luxembourg for Finance, which investigated underlying industry trends and indicated that the European market is losing ground on its US and Asian peers when it comes to innovation and assets.

State of the Chain: Five Winning Use Cases for Blockchain in 2019 (U.today), Rated: A

Predictably it was Binance that stole the limelight, with the surprise launch of its eponymous lending platform, which was unveiled on Monday, August 26, and then proceeded to fill its initial lending quota of 200,000 BNB and 10 million USDT in a matter of seconds two days later.

Dharma and Compound have announced new products, while Coinbase has hinted that this will be the next vertical it expands into.

Lenders can enjoy annualized interest of up to 15%, which is significantly better than the negative rates they are currently offered on fiat savings and on negatively yielding government bonds.

Australia

Hopes fintech inquiry will ‘validate’ bank competitors (The Sydney Morning Herald), Rated: A

On Wednesday New South Wales senator Andrew Bragg successfully moved to secure a senate committee inquiry into the fintech and regulatory technology spaces, paving the way for a year-long review into how competitive Australia is in these sectors.

Chief executive of small business lender Lumi, Yanir Yakutiel, said the inquiry should focus on expanding the regulatory sandbox program, which is designed to help early stage fintechs test their ideas.

India

Five Ways Artificial Intelligence Is Instigating Paradigm Shift In Online Lending Space (Via.news), Rated: AAA

Currently, digital lending accounts for around 15% to 20% of the total lending market and could surpass 50% in coming years.

Asia

Chinese P2P Lending Companies Ventures to Vietnam (LearnBonds), Rated: AAA

This business model boomed in China, but following a regulatory clampdown by authorities on risky financial practices, the number of fintech and peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms in the country dropped from about 1,900 a year ago to just 900 in May.

It now appears that some of these Chinese P2P lending companies have not necessarily disappeared. They simple ventured into new markets and in particular Vietnam.

According to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), there were 40 peer-to-peer lending companies operating in Vietnam as of March. Of these, 10 companies are from China.

MENA

The opportunity of peer-to-peer lending in Lebanon (Executive Magazine), Rated: AAA

Through conversations with Lebanese entrepreneurs, business owners, bankers, and politicians, I have had a number of eye-opening discussions into the challenges and opportunities faced by Lebanon’s SME ecosystem. Given the country’s long-standing tradition in financial services and its large banking sector, I believe fintech—with solutions such as peer-to-peer lending, machine learning to personalize insurance solutions, and the use of artificial intelligence for wealth management—stands as a serious contender to unlock the funding challenges faced by Lebanon’s SMEs.

Latin America

SoftBank in talks to invest in Latam venture capital funds (Reuters), Rated: AAA

Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) is in talks with venture capital firms in Latin America to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in their funds, a move likely to speed up spending of a $5 billion regional venture capital fund, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.

So far, SoftBank has only announced direct investments using the fund’s resources, injecting capital into Colombian delivery app Rappi, Brazilian lender Creditas, gym membership app Gympass and Mexican payments firm Clip, for instance.

Proptech Flat raises US$ 4.5 million pre-seed round led by ALLVP (Contxto), Rated: A

Contxto – Not only is the Mexican real estate industry huge but also outdated with many inefficient processes. Counteracting this, a new Mexican startup, Flat, recently raised US$4.5 million in one of Mexico’s largest pre-seed rounds ever.

Africa

Nigerian online-only bank startup Kuda raises $ 1.6M (TechCrunch), Rated: AAA

Nigerian fintech startup Kuda — a digital-only retail bank — has raised $1.6 million in pre-seed funding.

Canada

Peer to Peer Lender Lending Loop Tops $ 50 Million in Loans (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: AAA

Canada’s first peer to peer lending platform for SMEs, Lending Loop, has topped CDN $50 million in loans, according to a post by Brendon Vlaar, co-founder and CTO of the company. Lending Loop provides investment opportunities in debt-based securities to both accredited and non-accredited investors.

PayBright Raises $ 34M in Growth Equity Financing (FINSMES), Rated: A

PayBright, a Toronto, Canada-based fintech company, received a $34m equity investment from goeasy.

Authors:

George Popescu
Allen Taylor

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Open Source Origination Technology Platform for Online Lenders

DigiFi lending solutions

Introduction Online lenders are fast becoming the first port of call to avail loans and have been attracting strong funding interest from VCs and PEs. This demand for a digital lending experience has also forced traditional lenders like banks and credit unions to figure out the technology which will allow them to originate loans in […]

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DigiFi lending solutions

Introduction

Online lenders are fast becoming the first port of call to avail loans and have been attracting strong funding interest from VCs and PEs. This demand for a digital lending experience has also forced traditional lenders like banks and credit unions to figure out the technology which will allow them to originate loans in a flexible yet scaleable way. They have two options: Buy or Build.

The build option can be extremely expensive and time consuming. But the buy option leads to a digital experience that is constrained, as you are dependent the features and functionalities of the vendor. Moreover, there is no way to really differentiate in the eyes of the digital customer. The solution is DigiFi: an open source tech platform which also allows you to customize along with a layer of additional services like hosting, support, platform implementation, etc.

DigiFI

DigiFi was founded by Joshua Jersey and Bradley Vanderstarren in 2014. It started its life as Promise Financial, an online lender, and raised $110 million in credit capital. It built up its own proprietary tech as there was no solution provider in 2014 offering an end-to-end loan origination platform that could automate the entire process. They sold off the tech to a large lending institution in 2017 and pivoted to DigiFi, one of the world’s first open source loan origination systems (LOS) which equips the lenders with flexible and modern tools to create unique platforms and digital experiences.

The company’s ideology is simple: That is to give other incumbent lenders, branches, credit unions, and startup digital lenders a platform where they do not struggle to build core lending capabilities from scratch. The company utilized the year 2017 and early 2018 to build up its platform, and started working with clients in late 2018. The company, with 10 people, has raised $4 million in equity to date and is based in New York.

The Market’s Pain Points and the DigiFi Solution

The ‘build or buy’ question creates a space for a platform that can bring together the qualities that fulfill the core origination requirements of the lending market and yet customize to give the client a competitive edge over other players. DigiFi empowers its clients to control the features and UI/UX so that it suits the specific needs of their unique client base. The existing tech vendors force the lenders into a rigid structure that limits flexibility to differentiate and provides the exact same experience for all sets of clients.

DigiFi gives the best of ‘buy vs. build’. Thus, DigiFi clients do not need to start from scratch and yet have the power to tailor the tech (buy and build, a win-win!). The company’s core platform is open source, and the source code can be accessed on Github. Revenue is generated from acting as a layer that provides hosting, support, platform implementation and customization services.

In crux, the platform of the company has features like complete lending CRM, decision engine for lending decisions, machine learning environment, and open-API architecture, and it can be configured for deployment across a range of lending verticals that include consumer, mortgage, small business, and commercial. DigiFi gives out the open source platform and its documentation for free.

The platform of the company is currently being leveraged by Sprout Mortgage, Mariner Finance, Constant Energy Capital, Greenwave, and Home Point Financial.

The Platform in Detail

The company provides its platform to the lenders for free and charges for additional services of configuration, setup, support, and running. Depending on the requirements of the client, DigiFi offers support plans for a monthly fee. The customization and platform implementation are charged on an hourly basis. The implementation time and cost varies. The implementation might take up to 4-8 weeks at a minimum and can take up to months if the lender needs to build out features from scratch. As compared to years and millions of dollars for building an in–house model, the DigiFi solution is usually in the 5-6 figure range.

The company’s platform is built on the JavaScript tech stack, and uses two well-established coding languages that are uncomplicated for clients to work with and engage. DigiFi focuses on end-to-end loan origination and concludes with onboarding onto a servicing system after funding.

The Future

As per the CEO of DigiFI, the incumbents are getting better with time as they have a lower cost of capital and existing customer base, positioning them to succeed. Getting the right tech partner on board is thus the critical piece to build a successful moat.

DigiFi offers a platform to lenders looking to tap the online lending market that not only equips them to get the best of the ‘buy vs. build’ system but also ensures full support and customization. It powers the lender with ready-made solutions, fast implementation, support and training, feature controls, unique customizations, flexible hosting options, and a contributor community. It provides the option to integrate all major data sources – Transunion, Equifax, Experian, MicroBilt, LexisNexis, etc. With over 45,000 development hours, DigiFi platform provides it clients a strong barrier to entry with complete configurability with other APIs, true scaleability with AWS, and integrated AI ML solutions.

Author:

Written by Heena Dhir.

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Alternative Lending: Insights from Clarity

online installment loan amounts

With billions of dollars in monthly origination and listed players like Lending Club, alternative lending is now mainstream in the United States. Experian’s Clarity Services, a specialist in alternative financial services data and solutions, has released a report titled Alternative Financial Services Lending Trends. It includes deep insights into the online consumer lending industry and […]

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online installment loan amounts

With billions of dollars in monthly origination and listed players like Lending Club, alternative lending is now mainstream in the United States. Experian’s Clarity Services, a specialist in alternative financial services data and solutions, has released a report titled Alternative Financial Services Lending Trends. It includes deep insights into the online consumer lending industry and leverages data points of over 350 million consumer loan applications and 25 million loans.

The report threw a lot of expected statistics and some surprises that should help online lenders pivot to more fertile territory.

Understanding the Channels

Alternative financial services can be obtained from both online and offline platforms. Though online platforms are mushrooming, brick and mortar still remains dominant in the consumer lending industry.

Types of loans

The types of loans in the report are broadly classified in two categories-

  1. Installment loans – Loans repaid in a series of regular payments (months or years) are known as installment loans.
  2. Single pay – Single pay loans are repaid in a single payment (Lump sum) and usually have a shorter tenure (days/weeks).

Market Trends- Product Mix

Everybody is aware of the fact that online lending has grown, but the growth numbers presented by Clarity are staggering. Following are the charts that capture the growth pattern of online installments and online single pay loans in regards to funded loan volume and the number of funded loans from 2014 to 2018.

The online installment loans marked a growth of approximately 643% in 2018 starting from 2014 whereas the single pay loans’ market doubled in four years.

The number of loans analysis threw similar growth numbers as the loan volume analytics.

Data suggests that online installments loans are the most popular choice in the alternative lending space. The number of unique borrowers has increased by 30% for the past three years.

Loan Characteristics

Installment Loans

  • Loan amount – Almost 60% of loans fell between the $500 to $2000 range in 2018, rising from 43% of all loans in 2014. Only 15% of the funded loans were under $500 in 2018. Therefore the average loan amount is increasing on a year-on-year basis.
  • Loan Tenure – Maximum loans (over 62%) had a repayment period of over 7 months in 2018 whereas only 9% online installment loans have a payment period of fewer than three months.
  • Scheduled monthly payment amount – The monthly payment amounts have declined over time. Around 34% of monthly repayments were less than $200 in 2018. This number is an increase from 17% in 2015.

Single Pay Loans

  • Loan Amount – Loans above $500 grew from 23% to 28% between 2014 and 2018. The overall trend is towards an increasing loan amount.

Credit Quality

A credit profiles analysis indicates that online lending is finding favor among not only the subprime category but also the prime and near-prime, which are aggressively adopting alternative financing options.  Clarity reports that 29% of consumers with an alternative credit inquiry fell into the prime or near-prime categories in 2018 compared to 21% in 2017.

Consumer Demographics

  • Age – The online installment borrowers were older than the online single pay borrowers whereas the age of installment and single pay loans’ borrowers remains the same in the case of the storefront channel.

  • Income trend – The online borrower reported a higher income as compared to one borrowing through a storefront.

In the online segment, income values tend to be higher for Installment loans than single pay loans.

  • Data Points:

– Forty-five per cent of online installment borrowers reported an annual income over $40,000, while 37% of single pay borrowers reported incomes in this range.

– Conversely, 15% of single pay borrowers reported an income of less than $20,000, as opposed to only 8% of installment borrowers.

Hence consumers falling under the category of online installment loans are likely to have a higher income as compared to other sub-groups.

  • Consumer Choice – Consumers that prefer privacy opted for online lending whereas the consumers that were looking out for a reliable personalized experience went for the storefront option.
  • Location – California and Texas are the obvious leaders due to their size. Ohio is steady at third place for the last 3 years with Illinois at the 8th position.

Takeaway

Clarity’s alternative credit loan data provides key learning points for all in the alternative lending industry.

  • The Online Installment Loan market is growing and the demographics support further growth.
  • The online installment loans are being increasingly characterized by larger loan amounts, longer payment terms, and smaller scheduled payment amounts.
  • There are early signs of deterioration in credit performance.
  • Over half of the online borrowers in 2018 were new to the alternative lending space.
  • Applicants new to the alternative lending space in 2018 have higher credit scores than those previously seen. However, 2017 borrowers who migrated to traditional lending in 2018 also had higher credit scores than those who stayed with alternative financial services.
  • California, Texas, and Ohio continue as the top three states for online lending in number of loans, while the largest growth in borrowers is in the middle states like Nebraska and Kentucky.

Insight: Online Lenders will be well served to identify patterns like an increase in loan amount and loan tenure and the rise of Middle America looking for hassle-free lending options.

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Thursday April 18 2019, Weekly News Digest

digital banking

News Comments Today’s main news: Funding Circle sets new high on loans under management. SoFi partners with Lemonade, Root. Salary Finance hires SoFi co-founder, raises $32.8M. Dianrong to raise $100M. Klarna may be headed to the stock market. Linked Finance sees record quarter. Today’s main analysis: European online alternative finance grows 36%. (A MUST-READ REPORT […]

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digital banking

News Comments

United States

United Kingdom

European Union

China

Other

News Summary

United States

SoFi announces partnerships to expand insurance offering (Insurance Business Mag), Rated: A

SoFi has announced two new partnerships in the insurance space. The partnerships expand SoFi’s portfolio of offerings to include homeowners’ and renters’ insurance through Lemonade and auto insurance through Root.

LendIt Fintech USA 2019 Slide Presentations Now Live (LendIt Fintech), Rated: AAA

Keynote Presentations

Advancements in Credit, Underwriting and Identity

Small Business Lending Innovation

Niche Lending: Looking for Yield

Are Crypto-Tracking Stocks Viable Alternatives to a Bitcoin ETF? (Finance Magnates), Rated: AAA

As the world continues to wait for the US SEC’s decision on the Bitcoin ETF applications that are still being processed months after a decision was expected, some investors may find themselves seeking alternative methods of entering into the Bitcoin market without actually having to do the dirty deed of investing in Bitcoin itself.

Crypto lending serviceshave recently reported record profits; crypto futures exchanges are also reporting higher-than-ever trading volumes.

Source: @CMEGroup on Twitter

Nearly 1 in 4 Millennial Homebuyers Want to Buy a Home Before They’re Married (LendingTree), Rated: AAA

Young adults are getting married later than previous generations. In 1980, the median age for men and women at their first marriage was 24.7 and 22, respectively. In 2018, the ages increased to 29.8 and 27.8, for men and women, respectively.

Millennials make up the largest share of homebuyers at 37%, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors.

Nearly a quarter (24%) of millennial first-time homebuyers want to own a home before getting married.

On the flip side, this means just over 3 in 4 millennial buyers (76%) want a marriage before a mortgage. Additionally, 27% of millennial buyers are postponing parenthood until they’ve achieved homeownership. Among homebuyers of all ages, nearly 2 in 5 are waiting to get a pet until after purchasing a house.

More than a quarter (26%) of first-time buyers have poor credit.

Just 15% of first-time buyers have a score of 740 or higher. Nearly 2 in 5 (38%) aren’t satisfied with their credit score, yet more than a quarter of those who are dissatisfied haven’t taken steps to improve their score. By contrast, more than 70% of repeat homebuyers are satisfied with their credit score.

GROUNDFLOOR Doubles Year Over Year Revenue (PR Newswire), Rated: A

GROUNDFLOOR, an investing and lending platform that allows anyone to invest fractionally in real estate, is today announcing its Q1 results and momentum. Despite the government shutdown of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for 35 days, GROUNDFLOOR still experienced 123% percent non-GAAP Q1 revenue growth compared to the prior year Q1.

Additional Q1 momentum for GROUNDFLOOR includes:

  • Achieving a 166% increase in unit volume for loans closed in Q1 ’19 vs. Q1 ’18
  • More than doubling loan application volume for Q1 ’19 vs. Q1 ’18 (121% increase)
  • Selling more than $14.5M in real estate investments to retail investors on the platform
  • Surpassing more than 60,000 registered users
  • Eclipsing $100MM in loans to real estate developers to-date in more than two dozen states
  • Expanding product offerings, such as new construction loans and a fixed annualized notes product returning 5 percent on a 90-day term
  • Launching a second online public offering to purchase stock in GROUNDFLOOR directly

Real estate startup Reali acquires online lender Lenda, expands into mortgages (Housingwire), Rated: A

Reali announced Wednesday that it acquired Lenda, an online mortgage lender that launched in 2013 and currently operates in 12 states.

And with the acquisition, Reali is launching Reali Loans, a mortgage lending operation of its own.

Avant to pay $ 3.85M to settle allegations of deceiving borrowers (American Banker), Rated: A

The online lender Avant will pay $3.85 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that it misled customers who were seeking to repay their loans.

The FTC said Monday that its commissioners approved the settlement by a 5-0 vote.

A Max Levchin-Backed Startup Raises $ 19 Million To Tackle Online Returns (Forbes), Rated: A

A San Francisco-based startup called Returnly is seeking to solve at least a portion of the headache—namely, the payment delay—by issuing instant store credit when you decide you don’t want an item. The company says that by assessing a shopper’s risk, it can offer store credit to 85% of customers on the spot, without first requiring that the item has been received or even put in the mail.

Returnly announced on Wednesday that it has raised $19 million in a Series B funding round, led by venture capital firm Craft Ventures and with participation from Max Levchin, the PayPal cofounder who currently runs Affirm.

Small businesses turning far more often to online lenders (American Banker), Rated: A

Last year 32% of credit-seeking small businesses applied to an online lender, up from 19% in 2016, according to the survey, which was released Tuesday. Over the same period, large banks, small banks and credit unions all saw either steady application rates or a slight decline in interest from those same small businesses, which typically had fewer than 10 employees.

Mastercard Redefines Choice at Checkout with Acquisition of Vyze (Business Wire), Rated: A

Mastercard (NYSE: MA) today announced it has acquired Vyze, a technology platform that delivers more choice – and purchasing power – to people who want their point-of-sale payment options to match the flexibility and convenience of today’s shopping experiences.

Increasingly, consumers are seeking alternative financing options,1 leaving merchants and financial institutions with a need to deliver these services at the point of sale. In the U.S. alone, these solutions represent a more than $1.8 trillion opportunity, according to Accenture.

Earnest Launches Private Student Loans (PR Newswire), Rated: A

Earnest today announced that it’s modernizing student loans with a new in-school student lending offering.

Built based on feedback from students and people with student debt, an Earnest student loan incorporates four unique differentiators:

  • Innovative eligibility check – A quick two-minute eligibility check requires only basic personal information, school details, and an estimated credit score.
  • Cosigner invite – Earnest’s application makes it simple and easy to invite a cosigner to the process.
  • Checkout – Clients can customize their loan according to their individual financial needs with easy-to-understand terms and a clear understanding of their monthly payments after graduation.
  • 9-Month grace period – Earnest found through talking with recent graduates that they wanted the flexibility of a longer grace period after graduation to get settled. Earnest offers a 9-month grace period after graduation compared to the 6-month industry standard.

Banks turn to a former rival to jump-start digital platforms (American Banker), Rated: A

In the “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” world of bank-fintech relations these days, TD Bank’s recent agreement with the online lender Avant fits right in.

Avant is expanding its efforts to license technology to traditional banks, and TD Bank in March announced it will use the Chicago company’s technology platform, called Amount, to power the bank’s unsecured loan product, TD Fit Loan. HSBC, Regions Banks and Banco Popular also use Amount.

Digital Lending Companies Considering Stricter Credit Approvals (Investing News), Rated: A

Over the past decade, the digital-lending industry has evolved to become more sophisticated. For example, companies are integrating big data and proprietary algorithms to analyze a borrower’s credit risk score in a matter of seconds, according to Juniper Research.

According to the firm, MPLs are projected to generate US$588 billion in loan origination value annually by 2023. This is estimated to account for 41 percent of SME funding around the world.

The research firm further reports that revenue from MPLs are predicted to grow at a 48 percent CAGR. This brings MPL platform revenue to US$137 billion annually by 2023, a 400 percent return from the estimated US$30 billion in revenue in 2019.

7 Smart Ways To Invest $ 1,000 (Forbes), Rated: A

2. Lend to those in need and earn some interest.

Lending Club is one such peer-to-peer lending service I tried out, and I found it to be very easy to use and reliable (see my 

Nearly 60% Of Millennials Look To Lottery For Retirement, Survey Says (FA-Mag), Rated: A

The odds of winning the $654 million Mega Million prize last year were put at one in 302 million, while the $345 million Powerball offered one chance in 292 million. But those astronomical odds apparently haven’t deterred the many Americans who are banking on using a lottery jackpot for their retirement nest egg.

Thirty-one percent of Americans don’t invest because they think it’s risky, but 39 percent, including 59 percent of millennials, feel it’s reasonable to think of the lottery jackpot as a potential means of retirement, according to the survey.

Miillennial men in particular (66 percent) believe the lottery is a reasonable retirement plan, compared to 58 percent of millennial women. However, if they did win the lottery, more millennial men (61 percent) than women (42 percent ) would save or invest the entire amount.

Direct Lending Investments Had Over 950 Investors (deBanked), Rated: A

Documents filed in a New York Supreme Court case by the receiver managing Direct Lending Investments (DLI), revealed that DLI had more than 950 investors worldwide with collective investments on the books totaling over $780 million.

No-income, no-asset mortgages are back (at one lender, at least) (Housingwire), Rated: A

And now, NINA loans are back, as 360 Mortgage Group announced this week that it is launching a no-income, no-asset mortgage pilot program.

Some online lenders charge 900% interest and ignore Virginia law. So borrowers are suing. (Pilot Online), Rated: A

A loose-knit group of Virginians, stung by triple-digit interest rates on payday and other loans, is trying to do what the General Assembly won’t — make sure all lenders, including online ones, follow Virginia laws.

The latest lawsuit, filed last week, alleges that four web sites — Golden Valley Lending, Silver Cloud Financial, Mountain Summit Financial and Majestic Lake Financial — set up in the name of the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake tribe in northern California were actually operated by non-tribal members in a Kansas City suburb, including the son of a payday loan executive convicted of fraud and racketeering.

Lendio Franchise Opens in Phoenix to Expand Access to Capital for Local Businesses (Lendio), Rated: B

Lendio has announced the opening of a new Lendio franchise in Phoenix. Through the Lendio Franchising program, Sam Foreman will help local businesses apply for loans, review their options and secure funding, easing the financial hurdles for area small business owners.

BlueVine Partners with Ocrolus for Faster Processing of Financing Applications (Ocrolus), Rated: B

Ocrolus today announced a partnership with BlueVine. BlueVine leverages Ocrolus technology to accelerate growth and scale operations efficiently, creating a faster and more seamless experience for its customers.

United Kingdom

Peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle’s loans under management soar to record highs (City A.M.), Rated: AAA

Loans under management grew 44 per cent to £3.4bn compared to £2.3bn in the first quarter of the previous year, and revenue growth soared by 40 per cent.

The firm reported that loan originations were up 23 per cent from £525m in the first quarter of 2018 to £644m between January and March this year.

Salary Finance raises $ 32.8m, hires SoFi co-founder for US push (Finextra), Rated: AAA

Salary Finance, a UK-based startup focused on salary-linked savings and loans for employees, has raised $32.8 million and hired SoFi co-founder Dan Macklin for a US expansion.

Welendus closes funding round as it prepares for India expansion (P2P Finance News), Rated: A

WELENDUS, the peer-to-peer lender focused on short-term loans, has closed its last seed funding round, as it prepares to expand into India.

City watchdog readies new rules for cryptoassets and P2P (FN London), Rated: B

The Financial Conduct Authority is prepping new rules for cryptoassets and peer-to-peer lending, two rapidly growing areas of fintech.

China

China’s P2P lending platform Dianrong raising $ 100m (Deal Street Asia), Rated: AAA

Shanghai-based peer-to-peer lending platform Dianrong is looking to raise $100 million in fresh funding, according to a Financial Times report, a move that should give it enough buffer to meet China’s strict capital requirement for P2P players.

The GIC-backed firm has not made any official statement about its fundraising plan but analysts said the move is part of the firm’s efforts to meet Beijing’s proposed Rm500 million ($74.5 million) capital requirement for P2P operators nationwide.

National Rules on Online Lending Still Far From Sight (Caixin Global), Rated: A

It will not be soon for China’s commercial banks, consumer finance service firms and other institutions to see a national regulation governing internet-based lending activities, despite recent progress on specific rules for online peer-to-peer lending and microloans, Caixin learned.

Large P2P lenders ordered to ready disclosures for regulators (technode), Rated: A

Large platforms with loan balances of more than RMB 5 billion ($750 million) must register with the information disclosure database by the end of May.

European Union

Tech unicorn Klarna could quickly be prepared to contemplate bourse itemizing (Infosurhoy), Rated: AAA

Swedish tech unicorn Klarna is nearing the point where it could seek a stock market listing, but it’s unlikely to be this year, the CEO and co-founder of the fast-growing online payments services firm said.

Klarna Expands Relationship with Acne Studios (Business Wire), Rated: B

The Stockholm-based fashion house Acne Studios has expanded their existing European partnership with Klarna. Showing at Paris Fashion Week, Acne Studios encompasses women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, shoes, accessories and denim, but also moves across the borders of fashion, art and design. With Klarna now available in Acne Studios’ online store, shoppers in the U.S. can choose to checkout with four equal payments – with no interest or fees.

Linked Finance marks record quarter (Tech Central), Rated: AAA

The first quarter of 2019 saw the platform provide more than €11.3 million in loans to Irish SMEs, an increase of 32% over the same period last year.

Since its establishment in 2013, Linked Finance has helped provide more than 2,000 loans and €92 million in funding to businesses across Ireland. Lenders who have supported SMEs through the platform have earned more than €7.1 million in interest and received more than €50.4 million in repaid principal since the business launched in 2013.

Linked Finance issued its largest loans ever in the quarter with a number of €300,000 loans provided. The average loan increased to €70,000.

Total Online Alternative Finance Grows 36% Topping €10 Billion (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: AAA

According to CCAF, in 2017 the alternative finance market grew by 36% to € 10.44  billion – dominated by the UK.

Excluding the UK, European online alternative finance industry grew 63% from €2.06 billion to €3.37 billion in 2017.

The top three European markets following the UK, include:

  • France at €661 million
  • Germany at €595 million
  • The Netherlands at €280 million
  • The Nordic countries collectively generated €449 million, making them the third-largest regional market in Europe following France and Germany.
Source: Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance

Read the full report here.

Top 5 Real Estate Stocks To Invest In (Prague Post), Rated: A

But before I share these top real estate crowdfunding companies, I would first want to tell you about the characteristics which a best performing real estate should have. Well, they must have:

  • Pricing power
  • High usage rates
  • Regular dividend
International

Challenger banks overtake traditional banks in customer satisfaction, in 4 charts (Tearsheet), Rated: AAA

Challenger banks have leapfrogged to the forefront in overall customer satisfaction, according to a new study from FIS.

63 percent of direct bank customers report being “extremely satisfied”, compared to 52 percent of credit union customers and just 19 percent of customers of the top 50 global banks.

73 percent of all consumer interactions with banks in the US are done digitally.

Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of younger millennials (between ages of 18 and 26) reported that they have not used any branches at all in the prior month.

Source: Tearsheet
Australia

April holidays to negatively impact 1 in 4 SMEs (My Business), Rated: AAA

According to new research commissioned by SME lender OnDeck, Australia’s small to medium enterprises (SMEs) are bracing for “a double whammy” of disruption from the back-to-back Easter/Anzac Day public holidays.

Over one in four (27 per cent) of SMEs expect the Easter/Anzac Day period to disrupt normal trading.

LET’S TALK: THE BIG 4 BANKS (Dynamic Business), Rated: A

Leo Tyndall, CEO and Founder Marketlend

In the wake of the Royal Commission we’re seeing a tightening of finance for SMEs with even long time customers being turned away for loans. For years, banks have taken too long and required too much, like property collateral, from SMEs. Innovations like marketplace lending are giving SMEs transparent and prompt access to.capital when they need it.

Stephen Barnes, Principal at Byronvale Advisors Pty Ltd

I would say that the term ‘redundant’ may not be so appropriate but certainly through a number of factors the ‘Big 4’ may be less able to meet the needs or timeliness requirements of small business. A large number of small business owners need to use personal assets, usually the family home, as security for loans.

India

P2P firms seek RBI relaxation on lending limit (Business Standard), Rated: AAA

A little more than a year after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) came out with guidelines for peer-to-peer (P2P) lending companies to convert into non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), micro and small enterprises (SME) lending has turned out to be the focus area for these companies.

However, the current regulation does not allow a single lender to lend more than Rs 10 lakh across P2P platforms at a time. This is hampering growth prospects, say P2P players. The association of P2P lenders has sought relaxation in the norm, and requested the RBI to raise the limit to Rs one crore, according to sources in the industry.

Fintech startups spot a lucrative space in ‘open banking’ (Economic Times), Rated: A

Fintech startups have started offering a broader set of banking services beyond payments and lending, pointing to a deep integration with lenders that has the potential to change the way customers access banking products.
Asia

Riding the Korea FinTech Wave (Finextra), Rated: AAA

South Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) has identified three sectors — payments, data, and lending — to protect consumers, foster fintech innovation, and ultimately remove uncertainties that may restrict investments into Korea.

Legal Framework Around Marketplace Lending

South Korea is a country that has gone through two economic crises which has made banks extremely conservative especially in terms of lending. As such, 40% of the population cannot receive loans from tier one banks and must resort to secondary markets such as savings banks with extremely high interest rates above 20% and shady underground loan sharks.

Cambodia, Singapore In X-Border FinTech Pact (Cambodia Daily), Rated: A

Deputy Managing Director of MAS Jacqueline Loh said the relationship demonstrates a FinTech that may extend to other countries in the ASEAN region.

MENA

A ROADMAP FOR FINTECH FIRMS ENTERING FAST-GROWING EMERGING MARKETS (LendIt Fintech), Rated: AAA

This paper provides case studies and market analysis from the Arab Middle East and Africa as examples of fast-growing economies, open to best-in-class solutions, with both wealthy and underbanked populations. Key go-to-market findings serve to inform fintech firms, investors and others about participating in the region.

Download the report here.

Canada

TORONTO FINTECH, LENDIFIED, RAISES $ 15 MILLION CAD SERIES A (Betakit), Rated: AAA

Lendified, a Toronto-based FinTech, announced today that it has closed a $15 million CAD Series A funding round, in order to continue its growth within Canada.

The round was co-led by WD Capital Markets and INFOR Financial, and saw funding from CI Financial Corp., Windsor Private Capital, FirePower Capital, and a group of investors including Glenn Murphy, founder of FIS Holdings and former CEO of Gap Inc. and Shoppers Drug Mart.

Latin America

How sky-high interest rates are choking economic growth in Brazil (The Brazilian Report), Rated: AAA


Brazilian Credit Card Interest Rates: Enough to Choke a Horse or Risk Based Pricing? (Payments Journal), Rated: A

Bank accounts for consumers is still relatively low, with only 68%, compared to 79% in China.  Debit cards, however, outpaced credit by 2:1.

While you may see a slight uplift in the U.S. and U.K markets, consider this:

  • Annual consumer rates for credit cards topped 270 percent for unpaid balances.
  • As Brazil suffered its worst economic crisis in history, the banks raised credit card rates to a stunning 500 percent per annum on unpaid bills.
  • With Brazilians relying on credit an paying for everything from everyday goods to luxury items in installments, massive interest rates are being embedded into these payments.

Authors:

George Popescu
Allen Taylor

The post Thursday April 18 2019, Weekly News Digest appeared first on Lending Times.

Thursday March 21 2019, Weekly News Digest

fintechs and personal loans

News Comments Today’s main news: BlockFi hits $25M in deposits in 2 weeks. Cash-back ETF injects trouble into ETF market. PeerStreet expands product line. Funding Circle fund higher impairments drag returns. Dianrong blames Chinese regime for troubles. Today’s main analysis: New home equity loans do not significantly alter credit scores. Today’s thought-provoking articles: SoFi Money review. Can Citi, JPMorgan beat […]

The post Thursday March 21 2019, Weekly News Digest appeared first on Lending Times.

fintechs and personal loans

News Comments

United States

United Kingdom

China/Hong Kong

Other

News Summary

United States

BlockFi Receives $ 25 Million in Crypto Deposits in Just 2 Weeks After Launching Lending Products (CryptoGlobe), Rated: AAA

BlockFi Lending LLC, a New York-based “secured non-bank lender” that provides cryptocurrency-backed loans in USD to digital asset investors, has revealed that its interest-generating deposit accounts have received over $25 million in cryptocurrency.

SoFi Money Review: Online Checking (Nerdwallet), Rated: AAA

SoFi Money is an online checking account by SoFi, a company best known for its student loan refinance loans. SoFi’s account has a top-of-the-line interest rate and no monthly or overdraft fees. There’s no free ATM network, but SoFi reimburses many third-party ATM fees and doesn’t charge its own. SoFi also boasts unique perks: free career counseling and financial planning sessions.

Can Citi and JPM beat FinTech Personal Loans? (PeerIQ Email), Rated: AAA

The personal loan market has grown rapidly since 2010 and the growth has been driven by FinTechs. 

Source: TransUnion, PeerIQ

“My Chase Plan” and “My Chase Loans” – a point-of-sale financing alternative and a personal loan product respectively – that will be offered to its existing credit card customers.

LendingTree Study Finds New Home Equity Loans Do Not Significantly Alter Credit Scores (LendingTree), Rated: AAA

Home prices in the United States have rebounded to new highs since the financial crisis. As a result, American homeowners are sitting on the largest amount of home equity in history — at just over $15 trillion dollars, according to the Federal Reserve.

  • The decline in scores averaged just 13 points. At the high end, scores declined by 24 in San Jose,Calif. The smallest decline was 5 points in San Diego. Borrowers had an average score of 735 to start, so the declines are quite negligible in terms of access to credit and may have marginal impacts on the cost of credit. The highest starting credit score was 752 in San Francisco, while the lowest was 712 in Indianapolis.
  • The decline took an average of 158 days to reach bottom, which is just over five months. St. Louis homeowners saw their credit scores reach their lowest points in an average time of 101 days (3 months), while the longest decline was for homeowners in Dallas at 211 days (7 months). Loans do not appear on credit reports immediately after closing. Typically, the lender starts reporting to the credit bureaus after your first payment, depending on the lender’s reporting cycle. Thus it may take about 60 days after closing or even longer for it show up and start affecting a score.
  • Scores recovered over an average of 163 days. This is also just over five months, so the time to fall and recover are about equal. The quickest time to recover was 102 days, or slightly over 3 months, in Cincinnati. Borrowers in Chicago had the longest recovery time of 243 days, just over 8 months.
  • Scores recover within a year and begin to move higher. The complete cycle to return to the credit score prior to the home equity loan takes 321 days, less than 11 months. The shortest cycle was in St. Louis at 211 days and the longest in Chicago at 443 days, about 15 months.

As Cash-Back ETF Hits Market, Signs of Trouble Start to Mount (Bloomberg), Rated: AAA

Last week, one ETF upstart created a minor splash by doing what was once unthinkable — offering to pay investors to buy into its exchange-traded fund. That comes on the heels of eight fund providers — including JPMorgan Chase, Vanguard and BlackRock to name a few — all slashing fees in one of the industry’s most aggressive rounds of price cuts to date.

The sub-zero fee giveaway by Salt Financial, which previously ran a single $11 million ETF, is widely seen as a marketing gimmick to drum up a little PR, get customers in the door and increase its assets under management. During the first year, investors will receive 50 cents for every $1,000 in a new low-volatility stock ETF — until it grows to $100 million. After a year, a management fee of 0.29 percent, or $2.90 per $1,000, could kick in.

The race to zero, however, is very real. Fidelity Investments jump-started the no-fee push in August by offering index funds for free. In February, SoFi said it would waive charges on two planned ETFs for the first year. Last week, JPMorgan started selling America’s cheapest-ever ETF for the princely sum of 20 cents for every $1,000 invested. And BlackRock unveiled plans Wednesday to cut fees for large clients in one of its S&P 500 indexed mutual funds.

PeerStreet Expands Product Line with Residential for Rent Loans (BusinessWire), Rated: AAA

PeerStreet, a platform for investing in real estate backed loans, today announced the launch of a new loan product for private lenders: Residential for Rent loans. Residential for Rent loans have a 30-year term so borrowers can secure long-term financing for residential rental properties. This launch is in response to key market conditions: as more people struggle to finance buying a home, the rental market has continued to grow.

3 Big Reasons To Fill Out The FAFSA (Even If You Think You Earn Too Much) (Huffington Post), Rated: A

One-quarter of families don’t complete the FAFSA, according to Sallie Mae’s 2018 How America Pays for College survey. Of those that don’t fill it out, 48 percent say it’s because they don’t believe they’ll qualify for financial aid.

But they’re often wrong: An analysis by NerdWallet found that in 2017, students left an estimated $2.3 billion in federal financial aid on the table by not filling out the FAFSA.

According to Elaine Rubin, senior contributor and communications specialist at private student loan marketplace Edvisors, most Americans are eligible for some type of federal aid. In fact, it’s available to anyone with a household income below $250,000 per year, CNBC reported.

Madden lawsuit nears end, but online lenders still seek fix from regulators (American Banker), Rated: A

An 8-year-old class action that wreaked havoc on the online lending industry is finally winding down, but the lobbying push in Washington to undo its impact shows no signs of abating.

Lawyers in the case have filed a proposed settlement that would provide $9.8 million in cash and debt relief to as many as 58,000 consumers, setting up the final chapter in a lawsuit that is likely to be remembered best for the legal precedent it established.

The State of Digital Engagement for Online Lending (LendIt), Rated: A

A recent trend report by Clarity Services, a credit reporting provider, showed that online funded loan volumes grew by almost 500% between 2013 and 2017.

How Far are Most in their Digital Transformation Strategy?

  • 54% of financial institutions have developed a digital strategy, but have not yet implemented it
  • 29% of financial institutions are currently developing a digital transformation strategy
  • Only 14% of financial institutions are in the process of implementing a digital transformation strategy

How Much Will They Be Investing In Digital Transformation in the Next 12-18 Months?:

  • 65% are planning to increase spending by 10%
  • 26% are planning to increase spending by 1-9%
  • 6% have no plans to change spending

What will They be investing in over the next 12-18 Months?

  • Replace or upgrade legacy IT systems — 88%
  • Reduce operational inefficiency — 76%
  • Improve customer experience — 74%

X Financial’s Fourth Quarter Results Take Stock 5% Higher (Capital Watch), Rated: A

The stock of X Financial (NYSE: XYF) jumped more than 5 percent Tuesday morning, to $6.55 per American depositary share, after the peer-to-peer lending marketplace announced improved revenue and profit for the fourth quarter, as well as a dividend for 2018.

The Shenzhen-based company, which connects borrowers and investors on its platform, reported in a statement Monday evening that its revenue grew 18 percent year-over-year to $125.5 million during the three months through December.

Its net income, X Financial said, was $35.2 million, or 22 cents per share, at a 53 percent increase from the same period of 2017.

Why Corporates Cant Fund Early Pay Programs (Dynamic Discounting + SCF) (Spend Matters), Rated: A

If you look at the graph below, 5% of S&P 500 companies hold more than half the overall cash; the other 95% of corporations have cash-to-debt levels that are the lowest in data going back to 2004, according to Wells Fargo research. We know who those 5% are — they are the GAFA companies: Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple.

Source:

ZestFinance Using AI To Bring Fairness To Mortgage Lending (Forbes), Rated: A

Discrimination in lending has long been a problem, shutting minority groups out of the home buying process.

ZestFinance, the artificial intelligence software company focused on the credit market is trying to change that with ZAML Fair, a new software tool that aims to reduce the instances of biases and discrimination in lending.

CoreLogic Launches PanoramIQ to Provide More Accurate and Complete Property Insights (CoreLogic), Rated: A

CoreLogic, a global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today announced PanoramIQ, an intelligent property solution that delivers a more complete view of property data with more current and reliable sources than public-record data alone. Utilizing a combination of public and proprietary property datasets, a unique property ID, machine learning and advanced analytics, PanoramIQ provides lenders, mortgage industry professionals and government entities with deeper, more accurate and complete property insights, allowing clients to make better decisions in a timely and efficient manner.

White Oak Healthcare Finance Launches Real Estate Investment Vehicle with New Hires (ABL Advisor), Rated: A

White Oak Healthcare Finance, LLC announced it will broaden its product offering and enter the healthcare real estate investment market.  White Oak hired Jeff Erhardt, Paul Nevala, Mike Treiber and John Brussard to build out the vehicle, which will initially invest up to $500MM and will focus on investments in seniors housing and skilled nursing properties using triple net leases and joint-venture RIDEA structures.

Banks seek Congress’ help to block fintech path to ‘industrial’ charters  (Roll Call), Rated: A

A bank industry group is lobbying Congress to block financial technology firms, such as online lender Social Finance Inc. and payment processor Square Inc., from obtaining an obscure form of a state bank charter that would let them operate nationally with little federal supervision.

The Independent Community Bankers of America last week distributed a policy paper around Washington calling for an immediate moratorium on providing federal deposit insurance to industrial loan companies, or ILCs, which are chartered by only a few states — most notably Utah.

Form S-3 Senmiao Technology Ltd (Street Insider), Rated: A

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: From time to time after this registration statement becomes effective.

Debt Securities. We may offer debt securities, which may be secured or unsecured, senior, senior subordinated or subordinated, may be guaranteed by our subsidiaries, and may be convertible into shares of our common stock. We may issue debt securities separately or together with, upon conversion of or in exchange for other securities. It is likely that any debt securities issued will not be issued under an indenture.

Figure Technologies, Inc. Expands Leadership Team as It Builds Out Financial Empowerment and Wealth Offerings (PR Newswire), Rated: B

Figure Technologies, Inc., a fintech company in both the home equity and blockchain space, announces that John Sweeney has joined the company as the head of Wealth and Asset Management, along with Dr. Michael Dooley, who joined as chief economist. These hires reflect Figure’s commitment to empowering consumers and building out products to improve their financial well-being.

LendPro Hires Belinda Kelton as Vice President of Sales (LendPro Email), Rated: B

LendPro LLC, a provider of Lending-as-a-Service (LaaS) products and platforms for retailers, has hired retail industry veteran Belinda Kelton as its Vice President of Sales, the company announced today. Kelton is the latest of many new hires for the fast-growing fintech company, which recently moved to a new location to accommodate new staff members and provide the best service possible to customers.

Corporate Counsel, Commercial (Go In House), Rated: B

Affirm is looking for a business-minded Corporate Counsel, Commercial with broad expertise in complex commercial transactions. This role will report to Affirm’s Associate General Counsel.
United Kingdom

Funding Circle fund sees higher impairments continue to drag returns (AltFi), Rated: AAA

The Funding Circle SME Income fund saw just a marginally positive performance in February with Net Asset Value growth of just 0.05 per cent as impairments continued to hurt performance.

Impairments reduced NAV returns by 0.7 per cent in February, said analysts at Liberum, in line with the average monthly impairment rate of recent months.

Revolut Is Testing the Limits of Finance (Bloomberg), Rated: AAA

Storonsky is getting a taste of the scrutiny that lies ahead as he tries to upend the world of banking with Revolut, his 3-1/2 year-old startup. The U.K.’s financial regulator is examining why the digital bank last summer temporarily turned off a system designed to automatically block suspicious transactions.

It was valued at $1.7 billion at its last fundraising and now has over 4 million customers after new accounts tripled in 2018. That’s about three times more than the two lenders combined and the same number of customers as foreign-exchange business TransferWise, which is four years older.

Source: Innovate Finance

CrowdProperty launches equity sale after increasing loan book by £100m (PlaceTech), Rated: AAA

The specialist peer-to-peer lender has secured £100m of loan capital as it launches a public crowdfunding campaign, already oversubscribed, that values the business at more than £15m.

Having raised £100m from an unnamed “major institution”, CrowdProperty will use the funds to expand the number of property projects it backs over the next 12-24 months.

OakNorth reports £33.9m profit for 2018 and commits to donating 1% of all future net profit to charitable causes and social entrepreneurship (OakNorth Email), Rated: A

IFISA Guide: SME loans (P2P Finance News), Rated: A

Ablrate’s IFISA offers returns ranging between 10 and 15 per cent, enabling investors to fund asset-backed loans to UK businesses.

ArchOver’s IFISA enables investors to fund secured business loans and enjoy tax-free returns of up to 10 per cent per year.

MoneyThing’s IFISA is one of the highest-paying tax wrappers that invests in secured business loans, offering annual returns of up to  13 per cent.

Assetz Capital

Returns vary depending on the account, going from 4.1 per cent to 6.25 per cent on its auto-invest products, and up to 15.5 per cent with its manual lending option.

Funding Circle

The minimum investment in this flexible IFISA is £1,000.

LendingCrowd

The Growth and Income ISAs automatically spread investors’ money across a range of loans and have variable target rates of six per cent and 5.6 per cent, respectively.

Specialist lender funding will be the key issue for 2019 – LendInvest (Mortgage Solutions), Rated: A

The situation is a big reminder to lenders that it is crucial to concentrate on building a diverse range of funding sources, rather than just one single route.

It’s something that we have put a lot of work into at LendInvest, as it allows us to lend with confidence, knowing that the funds we have promised to a borrower will be there.

Payday lender slammed for using Brexit food shortage fears to sell loans (Moneywise), Rated: A

The firm sent out an email on 24 January 2019 suggesting that recipients should have a “stockpile ready” as some believe Brexit “could affect the amount of food available,” while offering a £5 promotional discount on a loan.

Why investors are fleeing the ‘fear and greed’ of stock markets for peer-to-peer loans (The Telegraph), Rated: A

Investors are ditching the stock market in favour of bundled loans sold by fledgling platforms that are yet to be tested by a financial crisis.

The top 20 UK places for high net worth earners (Citywire), Rated: B

Nearly two fifths of the UK’s top earners now live in London, according to research from peer to peer lending platform easyMoney.

China/Hong Kong

China’s Online Lender Dianrong Blames Chinese Regime for its Woes (NTD), Rated: AAA

Dianrong, one of China’s biggest peer-to-peer (P2P) lenders, is laying off staff and shutting stores. The company blamed the Chinese regime for its troubles and said the absence of clear-cut policies was proving to be a heavy burden.

Dianrong shut down 60 of its 90 offline stores and laid off an estimated 2,000 employees, Reuters reported in early March.

Pintec’s Stock Rises on Steady Results During Quarter of IPO (Capital Watch), Rated: A

Pintec Technology Holdings Ltd. (Nasdaq: PT) gained 15 cents in trading by midday after reporting a slight increase in revenue and narrowed losses for the fourth quarter.

The Beijing-based tech platform facilitating financial services said on Wednesday that its revenue in the three months through December was $32.9 million, 2 percent higher year-over-year. Its net loss was $1.2 million, a 10 percent decrease from the same period of 2017. Loss per share was 1 cent.

For the full year, Pintec reported revenue of $153.1 million, 85 percent higher from the preceding 12 months, and profit of $1.1 million in contrast to a loss in 2017.

KKR Raising First Asia Real Estate Fund, Targeting $ 1.5 Billion (U.S. News), Rated: A

Global investment powerhouse KKR & Co Inc is raising its first Asia-focused real estate fund, targeting $1.5 billion as it looks to deepen its real estate portfolio in the region, said people with knowledge of the matter.

Investment firms raised $18.6 billion in 26 Asia-focused real estate funds last year, the highest since 2008, according to data provider Preqin. KKR’s U.S.-based rival Blackstone Group raised the region’s biggest real estate fund last year at $7.1 billion.

China and distressed debt top DB’s hedge funds tastes test (City Wire Selector), Rated: A

Alternative investors are increasingly drawn to Asian hedge funds and distressed strategies, according to the latest Alternative Investment Survey from Deutsche Bank.

The 2019 survey canvassed the views of 425 asset allocators running $1.7 trillion of hedge fund assets in 28 countries.

European Union

Finnest and Invesdor Merge to Combine Debt and Equity Operations in Europe (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: AAA

Finnest, an Austria based Fintech that provides debt capital to small and medium-sized firms, has announced a planned merger with Finland based Invesdor Oy. The newly formed company will see the combination of a leading Nordic equity crowdfunding platform and a top online lender serving the DACH region (Deutschland, Austria, Switzerland). The two companies will now be able to offer a full stack of debt and equity services and investments across Northern Europe as well as more numerous options for investors.

Invesdor claims over 50,000 registered users as well as a MiFID II license for 28 European countries – the first crowdfunding platform to receive approval. Invesdor reports investors, both institutional and individual, from over 150 different countries. Invesdor currently offers a unique financing portfolio in the market, from equity to loans and bonds to IPOs.

Bitbond to Work with BitGo for Germany’s First Security Token Offering (Bitbond), Rated: A

Bitbond has launched Germany’s first Security Token Offering with a BaFin approved Prospectus and will be using  BitGo’s Business Wallet. The STO has a hard cap of EUR 100 million (~USD 113 million) and will conclude in May. Thousands of investors have already joined to take advantage of early bird discounts.

The STO marks a significant milestone for the crypto asset industry, not only because it has an approved prospectus, but also because it offers tokenized debt with a predetermined maturity. Bitbond Token (BB1) holders will receive quarterly and annual payments for 10 years, after which Bitbond will buy back the token at its original value of EUR 1 per token.

India

Top 5 sectors that need upskilling: How to stay relevant in age of disruption? (Indian Express), Rated: A

The banking sector is witnessing a massive growth owing to the launch of connected products and services, business innovation and the rise of the middle class along with the emergence of new fintech areas of mobile payments, digital wallets and P2P lending. Technologies such as chatbots, blockchains and automation through robotics powered by AI are transforming the sector.

CRYPTO EXCHANGE COINDCX RAISES SEED FUNDING FROM BAIN CAPITAL VENTURES (Coin News Span), Rated: B

Bengaluru-based client leasing startup RentoMojo has raised $10 Mn serial B funding from Bain Capital Ventures and Renaud Laplanche.

Asia

Look out for 2019’s top 7 lending startups (e27), Rated: AAA

As of 2019, there are still 2.45 billion underbanked and unbanked people in the world. The more innovative lending companies there are, the faster this market will be covered and served.

October.eu (formerly Lendix) is an innovative, easy-to-use, and intuitive peer-to-peer platform for lending and investing.

The Dharma team works on a platform that lets businesses build lending products on the Ethereum blockchain.

The governing idea of Kabbage is that funding shouldn’t be complicated for businesses. So, the company makes an effort to provide entrepreneurs with up to US$250,000 in loans for which you can allegedly qualify for in just 10 minutes or at most, a day.

Founded in 2014, TurnKey Lender has already become the market’s leading intelligent all-in-one lending automation platform.

The name SoFi comes from social finance and it’s another great example of a successful peer-to-peer lending operation. Founded in 2011, the company is already a huge market player with US$30 billion worth of funded loans and 600 thousand members.

Affirm goes a different route than most alternative lenders. The idea behind it is enabling in-house financing for retail businesses. So, the store’s customers get an instant loan with zero to 30 per cent interest rates.

With quite a unique approach, Lendio offers small business an opportunity to get services and credit products from lenders with the best conditions. It’s a marketplace with more than 75 lenders on board.

Vietnam is the region’s fintech hub (The ASEAN Post), Rated: AAA

Vietnam’s strong economic growth in recent years has led to the flourishing of the nation’s digital economy. The country’s economy in 2017 was deemed to be one of the best performing in the region. Its economy saw a 6.8 percent increase in gross domestic product (GDP) – higher than the government’s initial target of 6.7 percent – making it one of the fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia.

Vietnam currently has 54 percent of its population on the internet and the number is expected to grow further in the coming years.

Data from Vietnam Briefing shows that 39,580 start-ups entered the Vietnamese market in just the first four months of 2017, a 14 percent increase from the first quarter of 2016. Within the start-up scene, the fintech sector has become the most attractive for investments, receiving US$129 million in 2016.

Travelstop Targets Fintech SMEs with Business Travel Management Platform (Fintech News), Rated: A

Co-founded by former Expedia employees, Singapore-based Travelstop is a modern, artificial intelligence (AI) powered SaaS platform that simplifies business travel, automates expense reporting for businesses in Asia, and offers insights to business owners.

The platform is quickly gaining traction from the region’s startups and fintech community, helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and high-growth organizations including Funding Societies, Fintech News Network, RedDoorz, S P Jain School of Global Management and Dot Property better to manage their business travels.

Asia has the largest share of mobile internet traffic, with 61% of its population using mobile devices to go online.

How Ovo Has Grown to be Indonesia’s Largest Digital Payments Platform (Entrepreneur), Rated: A

After online stores, Indonesia’s leading digital payments platform Ovo has been making strides into offline stores, increasing the number of merchants that accept the payment method.

OVO has reportedly acquired local peer-to-peer lending company Taralite, a move that will pave the way for OVO to branch out into the lending business which is seen to be a potential profit-generator for the company.

TurnKey Lender Opens a New Office in Kuala Lumpur (Digital Journal), Rated: A

TurnKey Lender, a provider of intelligent lending automation, decision management, and risk mitigation solutions, announces the opening of a new office in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. Its main goal will be to physically represent TurnKey Lender and support the company’s operations in Asia.

With internet penetration at 85.7% in 2018, the country is perfectly positioned for the rapid growth of alternative lending initiatives in areas like peer-to-peer lending and in-house financing.

Golden Gate Ventures ties up with Hanwha to invest in Asian startups (SDF-KH), Rated: B

Golden Gate and Hanwha will focus on startups that are raising fund for ‘Series B’ stage.

Singapore-based Golden Gate Ventures confirmed on Tuesday that it has teamed up with South Korea-based Hanwha Asset Management to invest in Southeast Asian technology startups.

Authors:

George Popescu
Allen Taylor

The post Thursday March 21 2019, Weekly News Digest appeared first on Lending Times.

Thursday March 14 2019, Weekly News Digest

GreenSky

News Comments Today’s main news: FTC makes final decision on SoFi. OnDeck extends two revolving credit facilities. LendingPoint sees drop in debt management loans, increase for new purchases. LendInvest to float 500M GBP. Lufax hits $39.4B valuation. Klarna adds GooglePay as payment option. Today’s main analysis: Unemployment rate and GreenSky’s earnings. Today’s thought-provoking articles: Earnest vs. SoFi for student loan […]

The post Thursday March 14 2019, Weekly News Digest appeared first on Lending Times.

GreenSky

News Comments

United States

United Kingdom

European Union

Australia/New Zealand

Other

News Summary

United States

Deal Final in FTC’s Action Against Online Lender (Manatt), Rated: AAA

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has finalized its deal with SoFi, an online lender that the agency had accused of making false statements about student loan refinancing.

According to the FTC, the California-based personal finance company misrepresented how much money student loan borrowers have saved or could save by refinancing.

Read the FTC complaint here.

Read the FTC decision and order here.

OnDeck Announces Extension of Two Revolving Credit Facilities With Credit Suisse & Deutsche Bank (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: AAA

OnDeck, a small business online lending platform, announced on Wednesday extensions to its existing credit facilities with Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank on improved terms.  According to OnDeck, the amended facilities provide an aggregate of $360 million of committed funding capacity and are available to finance OnDeck’s term loans and revolving lines of credit. The scheduled maturity dates for the facilities were extended three years to March 2022.

Unemployment Rate Drops to 3.8%; GreenSky’s Strong Earnings (PeerIQ), Rated: AAA

The unemployment rate dropped to a near five decades low of 3.8% even as nonfarm payrolls only rose by 20K. Average hourly earnings rose by 3.4%, above economists’ expectations.

Source: WSJ
Source: Deutsche Bank Research, WSJ

GreenSky’s Strong 4Q2018 Earnings

GreenSky’s 4Q revenue grew by 22% YoY to $109 Mn, although net income fell by nearly 43% YoY to $23 Mn. The stock rose by ~6% post earnings.

  • Transaction volume increased by 23% YoY to $1.3 Bn.
  • Loan servicing portfolio increased by 36% YoY to $7.3 Bn.
  • GSKY had aggregate commitments of $11.8 Bn from its nine bank partners, of which $4.8 Bn were unused.
  • 30+ DQ rates rose slightly YoY from 145 bps to 148 bps.
  • GreenSky now has nearly 12 k home improvement merchant partners and nearly 3 k elective healthcare partners.
Source: GreenSky, PeerIQ

How to Decide Between Earnest and SoFi for Student Loan Refinancing (Credible), Rated: AAA

Earnest and SoFi are two of the best student loan refinancing companiesout there. They both offer fixed as well as variable rate loans, a 0.25% autopay rate discount, and certain unemployment protections to help in the event of involuntary job loss, but they also have their differences.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of both lenders to help you make an informed decision.

Source: Credible

The rate of borrowers using loans for debt management drops; growing proportion of borrowers use loans for new purchases (LendingPoint), Rated: AAA

It turns out that, over the past two years, the proportion of our borrowers who say they are earmarking their loans for debt consolidation has decreased markedly, from about 60% in 2017 to about 54% in 2018. The percent using loans to pay for new merchandise or services has grown during those two years. Home improvement jumped from 6% to 8%; loans for medical expenses rose from 2% to 7%.

In 2017, the percent of millennial consolidators was about 61%. In 2018, that dropped a full 10%, down to 51%, a bigger decrease than any other age cohort.

Source: LeningPoint

What Do Millennials Want From Banks? Non-Financial Products (Forbes), Rated: AAA

If they haven’t, then why are 56% of Millennials giving megabanks (the four largest US banks) their 

Source: Cornerstone Advisors

The “Millennials hate banks” meme is a myth.

Millennials’ Access to Subscription Services
Percentage of Millennials that…
Don’t have the service but would like to Have the service, and pay for it directly Have the service, but don’t pay for it directly Don’t have or want the service
Identity theft protection 31% 20% 29% 21%
Personal/family data storage 29% 20% 19% 31%
Child identity theft protection 27% 15% 16% 42%
Rx, vision, hearing discounts 26% 31% 25% 18%
Travel/trip insurance 26% 18% 19% 37%
Roadside assistance 19% 40% 26% 15%
Cell phone damage protection 18% 42% 20% 19%
Source: Cornerstone Advisors

Green Dot targets social media influencers in banking-as-service push (American Banker), Rated: A

A new affinity banking service developed by Green Dot proposes to tap one of the most potent — and controversial — sources of distribution in the digital economy: social media influencers.

The digital banking and payments provider is developing what it calls Bank OS, a simpler version of its enterprise banking-as-a-service platform already used by the likes of Intuit, Stash, Uber and Walmart. It would enable partners to develop their own financial products just as those brands do, including offering credit cards, debit cards with loyalty programs or even a mobile app.

How online lenders attract and service the evolving SMB borrower (Tearsheet), Rated: A

But while small businesses still struggle with cash flow, how they shop for loans and their level of financial education about their options are changing. On Tearsheet’s recent webinar with leaders at Kabbage, BlueVine, and Intuit’s QuickBooks Capital, we discussed the changing nature of the SMB borrower and how their firms have evolved to keep up.

Pay Yourself First? Last Is How Small Biz Often Works (Newsmax), Rated: A

Everyone knows the Golden Rule of business is to pay yourself first. But more than half of small business owners are going months without pay – if they are taking any at all.

About a quarter of these entrepreneurs go two to six months without pay, and another quarter have gone more than six months without salary, according to a recent survey from Kabbage (), a cash flow optimization platform.

PAYNET STRATEGIC INSIGHTS MARCH 2019 (PayNet), Rated: A

The PayNet Small Business Lending Index (SBLI) rebounded with a 17.2 point jump to 150.7 in January, climbing to its second-highest level ever. On an annual basis, the SBLI increased 4.9%. The SBLI 3-month moving average also rose in January and currently stands 1.5% above its year-ago level.

Source: PayNet

The PayNet Small Business Delinquency Index (SBDI) 31–90 Days Past Due edged up one basis point to 1.45% in January, and is up six basis points on an annual basis — its 33rd consecutive year-over-year increase. The SBDI 91–180 Days Past Due was unchanged at 0.38% but is three basis points above its year-ago level.

Less Than Zero? This Proposed ETF Would Pay Investors, But There’s A Catch (Benzinga), Rated: A

Salt Financial, which currently offers one ETF, has filed plans with regulators to launch a low volatility that would pay investors, but there’s a catch.

“During the first year, holders will receive 50 cents for every $1,000 in a new low-volatility stock ETF — until it grows to $100 million when the cash-back benefit will be capped and shared with all investors,” reports Bloomberg. “The rebate is until at least April 2020, when a $2.90 management fee could kick in.”

Equifax Deleted Key Data Breach-Related Docs, Senators Say (Law360), Rated: A

Equifax Inc. failed to preserve key internal discussions over its massive 2017 data breach, U.S. senators said Thursday at a hearing where elected officials grilled the credit reporting giant’s CEO and the…

Home Equity Line of Credit Providers Face Growing Threat from Alternative Lenders, J.D. Power Finds (JD Power), Rated: A

Despite record-high levels,[1]new home equity line of credit (HELOC) originations have been steadily declining[2] as a perfect storm of rising interest rates, new tax laws and growing competition from alternative lenders has crimped traditional HELOC growth. According to the J.D. Power 2019 U.S. Home Equity Line of Credit Satisfaction Study, released today, HELOC customers are more likely than ever to shop for alternative sources of funding and HELOC providers are falling short on digital offerings.

This week in Chicagoland real estate: One Chicago Square, Woodlawn and more (Chicago Agent Magazine), Rated: A

New York-based DDG, Chicago-based Marc Realty and Ruttenberg Gordon announced plans for a 13-story hotelwith 250 rooms in Fulton Market. The developers are raising $55 million to fund the project through Prodigy Network, a New York-based real estate crowdfunding platform. The hotel will be located at 1234 West Randolph Street and will be operated by New York-based Standard Hotels. It’s set to be completed within two years.

PeerStreet Expands Executive Leadership with Two Senior Hires in Finance Team (BusinessWire), Rated: B

PeerStreet has announced the hiring of two executives with extensive experience in the financial services and real estate sectors: Ellen Coleman and Bob Brown. Ms. Coleman joins as Executive Vice President of Finance, and Mr. Brown joins as Executive Vice President of Finance & Corporate Development.

CoreLogic : Introduces Verification of Employment and Income Solution to Expedite Borrower Verification Process (MarketScreener), Rated: A

CoreLogic, a global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today released an enhanced Verification of Employment and Income(VOE/I) product. The comprehensive new VOE/I product takes time, touch and cost out of traditional employment and income verification through a three-step ‘waterfall workflow’ process, ensuring that every mortgage applicant can be verified.

The enhanced VOE/I product features a three-step ‘waterfall workflow’ that ensures each borrower’s employment and income is verified as efficiently as possible.

  • Step One: Instant verification via a direct integration to The Work Number (TWN)
  • Step Two: Automated verification leveraging dozens of third-party data sources
  • Step Three: Manual verification by a team of dedicated CoreLogic verification experts

CORELOGIC INTEGRATES CONDOSAFE WITH THE ELLIE MAE ENCOMPASS ALL-IN-ONE MORTGAGE MANAGEMENT SOLUTION (CoreLogic), Rated: B

CoreLogic today announced the integration of its CondoSafe product with the Ellie Mae Encompass® all-in-one mortgage management solution. CondoSafeis a one-stop condo project review tool that enables lenders to have a single, consistent, standardized review process, allowing them to determine eligibility earlier in the process, resulting in quicker approvals.

ArborCrowd Announces New Equity Offering in 707-Unit Multifamily Portfolio (AP News), Rated: B

ArborCrowd, the first crowdfunding platform launched by a real estate institution, today announced a new offering that allows investors to acquire equity interests in the Sioux Falls Multifamily Portfolio, a collection of class-B apartment communities located in Sioux Falls, S.D. The properties exhibit strong upside potential due to Sioux Falls’ sound multifamily real estate fundamentals and notable lack of professionally managed workforce housing product.

The investment has a targeted internal rate of return (IRR) of 12 to 14 percent over a three- to five-year hold period. Tzadik has budgeted $5.2 million to perform a comprehensive capital improvement plan that will include upgrades to all renovated units, common areas and public spaces.

LendPro’s Female Leaders Celebrated on International Women’s Day (LendPro Email), Rated: B

As the financial technology (fintech) industry continues to grow, innovators are increasingly looking for leadership and expertise to grow their companies and stand out from competitors. LendPro, a Lending-As-A-Service (LaaS) fintech company, prides itself in hiring strong talent.  Women make up 50% of staffing at LendPro’s Charlottesville corporate office, versus 37% female staffing at most fintech companies.

United Kingdom

Property finance hub Lendinvest plots £500m London float (Sky.com), Rated: AAA

The online property finance hub Lendinvest is plotting a £500m stock market flotation that will provide a fresh test of investors’ faith in a fast-growing but volatile area of the non-bank lending market.

Sky News has learnt that Lendinvest, which was set up in 2008 and has so far lent roughly £2bn to help buy, build or renovate British homes, has appointed Lazard, the investment bank, to advise on its strategic options.

Lending revolution: fintechs vs banks (Raconteur), Rated: AAA

Eight out of ten SME loan applications were approved by banks in the third quarter of 2018, according to the latest figures from trade association UK Finance. While this is a far cry from the days of the global financial crisis, when SME lending all but dried up in part due to regulatory pressures to shore up capital, smaller companies are still citing challenges in securing funding from traditional players, according to Stuart Chalmers, commercial banking lead for Accenture UK.

Alternative lenders understand the hunger for a seamless customer experience and have built credit journeys that align to business expectations

Almost 30,000 companies used non-traditional channels over the year, with peer-to-peer lending and equity-based crowdfunding now established investment vehicles for seed, startup, early-stage and fast-growth companies seeking capital. In fact, CCAF estimates that 29 per cent of all new loans issued in 2017 to small businesses with annual turnovers less than £2 million came from alternative finance.

Source: Raconteur

Burnham residents are the most thrill-seeking in the UK according to new study (Windsor Observer), Rated: A

It may come as somewhat of a surprise, but according to research from Zopa, Burnham has been revealed to be the most thrill-seeking town.

Peer-to-peer firms told to improve wind-down arrangements (Out-Law), Rated: A

In a letter to chief executives (4 page / 352KB PDF) sent last week, the FCA said a recent supervisory review of firms’ current arrangements against current requirements “strongly suggests” some P2P firms were falling short of the standards required by its rules.

Augmentum Capital signs up to Innovate Finance (P2P Finance News), Rated: A

AUGMENTUM Capital has joined Innovate Finance as its first investor member.

It is currently planning to issue extra ordinary shares in its investment trust as it looks to fund around £300m of potential opportunities in the sector.

PEER TO PEER LENDER RELAUNCHES PRODUCTS (Insider Media), Rated: A

A South West-based peer to peer lender is to re-launch its lending products aimed at individuals and businesses.

Folk2Folk is to offers 9 per cent interest rates for investors with a loan to value ratio of up to 60 per cent.

The business has so far brought £275m into rural businesses in Britain over the past six years.

Wonga compensation claims four times higher than expected (TechRound), Rated: A

It has been recently revealed that the number of compensation claims made against the failed payday lender Wonga, which filed for administration in August 2018, has ended up increasing four-fold. The initial figure given by the Financial Ombudsman Service in a Treasury Committee in January this year suggested that there were around 10,500 customers who had open complaints with the short-term credit, high-interest company.

Now, it turns out that the number of redress claims that have been made against Wonga is considerably higher, totalling over 40,000. It is potentially the case that these people will not end up getting their money back after having been mis-sold loans.

The IFISAs you can open for £100 or less (P2P Finance News), Rated: A

According to the most recent HMRC statistics, overall ISA savings fell from £79.8bn in 2015/16 to £61.5bn in 2016/17. Meanwhile, Bank of England statistics found that the amount of money that Brits were saving (both within and outside of the ISA wrapper) fell by £7bn in 2018 alone.

  • Abundance

Minimum investment: £5

  • Assetz Capital

Minimum investment: £1

  • Crowd2Fund

Minimum investment: £10

  • RateSetter

Minimum investment: £10

  • Octopus Choice

Minimum investment: £10

Environmental benefits of ISA investment (The Ecologist), Rated: A

Crowdfunding and peer to peer lending grew out of the banking crisis of 2008. According to the European Central Bank, the availability of bank loans to SMEs declined 23 percent immediately following the crash, causing a devastating impact on the economy.

Over 100 Finastra customers upgraded trade software in time to meet new SWIFT standards (RealWire), Rated: B

Over 100 Finastra customers were upgraded to the latest compliant versions of its transaction banking software, Fusion Trade Innovation, ahead of the new SWIFT standards deadline of 17 November 2018. The new ‘Standards MT Release’ included significant changes to category 7 messaging standards used in trade finance – the most significant set of changes to the SWIFT trade finance messaging interface in over 30 years.

China

China’s Lufax hits huge $ 39.4bn vaulation thanks to Primavera Capital-led Series C (Alt Assets), Rated: AAA

Chinese peer-to-peer lending business Lufax has confirmed it has reached an enormous $39.4bn valuation thanks to a Series C round led by private equity house Primavera Capital.

Chinese fintech unicorn Lufax in no rush to IPO (Technode), Rated: A

Chinese peer-to-peer (P2P) lender Lufax is not in a hurry to list on the stock markets, said an executive of its biggest shareholder, Ping An Insurance, during its earnings call, Chinese media reported (in Chinese) on Wednesday.

Ping An Insurance Group deputy CEO Jessica Tan said after Lufax’s latest round of funding, Ping An still holds approximately 41% of its shares.

European Union

Google Pay Added to Klarna’s Bank of Payment Options (WWD), Rated: AAA

Today, Klarna, the global payments provider “smoothing” out kinks in the checkout process for retailers, announced a partnership with GooglePay. Available for Klarna customers in Sweden, the intention is to make mobile payments “even easier and more secure.”

CreditEase Invests in wefox Group, the European Largest Insurtech Platform (PR Newswire), Rated: AAA

CreditEase, a Beijing-based leading FinTech conglomerate in China, announced today that its direct investment arm, CreditEase FinTech Investment Fund (CEFIF), participated in wefox Group’s $125 million USD Series B, a fast-growing Berlin-based insurtech firm together with Mubadala’s newly created European Ventures Fund. The investment is the largest Series B round for a European insurtech and Goldman Sachs International is acting as the private placement adviser to wefox Group in connection with the transaction.

The investment will help spearhead the company’s expansion into the European broker market. It also paves the way for wefox Group to accelerate growth and create the world’s most innovative product and engineering team applying advanced data analytics to create an all-in-one insurance platform in which all interactions are personalized. The company, which was founded in 2014, has grown its revenue to around $40 million USD, while serving more than 1500 brokers and over 400,000 customers, making it Europe’s number one insurtech platform.

Luna Connect: A new digital disrupter in the lending landscape (Irish Times), Rated: A

Luna Connect is a new digital lending platform primarily aimed at those lending to SMEs. It is designed to fit into the rapidly evolving financial services ecosystem and its founder, Brian D’Arcy, drew the inspiration for his business from the disruption currently underway in the financial services sector.

The company’s target market are lenders offering loans of under €200,000, whose borrowers typically require a fast decision on their application and want a more transparent lending process. The initial focus will be on Ireland and the UK with Europe and the US to follow. Investment in the project to date has been around €120,000 which was self-funded with support from the NDRC and Enterprise Ireland through the competitive start fund.

Australia/New Zealand

New US ambassador warns of China’s ‘payday loan diplomacy’ (The Washington Post), Rated: AAA

The new U.S. ambassador to Australia said Wednesday that he’s concerned about the way China lends money to developing Pacific nations in what he describes as “payday loan diplomacy.”

China categorically rejects accusations that it uses loans, grants and other financial inducements to extend its diplomatic and political reach, saying it is merely acting in the best interests of both sides in such transactions.

New way to borrow takes Australia by storm (Mozo), Rated: A

As distrust of the nation’s big banks and mortgage brokers swells amongst the wreckage of the banking royal commission, online lenders are emerging as real challengers in the home loan, business loan and personal lending markets.

NAB’s UBank launches ‘green’ deposits to chase Millennials’ savings (Financial Review), Rated: A

The CEO of National Australia Bank subsidiary UBank, Lee Hatton, says future retail depositors will want more control over where banks lend their money, prompting it to launch a “green” term deposit targeting environmentally concerned Millennial customers.

How marketplace lending meets investor needs (Cuffelinks), Rated: A

However, it’s also true that today’s investors face a risk environment of unprecedented complexity. In 2018, the S&P/ASX200 declined by 6.8%. Residential property values are falling and bank deposit rates fail to match inflation. In the last year, the Australian media landscape was dominated by the findings of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, with its revelations of duplicitous lending practices, improper fees, and general misconduct that, by the banks’ own admission, fell far short of community expectations.

Financial Markets Authority executive steps down over employment matter (NZ Herald), Rated: B

Financial Markets Authority (FMA) executive Garth Stanish left the investment watchdog at the end of last month over an internal employment matter, a spokesman for the authority said.

Stanish was also a director of markets oversight, a group that includes oversight of NZX, crowd-funding/P2P lending platforms and frontline supervisors.

India

P2P startup PaisaDukan raises 1st round of investment from JITO (UNI India), Rated: AAA

Vivriti Capital raises second round of funding of Rs 110 Cr from Creation Investments (YourStory), Rated: A

Vivriti Capital, a Chennai-based lending platform for corporate entities, secured Rs 110 crore worth of equityin an additional round of funding from its existing investor Creation Investments.

This comes just within two months of the Series A funding closure in December 2018, in which the company raised Rs 200 crore from Creation Investments. With the current equity infusion, Vivriti’s overall capital stands at approximately Rs 320 crore.

MSME Lending fuelled by Digitisation (Free Press Journal), Rated: A

MSMEs play a major role in Economic development of India. There are around 63.4 million units and they contribute to 6.11% of the manufacturing GDP and 24.63% of the GDP from service activities and 33.4% of India’s manufacturing output. They have been able to provide employment to around 120 million persons and contribute around 45% of the overall exports from India. The sector grows at a rate faster than the large ones at more than 10% pa.

About 20% of the MSMEs are based out of rural areas.They provide employment to more than 130 million people and contribute to 45% of exports. MSMEs are also the largest employment generator every year. As of Sep18, the total credit in India was Rs 105.5 Lakh crores and MSMEs had borrowed Rs 24.7 cr. Large and Mid Caps borrowed Rs 44.4 cr. Year on Year the growth of overall commercial credit was at 13.5%.

Micro loans which are less than Rs1 cr grew 22.2% year on year and SME loans between Rs1 cr – Rs 2.5 cr grew at 18.3%.The growth was faster than the overall growth. Share of NBFCs in SME credit increased from 13% in Sep 15 to 17% in Sep 18. The number of NBFCs lending more than Rs 100 cr to MSMEs stood at 77 at the end of Sep 18.

Asia

Investment Task Force suspend operation of 168 illegal fintech firms (Antara News), Rated: AAA

The Investment Alert Task Force has suspended the operation of 168 entities allegedly running peer-to-peer lending services without a legal business license from the Financial Service Authority (OJK).
The task force has also suspended the operation of 47 illegal investment entities which has the potential to harm the public.
“Based on the monitoring on website and application in Google Playstore, the Investment Alert Task Force has stopped the operation of 168 entities that have violated OJK regulation no. 77/POJK.01/2016 on fintech peer-to-peer lending services, which has the potential to harm the public,” head of the task force Tongam L Tobing said in a statement here on Wednesday.

Fintech group to help develop P2P lending (The Jakarta Post), Rated: A

A group of financial technology (fintech) lenders wants to help develop a healthier lending industry and protect consumers by setting out a strict code of conduct for its members.The Indonesian Fintech Lenders Association (AFPI) will help stimulate the industry, which only gained government recognition three years ago, by providing risk management certification, public education campaigns and a compulsory code of conduct, which should be uploaded to the AFPI website soon.AFPI chairman Adrian Gunadi said the association had been established to ease the Indonesian Fintech Association’s (AFTECH) workload in dealing with fintech companies that provide lending services, including peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, crowdsourcing and digital credit cards.Such lenders account for 30 percent of all licensed fintech companies, whereas the remaining 70 percent are companies engaged in, among other thing…

Government moves to legalise P2P lending (Vietnam Vet), Rated: A

During a recent meeting with relevant ministries and agencies to discuss P2P lending, Hue instructed that during the pilot operation, P2P lending would be restricted to connecting lenders and borrowers as currently being run by most P2P lending companies in Viet Nam. P2P lending companies would not be allowed to mobilise capital, but act as intermediaries to connect lenders (investors) and borrowers.

The development of P2P lending will also create a new capital supply channel. Research conducted by Transparency Market Research showed that P2P lending would surge by 48.2 per cent annually in the 2016-24 period, while Morgan Stanley forecast the business model would reach a growth rate of 53.5 per cent globally by 2020.

Authors:

George Popescu
Allen Taylor

The post Thursday March 14 2019, Weekly News Digest appeared first on Lending Times.

Mobile Lending: The Expectations of Modern Borrowers

mobile lending

Contemporary borrowers want to be able to price, decide. and act on loans from their phones. Make no mistake: Quicken Loans’ 2018 Super Bowl commercials with Keegan-Michael Key had its sights on lenders who might be a lot like you. Quicken Loans wants to peel away young, affluent customers who judge the aptitude of lenders […]

The post Mobile Lending: The Expectations of Modern Borrowers appeared first on Lending Times.

mobile lending

Contemporary borrowers want to be able to price, decide. and act on loans from their phones.

Make no mistake: Quicken Loans’ 2018 Super Bowl commercials with Keegan-Michael Key had its sights on lenders who might be a lot like you.

Quicken Loans wants to peel away young, affluent customers who judge the aptitude of lenders based on their ability to answer their questions and deliver a product through a language of graphics and swipes.

The ads have a young couple sitting in an office across the desk from a bald, middle-aged loan officer. “Yeah,” he says, “you can get a mortgage that avoids PMI, but there’s no way to avoid MIP on an FHA. Now there’s—“

Mr. Key rolls out on a desk chair from behind the couple and shows them a cell phone. “Hey, this will help.”

The next frame shows the Rocket Mortgage home page, as the narrator intones, “Rocket Mortgage by Quicken Loans makes the complex, simple. Understand the details and get approved in less than 8 minutes.” The message here is clear, your competition understands that borrowers want clarity and convenience, and your challenge is to be sure that you are meeting those expectations.

The reality for some credit unions and community banks is that they can’t afford to adapt their processes to fit into the palm of a smart phone user’s hand. But the costs of avoiding the expense can be even greater than a line item in an operations budget. Lenders risk their reputation. A bad mobile experience tells your customers that their needs aren’t your priority. How many of those customers can you afford to lose?

Technology is not about being trendy. It’s a requirement to stay ahead of the market and meet your customers expectations. Lenders with online lending programs optimized for mobile phones are following advice their grandparents might have given: Meet people where they are—not where you want them to be. Does your loan origination system maximize your customers’ online experience, allowing you to lend anywhere and at any time? This is something you need to consider when starting or improving your online lending experience.

Mobile Lending and Smart Phone Usage

Mobile lending has become the method of choice for many young affluent customers who will soon be the backbone of your portfolio. A Federal Reserve Study found that 38% of all bank customers in 2015 were using mobile phones to at least get information about their accounts. The base for that comparison included customers who didn’t even own a phone, and other Fed studies indicate that number surpassed 50% in 2018.

A 2018 study by the Pew Research Center found more than three quarters of adults have a smart phone. While distribution is roughly even between men and women, and among racial and ethnic groups, the distribution by age, income, and education shows wide gaps. Smartphone ownership is:

  • 94% of ages 18-29
  • 89% of ages 30-49
  • 73% of ages 50-64
  • 46% of ages 64 and over

Those with college degrees or annual incomes over $75,000 have smartphone ownership rates exceeding 90%, while those without any college education or incomes below $30,000 have ownership rates below 70%.

A 2018 study by the University of Southern California’s Center for the Digital Future found that more than one in three bank customers under age 45 would switch their primary bank for “better online/mobile services.”

Among most age groups, interest rates and fees were by far the biggest reason to switch, but among those ages 25 to 34, the gap was narrow: 47% would switch for online/mobile services, compared with 54% for lower fees and rates. If you require a driver’s license as a stipulation for a loan, these borrowers expect to be able to take a picture of it with their phone and send it to you within a few seconds. It would not be wise to expect them to stop by your branch or even scan-and-email stipulated documents.

Maximizing customer convenience is just as important as advertising low rates and fees. And while age matters, these studies are also showing that mobile usage is increasing sharply among all age categories and incomes, including older consumers. Your institution’s future is at stake if you’re not keeping up with the convenience borrowers expect, and providing that level of service requires advanced technology. You want to meet your customers where they live. And if they’re moving, you want to be the first to greet them.

These trends are clear. How are you addressing them?

Author:

Written by Jim DuPlessis. First published at TCI Credit.

The post Mobile Lending: The Expectations of Modern Borrowers appeared first on Lending Times.

Thursday January 31 2019, Weekly News Digest

fintech vc 2018

News Comments Today’s main news: Kabbage expands into India. GreenSky launches loan product for elective health care. Lending Works hits 150M GBP in loans in five years. Ant Financial’s money market fund shrinks to two-year low. Ant Financial raised close to combined raise of all U.S., Europe fintechs last year. Varo Money raises annual percentage yield on savings accounts to […]

The post Thursday January 31 2019, Weekly News Digest appeared first on Lending Times.

fintech vc 2018

News Comments

United States

United Kingdom

International

India

Other

News Summary

United States

GreenSky launches new loan product for elective health care (American Banker), Rated: AAA

The Atlanta fintech on Tuesday announced the launch of a revolving credit line of up to $25,000. GreenSky previously offered only installment loans; the new product is designed to be a better fit for elective medical providers that rely heavily on repeat business.

Is SoFi Money the Bank Account of the Future? (Lend Academy), Rated: AAA

There are three main benefits that SoFi touts with the SoFi Money account:

  1. Pay zero account fees.
  2. Earn more interest.
  3. Free ATMs everywhere.

SoFi will pay (as of this writing) 2.25% on balances held in a SoFi Money account. Note about the small print: you will only earn this 2.25% for the first three months and then the interest rate drops to a (still respectable) 1.25% unless you do one of two things. Either setup a salary direct deposit of $3,000 or more a month or do $500 in debit card transactions each month. I am in the process of moving my salary deposit to my SoFi Money account.

The cash balance in SoFi Money Accounts is swept to one or more program banks where it earns a variable rate of interest and is eligible for FDIC insurance. FDIC Insurance is not provided until the funds arrive at partner bank. There are currently six banks available to accept these deposits, making customers eligible for up to $1,500,000 of FDIC insurance (six banks, $250,000 per bank).

Mixed Credit Card Issuers’ Earnings (PeerIQ), Rated: AAA

Credit card master trust data shows that delinquencies have picked up from their lows but remain significantly below their peaks. Issuers (with the exception of Capital One), have increased loan loss reserves at a rate higher than loan growth as credit renormalization continues.

30 and 90-day delinquency rates from credit card master trust data

Source: Bloomberg, Bank Credit Card Trust Data, PeerIQ

How online platforms shook small-business lending in America (Financial Times), Rated: AAA

In the years after the financial crisis, small businesses that needed credit were stuck. New capital rules discouraged big banks from touching any borrower perceived as risky. The bond and loan markets, where larger businesses flocked for inexpensive debt capital, have little use for sums under $100,000 — which is what most small enterprises need.

A handful of non-bank lenders, payment and e-commerce companies have leapt into the gap. In an environment of easy money and economic expansion, small business lending operations at OnDeck, Kabbage, PayPal, Square and others have grown fast.

LendingTree Analysis Reveals How Personal Loan Purposes Vary by States and Credit Scores (PR Newswire), Rated: AAA

Key takeaways

  • Managing existing debt is far and away the most popular reason for a personal loan, representing 61 percent of all loan requests in 2018. Thirty-nine percent of borrowers plan to use their loans to consolidate debt, and 22 percent plan to use it to refinance credit cards.
  • Consumers seeking personal loans to manage debt also requested the highest origination amounts: $14,107average amount for credit card refinance, and $12,670 for debt consolidation.
  • Almost 15 percent of loans reasons are categorized as “other” — the third most popular choice. Home renovation and improvement loans are the next-most popular loan purpose, accounting for 7.7 percent of loan requests with an average loan amount of $12,384.
  • New Englanders are the most likely to use their loans to manage existing debt, taking the top five spots. The residents of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas are the least likely.
  • Washington, D.C. is home to the highest rates of a few offbeat loan purposes, with more residents requesting loans here for a move (7.4 percent) or business (2.6 percent). It’s also tied with New York and Louisiana as the place where wedding loans are most requested, with 1.5 percent of loans in these states intended to cover the costs of tying the knot.
  • West Virginia is the top state for borrowers requesting loans for their home, specifically home improvements (8.6 percent of loans requested in this state) or home buying (4.9 percent).
  • In Wyoming, residents request personal loans for medical expenses more than anywhere else (6.5 percent). In fact, most of the states where people are more likely to request a loan for medical costs are low-density states with more rural areas.
Source: LendingTree

See the full report here.

Cities Where Homeowners Stay Put the Longest (LendingTree), Rated: AAA

  • Cities with shorter housing tenure have greater price appreciation. The top 10 cities had an average tenure of 7.46 years and an average three-year home price appreciation of 12%. The bottom 10, with an average tenure of 6.63 years, have average price appreciation 30%. This suggests that higher housing turnover drives prices upwards, while faster price appreciation could be enticing home owners to sell.
  • The northeast dominates the list of cities with the longest tenure. The top three cities, Pittsburgh, New York and Buffalo are all in the northeast. An additional three northeastern cities are in the top 10 for a total of six.
  • Hot and sunny places have the shortest tenures. The three cities with the shortest tenures — Las Vegas, Phoenix and Austin — are all in warm-weather areas. This reflects high migration rates to those cities, something we looked at in a prior study on where Americans are moving. Denver is the only city in the bottom 10 that experiences a significant winter season.

A George Soros-backed fintech has raised millions to analyze consumer loan trends just as recession worries pick up steam (Business Insider), Rated: A

dv01, a New York-based startup, has raised $15 million in a series B round led by Pivot Investment Partners, a venture capital firm started by a a trio of bankers who worked together at Deutsche Bank AG. One of those ex-bankers, Dinkar Jetley, will join dv01’s board.

Kabbage hires chief revenue officer from LegalZoom (Biz Journals), Rated: A

Atlanta-based Kabbage Inc. has hired the chief marketing officer at LegalZoom as its new chief revenue officer.

Laura Goldberg‘s appointment is effective immediately, according to a Kabbage spokeswoman. She succeeds Victoria Treyger, who vacated the CRO position at Kabbage in August 2018 to accept a position with Felicis Ventures.

Varo Raises Annual Percentage Yield on Savings Account to Industry-Leading 2.80% (PR Newswire), Rated: AAA

In a move to make high-yield savings available to more Americans, no-fee mobile banking company Varo Money, Inc., announced today that it raised the Annual Percentage Yield (“APY”) on its FDIC-insured Varo Savings Account to 2.80% for customers whose Savings Account balance is $50,000 or less, and who have qualifying direct deposits and debit card purchases from their Varo Bank Account.1 An APY of 2.12%1 will apply if these conditions are not met.

Elevate’s RISE Brand Announces Scholarship to Promote Financial Literacy (BusinessWire), Rated: A

Elevate Credit, Inc. (“Elevate”), a tech-enabled provider of innovative and responsible online credit solutions for non-prime consumers, today announced that its largest consumer product, RISE, will offer college scholarships in an effort to promote financial literacy.

The RISE scholarship will offer five $5,000 awards each year to students who demonstrate a desire to improve their financial knowledge and educate others on personal finance. To be eligible for the scholarship, students must complete an online financial literacy course that was developed in partnership with digital education expert EVERFI.

Credit card player Petal picks up $ 30m funding (Fintech Futures), Rated: A

New York-based credit card firm Petal is back in the money with $30 million in Series B funding.

This is Petal’s second investment from Valar, which was also the lead investor in its Series A funding round. Back in October 2018, Petal got $34 million in financing.

Fintech targets banks keen for out-of-market CRE loans (American Banker), Rated: A

As more banks take the often risky step of expanding outside their traditional markets, especially through digital means, some fintechs sense an opportunity to offer them data they need to find new customers and assess risk.

LendingClub, OnDeck Capital and Lending Tree are each online lending platforms that have bet on this trend. CrediFi, a finance data provider, aims to do the same with a focus on one of the largest asset classes around: commercial real estate.

LoanSnap Raises $ 4.7M in Funding (Finsmes), Rated: A

LoanSnap, a San Francisco, CA-based creator of smart loan technology, raised an additional $4.7M in funding.

The round, which brought total financing to $17M, was led by Thomvest Ventures and existing investors.

Oxygen gets $ 2.3m funding for digital banking life (Fintech Futures), Rated: A

San Francisco-based digital banking service Oxygen has raised $2.3 million in funding to breathe life into its gig economy plans.

In this round it got funding from Digital Horizon Capital; Cynthia Chen, investor, advisor, executive and board member for several US-based fintechs and now co-founder and chief risk officer at Figure; ZMT Capital (China); Locus Ventures; Endure Capital; PioneerFund; Magic City; Light Bridge; Strawberry Creek; Base Ventures; The House Fund and Sam Yam, co-founder of Patreon.

Better Mortgage Secures $ 70 Million in Series C Funding from American Express Ventures and the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (PR Newswire), Rated: A

Better Mortgage, one of the leading digital mortgage lenders in the U.S., today announced its closing of $70 million in Series C financing from American Express Ventures and the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), in addition to existing investors Kleiner Perkins, Goldman Sachs, and Pine Brook. The new capital will support continued growth and investment in Better’s technology platform.

CFPB Announces $ 3.2 Million Settlement with Online Payday Lender (JD Supra), Rated: A

On January 25, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it had entered into a consent order with an online lender that extends unsecured payday and installment loans, as well as lines of credit, resolving allegations that the lender had engaged in unfair acts or practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531, 5536.

Popular ‘robo-advisor’ Betterment picks Philly for its first office outside New York; to hire 20 by end of 2019 (Philly.com), Rated: A

Betterment, a digital wealth manager popular among millennials, has picked Philadelphia for the first office outside its New York home base.

The company, which manages $15 billion in assets, plans to open a Philadelphia office as soon as February, according to founder Jon Stein. Betterment is looking for office space in Center City, with the intent of adding 20 employees in its computer and engineering departments by the end of 2019.

Numerated and PayNet Partner to Improve Digital Lending (BusinessWire), Rated: B

Numerated announces that it will integrate PayNet’s MasterScore v2 within its real-time lending and growth platform. PayNet, a leading commercial lending data and analytics firm, will integrate its proprietary database within Numerated’s customizable rules- and segment-based credit decisioning engine to offer banks additional business scoring criteria for managing risk when lending to businesses in real-time.

Planet Home Lending Opens Several Branches; Sees Growth in Business Channels (PR Newswire), Rated: B

Planet Home Lending, LLC opened 26 active distributed retail branches and brought on 165 mortgage loan originators in 2018. Planet Home Lending also enjoyed additional growth in 2018 in its other channels.

Senior Counsel, Litigation (Employment Focus) (Built in Chicago), Rated: B

Guaranteed Rate is building a winning team to reinvent the mortgage experience through innovation, technology and a relentless focus on providing industry-leading mortgage products and superlative customer service.  The Senior Counsel will embrace and support these efforts by working to pursue claims and resolve disputes as appropriate through negotiation, arbitration or litigation, with a particular focus on employment claims and matters.

United Kingdom

Lending Works hits £150m of loans in five years (AltFi), Rated: AAA

Lending Works, the peer-to-peer lender, has surpassed £150m in loans to households and firms.

Nick Harding, Lending Works Co-Founder and CEO, says the firm is aiming to reaching £300m loans by the end of 2019 thanks in part to its “greatest ISA season yet ”.

LendInvest provides GBP7.35 million bridging loan in under seven days (Property Funds World), Rated: A

UK property finance specialist LendInvest has facilitated a GBP7.35 million bridging finance loan for a developer in just seven days.

Brexit blamed for slowdown in consumer lending (P2P Finance News), Rated: A

UNSECURED consumer lending has slowed to its lowest level since 2014, as Brits scale back their spending amid Brexit uncertainty.

The latest Bank of England Money and Credit statistics also found that the total number of mortgage approvals fell from 126,794 to 124,829 in December 2018, indicating an overall lag in the lending market.

Meanwhile, mortgage approvals for house purchase were around 63,800 in December – just slightly less than the 2018 average of 65,200.

Ultimate Finance lends record £1.4bn to small firms (AltFi), Rated: A

Small business financer Ultimate Finance said it lent a record £1.4bn to small firms across the UK last year.

The Bristol-based business said its overall lending jumped 35 per cent in the year to December 2018, boosted by writing more loans across its operations.

It said its bridging loans more than doubled to £31m over the period, asset finance jumped 37 per cent to £46m, while invoice finance also increased by almost a quarter to £117m.

Primary Factors to Have At Hand When Borrowing Money Online (EconoTimes), Rated: A

Online borrowing should be all about convenience, and Loanski loans have made this aspect their rising pillar for excellence. The only requirement for one to apply for a loan through the platform is they must be United Kingdom residents and have an active bank account. These minimum requirements essentially mean that anyone who uses their bank accounts frequently can have the pleasures of having an instant loan when they need it the most.

China

Ant Financial’s money market fund shrinks to 2-year low (Financial Times), Rated: AAA

The world’s largest money-market mutual fund, Ant Financial’s Tianhong Yu’E Bao, was at its smallest for two years by the end of last year as Chinese regulators pressured it to downsize over concerns about systemic risk.

The shrinkage is a sign that Ant, the financial services business of Alibaba Group, is shifting away from marketing its own financial products to serving as a platform for other groups to access its huge customer base.

Cryptocurrency and pyramid schemes add to US$ 44.5 billion surge in illegal fundraising in China (SCMP), Rated: A

Chinese police investigated more than 10,000 cases of illegal fundraising last year, a 22 per cent rise in the caseload, according to China’s top prosecutors.

The total amount involved also rose, more than doubling to about 300 billion yuan (US$44.5 billion), the Supreme People’s Procuratorate said on Wednesday.

Apart from traditional hotbeds such as product marketing, real estate investment, and education, there has been a big rise in fundraising schemes in online lending, wealth management, private equity, cryptocurrency, and elderly care services.

European Union

Europe’s fintech companies are preparing for a no-deal Brexit (CNBC), Rated: AAA

Europe’s fintech companies are getting serious about the possibility of a no-deal Brexit.

As uncertainty looms over the U.K.’s split from the EU, the industry gathered this week at the Paris Fintech Forum. Payments providers, cryptocurrency exchanges and digital banks all said they were taking steps to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

N26 is a Berlin-based digital bank that was recently named one of Europe’s largest fintech start-ups.

Synsam Group and Klarna Launch Innovative Contact Lens Subscription in the Nordics (Webwire), Rated: A

Synsam Group has over 50 years of experience in improving people’s eye health and is today Sweden’s largest optician chain with over 190 stores in Sweden, and 500 stores throughout the Nordic region. One of the company’s most popular services is Synsam Lifestyle Contact Lens Subscription, which includes home deliveries and annual contact lens examinations. To create a better and smoother customer experience, Synsam Group and Klarna have developed a new concept that allows customers to subscribe to contact lenses by using their mobile phones instore, while they can manage all the administration around the subscription online.

International

China’s Ant Financial raised almost as much money as all US and European fintech firms combined (Quartz), Rated: AAA

When it comes to financial technology companies, Ant Financial is in it own league. The affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba raised $14 billion in venture capital last year, not far from the $15.9 billion for all fintech investments in the EU and US in the same period. A key question is whether the growth of the world’s most valuable fintech firm is an anomaly or a sign of things to come from China.

Ant Financial accounted for 35% of global venture capital investment in fintech firms last year, according to CB Insights.

Source: Quartz

Cross River and Railsbank Announce Partnership (BusinessWire), Rated: A

Cross River Bank (“Cross River”), a leading innovator and provider of banking services for financial technology companies, and Railsbank Technology Limited (“Railsbank”), a leading UK-based open banking and RegTech technology services platform, today announced that they have entered into a partnership arrangement that will provide Railsbank the opportunity to offer a variety of API-powered, banking and payment processing services across the U.S.

Fintech companies raised a record $ 39.6 billion in 2018 (Reuters), Rated: A

In the last three months of the year, five companies joined the coveted ranks of fintech “unicorns”, or companies valued at more than $1 billion. These include credit card provider Brex, digital bank Monzo and data aggregator Plaid.

Australia

Canada’s Eguana will set up local manufacturing to join South Australia Home Battery Scheme (Energy-Storage.news), Rated: AAA

The South Australia Home Battery Scheme, launched by the state government, offers a maximum of AU$6,000 assistance per household for the purchase of battery energy storage. Home storage systems are typically, but not always, paired with solar PV, and homeowners can get back between AU$500 and AU$600 per kilowatt hour of battery storage capacity purchased.

Announced in September and then launched a month later, the scheme will assist up to 40,000 households financially, with the state government putting in AU$100 million and peer-to-peer lending group RateSetter later committing the same amount of funding in the form of low-interest loans.

ING latest lender to hike variable home loan rates (Mozo), Rated: A

Online lender ING has become the latest bank to lift its variable home loan rates following an announcement earlier today.

The lender will raise rates across all of its variable rate home loan products by 15 basis points, effective as of February 7, 2019.

India

Small Business Lender Kabbage Expanding to India (Lend Academy), Rated: AAA

Kabbage has opened an office in Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) and plans to have 125 employees by year end. For comparison, the company has about 350 employees in their Atlanta headquarters.

To our knowledge Kabbage is the first US-based lender to enter the Indian market.

RBI directs P2P lenders to file quarterly reports on key metrics (TechCircle), Rated: AAA

Lending has been our star performer: MobiKwik founder (India Times), Rated: A

As of the end of the last financial year, we have a register user base of more than 107 Mn users and a network of over 3 Mn merchants. We are aiming at 400% growth this fiscal. We are aiming at 400% growth this fiscal. We are adding over 3 Mn new users every month, one of the highest in the industry. We will have close to 200 million users by the end of 2019.

A) Lending is growing by leaps and bounds ever since we started out. The opportunity is huge with less than 10% of Indians having access to credit.

Blockchain-based Loan Marketplace Streamsource Raises $ 1 Mn Seed Funding from Accel India (IndianWeb2), Rated: A

Gurgaon-based StreamSource Technologies, a decentralized marketplace for loans, has raised $1 million in seed funding from Accel India, making it Accel’s first local investment in the blockchain sector.

Indian banks unveil blockchain-linked funding for SMEs (Fintech Futures), Rated: A

A group of 11 Indian banks have teamed together to unveil the nation’s first blockchain-linked funding for SMEs.

According to the Economic Times, the participants include ICICI, Axis, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra, Yes Bank, Standard Chartered, RBL, South Indian Bank, IndusInd Bank, State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda.

How are interest rates set on P2P platforms? (India Times), Rated: A

“Borrowers on our platform are given a score out of 100, which determines their risk profile. A score of 52 to 60 points is high risk while a borrower with more than 60 points will get a lower interest rate,” says Bhavin Patel, Founder & CEO, LenDenClub.

IndiaMoneyMart App Brings P2P Investment and Wealth Creation for Masses (Business Standard), Rated: A

P2P lending or peer-to-peer lending is a mode of direct debt financing that enables individuals to borrow and lend money on mutual terms. Platforms like IndiaMoneyMart (IMM) eliminate the traditional financial institutions and enable businesses to flourish through a people to people contact.

P2P industry expectations from Budget 2019 (India Times), Rated: A

“While a great boost to the P2P industry would be via the regulator easing lending caps, we look forward to a critical role from the finance ministry for better financial inclusion by extending SOPs to retail investors,” says Dhiren Makhija, CEO, Cashkumar.

Here’s how you can invest in peer-to-peer lending (CNBCTV18), Rated: A

According to i2ifunding.com, a category A borrower may face the least risk while a category F borrower faces the highest risk.

Following interest rates are paid by borrowers across categories:

  • A category borrowers – 12.00 percent to 14.99 percent
  • B category borrowers – 15.00 percent to 17.49 percent
  • C category borrowers – 17.50 percent to 19.99 percent
  • D category borrowers – 20.00 percent to 22.49 percent
  • E category borrowers – 22.50 percent to 24.99 percent
  • F category borrowers – 25.00 percent to 36.00 percent

CreditVidya receives $ 3m funding to develop credit score tech (Fintech Futures), Rated: A

CreditVidya, an Indian alternative credit score firm, has raised $3 million in a funding round led by Bharat Innovation Fund.

Ryan Khoury, Navroz D. Udwadia and Rick Gerson (founding members of Falcon Edge Capital) also participated in the round.

Abhinav Kumar, of Trivago fame, joins Paisadukan as a marketing advisor (India Times), Rated: B

Digital marketing strategist Abhinav Kumar who shot to fame because of his appearance on television commercials of travel search engine Trivago has joined peer to peer lending platform Paisadukan as a digital marketing and branding advisor and also will be on the company’s advisory board.

Asia

P2P lending third most complained about business sector (The Jakarta Post), Rated: AAA

The country’s growing peer-to-peer (P2P) lending sector has become one of the most complained about business sectors partly because of high interest rates and aggressive debt collection practices, according to a report.

The report by the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) shows online lending platforms are the third most complained about business sector while property and banking rank second and first respectively.

NTU and Chinese online lender WeBank launch research centre (Straits Times), Rated: A

Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and China’s first digital-only bank have opened a research centre that aims to help customers manage their finances in real-time wherever they are.

NTU research scientists and engineers from WeBank will also study how to provide personalised wealth management advice to customers, among other projects, in the five-year partnership.

Authors:

George Popescu
Allen Taylor

The post Thursday January 31 2019, Weekly News Digest appeared first on Lending Times.

Thursday November 29 2018, Daily News Digest

GlobalData

News Comments Today’s main news: MPOWER Financing raises $110M. Funding Circle, BBB partner on SME lending. Zopa sells batch of defaulted loans. Yirendai misses earnings estimates by .17 EPS. RateSetter aiming to be Australia’s biggest consumer loans provider. Revolut greenlighted to expand into Singapore, Japan. Today’s main analysis: Is UK headed for credit card crisis? Today’s thought-provoking articles: 37.4% of purchase […]

GlobalData

News Comments

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Southeast Asia

Other

News Summary

United States

MPOWER Financing raises USD110 million in latest funding round (Private Equity Wire) Rated: AAA

MPOWER Financing, a fintech company providing educational loans to high-potential international and DACA students, has completed its largest funding round to-date with USD110 million in new financing for students enrolling in major US universities.

This latest round, led by Gray Matters Capital and Community Investment Management (CIM), will be used to support new product growth and technology enhancements as well as to finance MPOWER Financing’s expanding student loan portfolio.

“We co-created a unique type of debt with Community Investment Management’s leadership team. This USD100 million is just the beginning of MPOWER’s Capital Markets roadmap,” says Mike Davis, MPOWER Financing Chief Investment Officer and co-founder.

37.4% of Purchase Borrowers Received  Mortgage Rates Under 5% Last Week (LendingTree), Rated: AAA

  • For 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, 37.4% of purchase borrowers received offers under 5%, up from 29.4% the prior week. A year ago, 98.1% of purchase offers were under 5%.
  • Across all 30-year fixed-rate mortgage purchase applications on LendingTree, the most common interest rate was 4.875%, offered to 21.3% of borrowers.
  • 27.9% of 30-year fixed-rate mortgage refinance borrowers received offers under 5%, up from 20.1% the prior week. A year ago, 98.1% of refinance offers were under 5%.
  • Across all 30-year fixed-rate mortgage refinance applications, the most common interest rate was 5.00%, offered to 22.3% of borrowers.


5 Technologies And Trends Changing The Credit Industry (ValueWalk), Rated: AAA

New tools and advancements in the credit industry are transforming the way consumers borrow cash. Before, loan options were limited to government entities (Pag-IBIG and SSS), banks, credit cards, cash advance from credit cards, and loan sharks. These financial institutions (apart from loan sharks) are heavily regulated, but with a roster of new methods offered today, loaning has become more accessible and borrower-friendly.

The Future of Fintech Video Series: Intuit Consumer Group (ATM Marketplace), Rated: A

Intuit Consumer Group’s Varun Krishna gives some background on the company’s latest partnerships with Lending club and Wealthfront. This interview is part of a video series, “The Future of Fintech,” produced by Mobile Payments Today and powered by Galileo Processing.

MPL Loan Performance Monitor (as of August 2018) (PeerIQ), Rated: A

Highlights from the August 2018 MPL Loan Performance Monitor :

  • Our MPL Loan Performance Monitor tracks the delinquency rates, cumulative losses, cumulative prepays and transition matrices using public marketplace lending data that comprises unsecured consumer loans originated by Marketplace Lenders.
  • Delinquencies on the 2017 vintage in the first 18 months are lower than those on the 2015 and 2016 vintages with lenders having tightened underwriting standards.
  • Cumulative loss rates on the 2017 vintage are lower than those on the 2015 and 2016 vintages. Cumulative losses on the 2015-2017 vintages are outpacing those on earlier vintages.
  • Cumulative prepayments have picked up, with the 2017 vintage paying significantly faster than all prior vintages.

Lendio Recognized as a Great Place to Work for Third Consecutive Year (Lendio), Rated: A

Lendio was certified for the third consecutive year as a great workplace by the independent analysts at Great Place to Work. Lendio earned this credential based on extensive ratings provided by its employees in anonymous surveys. A summary of these ratings can be found at 

Four Major Fintech Trends In The Self-Directed IRA Industry (Forbes), Rated: A

Fintech has helped significantly increase the number of investment options available to self-directed IRA investments. From online crowdfunding platforms to peer-to-peer lending portals, as well as cryptocurrency and digital asset exchanges, new financial technology has helped self-directed IRA investors gain access to new and exciting investment opportunities in an efficient and secure investment environment.

There has never been a better time to find a bad credit mortgage (Mortgage Introducer), Rated: A

Research conducted by the Online Mortgage Adviser website has discovered that up to 70% of potential mortgage applicants fail to approach lenders or other service providers because they mistakenly believe that their personal circumstances or financial histories will preclude them from being considered.

The study, which was based upon a survey of over 2,000 people nationwide, found that almost 50% of respondents believed that a low credit score, or evidence of previous issues, would automatically disqualify their application. 33% and 15% (respectively) felt that a zero-hour contract or payday loan would prevent them from achieving a mortgage loan.

stREITwise Launches Invest for a Cause (GlobeNewswire), Rated: A

stREITwise, an investment vehicle that makes commercial real estate investments accessible to everyone, is announcing the second annual Invest for a Cause holiday campaign. Through December 31st, their executive team will personally make a donation equal to 2% of any new investment to a non-profit of the investor’s choice.

2018’s Top Takeaways (Commercial Property Executive), Rated: A

But perhaps the biggest catchphrase of 2018 represents the rapidly evolving technologies that are benefiting—and some even say revolutionizing—the commercial real estate industry. So-called “proptech” includes a range of building performance solutions, along with financial benefits like the developing blockchain process protections and growth of the still fledging real estate crowdfunding business. (Our most recent discussions include our Mission: Success profile of MetaProp’s founders and the CFO Corner column “3 Ways to Leverage Fintech.”)

Small Banks Join Forces To Bring Fintech To Customers (Forbes), Rated: A

The move is driven in part by a desire to innovate and part survival. It comes as millennials are bypassing branches and traditional banking services for the fintech offerings at an increasing rate. Take Quicken Loans, the Detroit-based lender that operates Rocket Mortgage it’s completely digital platform, for one glaring example.

Stocks Hold Onto Gains Ahead of Powell Speech (Nasdaq) Rated: A

Counterstrike: The market looks like it might rise into the G-20 meeting that begins on Friday, so Jeremy thought this was a good time to pick up a couple names. Firstly, the editor added a 6% allocation in online marketplace Lending Tree (TREE), which has been halved from its 2018 highs. But it could be poised for a sharp move higher as a strong quarterly report has exposed its oversold position.

Online Lender Settles With FTC Over Refinancing Misrepresentations (Manatt), Rated: A

Issuing a warning to other lenders, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reached a deal with an online lender over charges the company violated the FTC Act by making false statements about student loan refinancing.

Velocity Commercial Capital Chooses SS&C for its Finance Transformation (SS&C), Rated: A

SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq:SSNC), a global provider of financial services software and software-enabled services, today announced that Velocity Commercial Capital, LLC (‘Velocity’) has signed a multi-year agreement with SS&C Primatics’ EVOLV platform. EVOLV will help Velocity transform their financial operations and capitalize on growth opportunities in a controlled environment. Velocity, a direct portfolio lender, provides investment property loans for residential 1-4, multi-family, mixed-use and small balance commercial properties.

Guaranteed Rate Expands Its Footprint in Hawaii (GlobeNewswire), Rated: B

Guaranteed Rate, Inc. (“Guaranteed Rate”), one of the largest independent retail mortgage companies in the United States, today announced that it will acquire certain assets of Honolulu HomeLoans (HHL) and Hawaii Lending Alliance (HLA), growing its existing Guaranteed Rate presence in the Hawaii market and adding an experienced team of mortgage professionals.

BFS Capital Appoints Mark Ruddock as Chief Executive Officer (Citizen Tribune), Rated: B

BFS Capital announced today the appointment of Mark Ruddock as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. He will also join the company’s Board of Directors.

United Kingdom

Funding Circle and BBB announce £150m SME lending partnership (Bridging & Commercial), Rated: AAA

The British Business Bank (BBB) has committed to lend up to £150m to UK small businesses through Funding Circle.

The transaction has been made under the bank’s ENABLE Funding programme and is expected to support the growth of over 2,000 UK companies.

The new facility will provide senior financing to a transaction with the Funding Circle SME Income Fund Limited, the publicly traded fund that lends exclusively through Funding Circle.

Zopa sells batch of defaulted loans to boost investor returns (P2P Finance News), Rated: AAA

ZOPA has sold a batch of defaulted loans to a debt collection agency, which it says will enable a faster and higher recovery for investors.

The peer-to-peer consumer lender informed its investors last week about the debt sale. It said that it has received upfront payment for the loans in question and will pass on the proceeds to investors within the next couple of weeks.

The UK could be headed for a credit card crisis (GlobalData Email), Rated: AAA

Almost three quarters of retail consumers in the UK (those with liquid assets between £0 and £3,918) do not pay off their credit card balances in full each month, says 

Britain’s creative industries break the £100 billion barrier (Gov.UK), Rated: A

The UK’s roaring creative industries made a record contribution to the economy in 2017, smashing through the £100 billion mark.

Its value of the creative industries to the UK is up from £94.8 billion in 2016 to £101.5 billion, and has grown at nearly twice the rate of the economy since 2010, according to figures published today by the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS).

It continues to perform highly and over the last two months British tech firms Monzo, Farfetch and Funding Circle have surpassed the $1 billion mark, meaning they are now so-called ‘unicorns’.

China

Yirendai (YRD) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $ 0.17 EPS (Fairfield Current), Rated: AAA

Yirendai (NYSE:YRD) announced its earnings results on Monday, November 12th. The technology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.17), Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $163.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $179.48 million. Yirendai had a return on equity of 40.40% and a net margin of 18.56%. The company’s revenue was down 28.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS.

Source: Fairfield Current

Senmiao Technology (AIHS) Acquires 60% Equity Interest in Chinese Automobile Financial Leasing (StreetInsider), Rated: AAA

Senmiao Technology Limited (NASDAQ: AIHS), an online lending platform in China connecting investors with individual and small-to-medium-sized enterprise borrowers and creditors, today announced that it entered into an Investment and Equity Transfer Agreement (the “Agreement”) to acquire a 60% equity interest in Hunan Ruixi Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. (“Ruixi”), a Chinese licensed financial leasing company focusing on the auto industry with registered capital of $10 million. In exchange for the 60% equity interest in Ruixi from its three existing shareholders, Senmiao has agreed to contribute $6 million in registered capital to Ruixi. The acquisition closed on November 22, 2018.

Beyond The Sugar Rush: Strategic Stimulus For Chinese Stocks (Seeking Alpha), Rated: A

Private companies and even individuals have taken full advantage of loose credit conditions. Rising corporate bond defaults and nonperforming loans, as well as the recent collapse of hundreds of peer-to-peer lending platforms, suggest that at least in some cases, the money came too easily. Concerned global equities investors are already applying a substantial discount to Chinese stocks because of debt issues.

European Union

‘Inconsistent and punitive’ employee ownership rules are damaging Europe’s start-ups, say tech bosses (Telegraph), Rated: AAA

A group of thirty European tech start-ups have warned that the European Union’s “inconsistent and often punitive rules” employee ownership rules are hindering their businesses.

The entrepreneurs, which include the founders and chief executives of iZettle, TransferWise and Delivery Hero, stated that laws across the continent make it costly for employers to give out stock options to employees.

The warning to EU policymakers, in an open letter, comes as research by venture capitalists Index Ventures finds that employees own only 10 per cent of late-stage start-ups in Europe, because of limitations brought about by regulations.  However in the US it is 20 per cent.

Online Lender October Officially Launches in the Netherlands (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: A

Online lender October (formerly Lendix) has launched in the Netherlands. Alongside this expansion, the Paris based October is providing SME financing in France, Spain, and Italy.

According to a note from October, SMEs may apply for loans ranging from €30,000 and up to €3.5 million.

Solactive Launches New Sharing Economy Index (Mondo Visione), Rated: B

Solactive is pleased to announce the launch of the Solactive Sharing Economy Index. It tracks companies active in the Sharing Economy, and other modern economies such as on-demand and subscription.

Formerly being attributed to open-source communities, the umbrella term “Sharing Economy“, nowadays reflects various economic activities such as peer-to-peer sharing of goods and services.

International

Zero Fees and Interest-free Loans in Decentralized Credit Networks (NewsBTC), Rated: AAA

Money lending is the core principle of any functioning economy. Decentralized credit networks which have recently seen a rapid increase in popularity promise easy and global access to credit and loans for businesses and the public by immediately connecting borrowers and lenders on the platform. Users of IOU credit networks can even take advantage of interest-free loans and zero fees.

Australia

RateSetter putting pieces in place to be Australia’s biggest consumer loans provider (Finder), Rated: AAA

When RateSetter started operations in Australia four years ago, the peer-to-peer (P2P) lending industry was in its infancy and its risk-based, investor-funded loan was seen as an alternative. But a lot can happen in four years. Today, major banks such as CommBank, HSBC and Citi use risk-based pricing, once only the domain of P2P lenders, while the formerly “alternative” RateSetter funded over $25 million in consumer loans this month.

Foggo said the lender has been “determined” to focus on specific products. One of its new ones is a renewable energy loan which it launched two and a half years ago.

India

Suspension of Aadhaar verification to hit lending of small fintech players (The Hindu Business Line), Rated: AAA

Fintech players, especially online lenders in the personal and consumer loans segment, are likely to face slowdown in business following the Supreme Court order that prevents private companies from seeking Aadhaar data for e-KYC and e-signatures.

Asia

Fintech firm Revolut gets green light to expand to Japan and Singapore (CNBC), Rated: AAA

British mobile bank Revolut has obtained licenses to operate in Japan and Singapore as it readies an expansion into Asia.

The London-based financial technology firm said Thursday that it had acquired a remittance license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore and full authorization from Japan’s Financial Services Agency.

It said Thursday that it intends to launch its platform in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region in the first quarter of 2019, and is looking to select Singapore to host its APAC headquarters.

Online lending platform Oriente announces 5m initial funding for Southeast Asia (kr-Asia), Rated: A

Hong Kong-based online lender Oriente today announced a US$105 million initial round of financing to scale its business across Southeast Asia. The fintech startup already runs lending platforms in the Philippines and Indonesia and will launch in Vietnam soon.

Tapping into digital economy (The Jakarta Post), Rated: A

According to the latest survey by Google and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, Indonesia’s digital economy is projected to triple to US$100 billion by 2025 from $27 billion this year, given the mushrooming of the country’s online marketplaces. The projection is not an exaggeration as indicated by the huge transaction values at a recent online shopping festival, dubbed a warm-up for the National Online Shopping Day in mid-December.

P2P lending transactions total Rp 13.8 trillion in first three quarters (The Jakarta Post), Rated: A

According to Financial Services Authority (OJK) data, transactions through peer to peer (P2P) lending totaled Rp 13.8 trillion (US$951 million) in the first three quarters of 2018, with the non-performing loan (NPL) rate recorded at 1.2 percent.

P2P lending transactions in 2018 have increased drastically compared to the last two years, with the OJK recording Rp 284 billion in transactions in December 2016 and Rp 2.56 trillion in December 2017.

Who’s afraid of peer-to-peer lending? (Bangkok Post), Rated: A

The recent announcement by the Bank of Thailand on peer-to-peer (P2P) lending rules represents a significant paradigm shift. If all goes to plan, by early next year Thailand will be among the few Asian countries, most notably China and Indonesia, to legalise this match-making platform between lenders and borrowers.

Bukalapak eyes investment products, P2P lending to cash in on fintech opportunity (Deal Street Asia), Rated: B

Indonesia’s online marketplace unicorn Bukalapak is planning to cast a wider net in the country’s booming fintech market. The company is looking at launching new investment products and enter new verticles such as P2P lending and remittances, co-founder and president Muhamad Fajrin Rasyid told this portal.

Authors:

George Popescu
Allen Taylor

Thursday November 22 2018, Daily News Digest

Major European Neobanks Customers

News Comments Today’s main news: Prosper to introduce HELOCs. Affirm to rebrand, get into travel. Elevate Credit misses earnings estimates. Zopa says parents borrow from children’s piggy banks. Revolut wants to raise $500M through SoftBank. LexinFintech shares jump 8% on 363% earnings increase. Fintonic, Amazon partner in Spain. Today’s main analysis: Are we in an online lending bubble? Today’s thought-provoking articles: […]

Major European Neobanks Customers

News Comments

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China

European Union

International

Other

News Summary

United States

Prosper Announces HELOCs, Releases Q3 2018 Earnings (Lend Academy) Rated: AAA

Prosper noted that according to a 2017 TransUnion Study an estimated 10 million consumers will take out HELOCs between 2018 and 2022 which would be more than double the number originated from 2012-2016.

The new HELOC product will launch officially in early 2019.

Prosper also reported their Q3 2018 results today. Originations were $640.3 million, down 22% over the prior year period. Prosper attributed the decrease to credit tightening as well as the increase of interest rates to borrowers. The company has now originated $13.4 billion since inception. Net revenues also decreased as a result of decreased originations, with net revenue falling from $28.8 million in Q3 2017 to 20.6 million in Q3 2018. Below is a summary of Prosper’s other financial highlights that are availing in the company’s 10-Q.

Source: Lend Academy

Funding Circle US: Consumers will eschew Amazon to support small firms (Peer2Peer Finance) Rated: AAA

FUNDING Circle US has found that the majority of US consumers still make the effort to shop at independent small businesses and would be willing to pay more for the same item than it costs at e-commerce giant Amazon.

The peer-to-peer business lender, which recently floated on the London Stock Exchange, published the results of a survey on US consumers’ support for small businesses.

It found that 77 per cent of 2,171 US adults surveyed said they were willing to pay more for items at small businesses in order to keep money within their communities and support local jobs.

60 per cent of respondents said they would pay a 10 per cent premium or more on Amazon prices.

PayPal co-founder’s installments firm, Affirm, rebrands, gets into travel (Payments Source) Rated: AAA

PayPal co-founder Max Levchin has built a $1.8 billion business offering installment plans to American consumers. The problem: most shoppers have no idea they’re using his company, Affirm, when they choose how to pay at checkout.

Now, in an effort to make its name synonymous with online installment plans, Affirm is rebranding. Besides a new logo, the firm will list all the retailers it works with on its website. Affirm will also focus on travel, letting consumers pay for vacations over time.

How PayPal Co-Founder Levchin’s Installments Firm Is Rebranding (Bloomberg) Rated: AAA

Levchin Says Crypto Not a Good Currency But He Likes the Tech (Bloomberg) Rated: A

Elevate Credit (ELVT) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By

Elevate Credit (ELVT) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.23 EPS (Fairfield Current) Rated: AAA

.23 EPS (Fairfield Current) Rated: AAA

Elevate Credit (NYSE:ELVT) announced its earnings results on Monday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.13 by ($0.23), MarketWatch Earnings reports. Elevate Credit had a positive return on equity of 12.69% and a negative net margin of 0.49%. The business had revenue of $201.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $201.71 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.01 EPS. Elevate Credit’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. Elevate Credit updated its FY18 guidance to $0.23-0.32 EPS.

Source: Fairfield Current

Amazon: Fundrise Allows You to Invest in Property Near Amazon’s DC Headquarters with New eFund (Crowdfund Insider) Rated: A

Real estate investment platform Fundrise says it has been quietly accumulating property near the area Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has just announced they will be establishing a new headquarters. Amazon’s east coast headquarters will create a huge economic impact for the DC/Northern Virginia market, not to mention increased demand for housing and apartments. Fundrise says it has invested in 30 different buildings in expectation of rising demand. Fundrise is offering a new investment fund for this purpose: HQ2 DC eFund.

According to Fundrise, the fund already features residential properties – ranging from houses, townhomes and condominiums – with plans to invest as much as $50 million in the area. This eFund, issued under Reg A+,  allows any investor the opportunity to capitalize on expected local real estate growth in the wake of Amazon’s announcement.

RealtyShares starting to crumble after lack of venture capital (Born2Invest) Rated: A

The website started out strong. From 2014 to 2016, venture capital was pouring in from crowdfunding firms. However, investors became less interested in the portal as the investment minimum started to ramp up steadily. Company founder Nav Athwal, who had left the company’s board earlier this year, is still a minority shareholder. He also has no idea what happened to the company he helped found.

He, however, has a few words for startups. “Don’t let your burn rates get really large, strive for cash-efficiency or profitability sooner rather than later. Build a resilient business that can continue growing, regardless of where the venture capital markets are.” He adds that a startup should understand its investors and its growth limit as well.

Are we in an online lending bubble? (Tearsheet) Rated: AAA

We’re in an interesting time in online lending. After years of fits and starts and boatloads of money flowing into the sector, record originations are being set all over the industry. We recently explored online lending trends going into 2019 and what participants in the sector are expecting in the near future.

Both consumer and business lenders are tracking strongly:

While personal loans have surged to a record as the fastest-growing U.S. consumer-lending category, according to data from credit bureau TransUnion, it’s fintech firms that are driving a lot of that growth.

Source: Tearsheet

Amalgamated Bank joins $ 26 million closing of Insikt social bond securitization (Impact Alpha) Rated: A

The fintech firm packages up the loans the into securities, which it then issues as bonds to financial institutions, foundations and private investors. Its latest $26 million securitizationattracted Amalgamated Bank, a B-corp-certified commercial bank that went public on the NASDAQ stock exchange in June.

The issuance marks Insikt’s fifth securitization this year, backed by 21,000 loans. INSIKT’s total securitization volume across 16 issuances reached $273 million.

If Recession Comes in 2020, What Will Innovation Look Like? (Bank Innovation) Rated: A

JPMorgan Chase last month predicted a 60% chance of recession by 2020, and that increases to an 80% chance by 2021. It’s not clear how traumatic an event it would be for the U.S. economy, but considering all the new players that have jumped onto the financial scene since the last downturn a decade ago.

CrowdOut Funds More “Eatertainment” (Business Wire) Rated: A

CrowdOut Capital announced the completion of a $20 million facility to Punch Bowl Social, the L Catterton–backed restaurant group that is defining the evolving category of experiential dining. The proceeds will enable the leader in the “eatertainment movement” to open multiple new locations throughout the U.S. This marks the second time Punch Bowl Social has worked with CrowdOut, choosing its flexible debt over traditional loans from financial institutions.

Sell Your House Without Making a Move – Figure Introduces a Smart Alternative for Baby Boomers to Secure Their Retirement (Corp Magazine) Rated: A

Figure Technologies, Inc. (Figure), a FinTech company creating innovative products and tools that empower homeowners to improve their finances, announced today Figure Home Advantage, a smart sell-and-leaseback alternative to reverse mortgages for retirees and a new way for Baby Boomers to lock in record housing prices as they plan their retirement. With Figure Home Advantage, homeowners convert their home equity into cash they can put to use now while continuing to enjoy life at home without the ongoing burden of property taxes, repairs, and maintenance.

Roughly 10,000 Baby Boomers turn 65 years old in the U.S. every day. A study by the National Conference of State Legislators and AARP found that 90 percent of people over age 65 want to stay in their home for as long as absolutely possible. Yet, most older Americans don’t have enough savings to cover retirement expenses or realize the lifestyle they’d imagined. According to a survey by the Insured Research Institute (IRI), only 25 percent of Baby Boomers believe they will have enough money in retirement.

Lenders Extending More Loans to Subprime Consumers as Credit Market Continues to Exhibit Signs of Strength (AP News) Rated: A

Auto loans, credit cards and personal loans all saw year-over-year growth in subprime originations this past quarter, a sign that lenders are returning to this space following several consecutive quarters of declining originations. The latest TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) Industry Insights Report includes insights into consumer credit trends around personal loans, auto loans, credit cards and mortgage loans through the third quarter of 2018.

TransUnion’s report found that origination growth in the subprime risk tier grew at a significant rate across auto, personal loans and credit cards following declines in 2017. Subprime originations in the personal loan category grew 28% between Q2 2017 and Q2 2018 (originations are viewed one quarter in arrears to account for reporting lag), compared to a yearly decline of 7.1% over the prior year. Auto showcased a similar trend, as independent lenders began issuing new loans to subprime consumers following industry pullback in 2016 and 2017. Subprime auto originations increased 7.3% year-over-year, after falling 7.8% year-over-year in Q2 2017.

Are you a minority borrower? You might want to think twice about using an online lender. (The Washington Post) Rated: A

It’s not just bank loan officers with racial biases who discriminate against black and Latino borrowers. Computer algorithms do, too.

That is the groundbreaking conclusion of University of California at Berkeley researchers who found that algorithmic credit scoring using big data is no better than humans at evening the playing field when it comes to determining home mortgage interest rates.

Both online and human lenders earn 11 to 17 percent higher profits off minority borrowers by charging African Americans and Latinos steeper rates, the study said. Black and Latino consumers pay 5.6 to 8.6 basis points higher interest on home purchase loans than their white or Asian counterparts with similar credit profiles — no matter whether they obtained their loans through a face-to-face process or online. The effect is smaller when it comes to refinancing, with black and Latino borrowers paying 3 basis points more.

Read the full report here.

AI-Driven Lead Distribution for Mortgage Lending Helps Loan Officers Deliver Faster Results (Verb Factory Email) Rated: A

ProPair, an innovative mortgage-industry technology start-up based in Silicon Valley, today launched an AI-based lead distribution solution that eliminates the uncertainty of the lead assignment process while optimizing results and ensuring fairness in the assignment process. Using artificial intelligence to correlate lead data with information about individual loan officers, ProPair facilitates the lead assignment process to allow lenders to distribute leads to maximize the performance of the entire loan team.

White Oak Healthcare Finance Provides $ 190 Million Financing for BM Eagle’s 17 SNF Portfolio (Business Wire) Rated: B

White Oak Healthcare Finance, LLC (“White Oak”), today announced it acted as administrative agent and lead lender on the funding of a $190 million senior credit facility of 17 skilled nursing facilities for BM Eagle Holdings, LLC (“BM Eagle”), a joint venture led by affiliates of BlueMountain Capital Management, LLC (“BlueMountain”). The facilities are located in Northern California and New England.

United Kingdom

Zopa: Parents borrowing from children’s piggy banks (Peer2Peer Finance) Rated: AAA

ZOPA research has found that two fifths of parents have admitted to raiding their children’s piggy banks to borrow cash.

Parents surveyed by the peer-to-peer consumer lender confessed to borrowing money from their kids with a fifth taking over £250 a year.

However, 80 per cent of parents said they will also be giving their children cash as a Christmas present this year.

Nearly a quarter of children can look forward to a gift of up to £100, whilst a lucky three per cent will be receiving more than £500 in cash.

Revolut is in talks with Softbank to raise $ 500 million (Business Insider) Rated: AAA

UK neobank Revolut is currently in talks with the Softbank fund, which is worth $92 billion, for its next funding round, according to City AM. The talks are still early on, but the funding round could be as high as $500 million. It’s not clear whether existing investors, including Draper Esprit and Index Ventures, would participate in the next round.

Source: Business Insider

Monzo to offer cash deposits via PayPoint (FinExtra) Rated: A

PayPoint has announced today that challenger bank, Monzo, has chosen PayPoint’s cash payments solution for its current account holders. Beginning Wednesday 21 November, customers will be able to deposit up to £300 cash directly into their Monzo account in a single transaction at any of PayPoint’s 28,000 convenience stores nationwide.

Starling Bank’s £10m funding helps it make a stand to Monzo (Fintech Future) Rated: A

Starling Bank, the mobile-only bank, has secured £10 million of new capital from Bahamas-based hedge fund manager Harald McPike.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the funding is in preparation for a £80 million round to keep up, or perhaps surpass, other mobile challengers like Monzo, which recently raised £85 millionto reach a £1.5 billion valuation, and getting over 1.1 million customers.

Why data scientists solve irrelevant problems (Bobs Guide) Rated: A

In today’s challenging financial market businesses need to utilize every available resource and technology to reduce risk when processing payments and credit applications. One area in particular that is often talked about, but still either under or incorrectly utilized, is data science.

While many financial institutions are working towards implementing data science within their risk decisioning processes many are still working on creating an environment and culture that allows data scientists to be fully effective.

In a recent webinar Ken Schultz, VP of data science at Elevate Credit – better known under their brand Sunny in the UK -discussed the benefits data science can bring to a financial services organization, including the opportunity to increase accuracy, expand your market, and reduce fraud, all of which can be used to drive business growth.

Lending Works Appoints Three New Board Members, Targets P2P Growth (Crowdfund Insider) Rated: B

Peer to peer lender Lending Works has selected three new members for their Board of Directors. The online lender has appointed; Simon Waugh, former Chairman of CMC Markets, Deputy CEO of British Gas, Paul Noble, CEO of Honeycomb Finance, a Pollen Street Capital business, and Melanie Goward, Investment Director of Maven Capital Partners.

Barclays partners with MarketInvoice (The MarketInvoice Blog) Rated: B

MarketInvoice and Barclays today announced a partnership deal that is set to transform the way small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the UK manage cash flow and accelerate growth.

The bank has committed to a significant minority stake in MarketInvoice to give Barclays’ SME clients seamless access to innovative forms of finance. The new partnership is a key part of Barclays’ plans to invest in new business models for growth, and MarketInvoice’s ambition to broaden its reach across the UK.

China

Shares of LexinFintech Jump 8% In Early Trading as Earnings Soar 363% (Capital Watch) Rated: AAA

LexinFintech Holdings Ltd. (Nasdaq: LX) saw its shares jump more than 8 percent in early trading Wednesday after the company, an online peer-to-peer lending platform in China, posted better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter with net income increasing more than fourfold.

Despite recent market uncertainty, the Shenzhen-based lender said its operating revenue for the third three months increased more than 13 percent year-over-year to $246.7 million thanks to a 404 percent jump in income from its loan facilitation and servicing fees.

Net income for the quarter was $46 million, or 25 cents per fully diluted ADS, up from $9.93 million a year ago.

Source: Capital Watch

Tencent reboots profits as growth picks up beyond games (Nikkei Asian Review) Rated: AAA

China’s Tencent Holdings handed investors a much-needed profit recovery in the third quarter as revenue rose beyond online games, but the company warned that stricter regulation by Beijing on online advertising could sap growth.

The social media and online game group, which has lost about 40% of its market value since March as China has stalled approval of new games, beat market forecasts thanks to contributions from ads and cloud computing.

Source: Nikkei

China Rapid Finance to Announce Third Quarter 2018 Financial Results on November 20, 2018 (Acrofan) Rated: A

China Rapid Finance Limited (“China Rapid Finance” or the “Company”) (NYSE: XRF), operator of one of China’s largest consumer lending marketplaces, today announced that it plans to release its third quarter 2018 financial results on Tuesday, November 20, 2018, after U.S. market closes.

China Rapid Finance’s management will host an earnings conference call at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time on November 20, 2018, (9:00 a.m. Beijing/Hong Kong Time on November 21, 2018).

Why China’s online lending crisis makes liberalisation of bank interest rates more urgent (South China Morning Post) Rated: A

How big is China’s fintech sector? I would say, Britain’s peer-to-peer (P2P) lender Funding Circle plus payday lender Wonga times 100. In addition to giants such as Alibaba’s Ant Financial, Pingan’s Lufax and Tencent’s WeBank, a dozen mid-size operators have gone public in the US and Hong Kong in the past 18 months alone. There are also 40 to 50 serious players that are waiting in the wings to go public. However, as the year-long official clampdown has revealed, there are far too many also-ran operators and Ponzi schemes about.

In just five to six years, fintech has surged to levels over US$200 billion in terms of total assets.

Cash-Strapped Online Lenders Ordered to Repay Investors (Caixin Global) Rated: A

Some local governments have ordered cash-strapped peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms to begin repaying their investors to head off growing turmoil in the industry.

Hangzhou-based P2P lending platform Yucaiyuan recently announced that the company “did not meet regulatory requirements and was ordered to start repaying (investors),” according to a post on the lender’s website (link in Chinese). The firm will have to repay the principal and interest on all outstanding loans until investors are fully repaid. It has 12 months to do so.

Regulators in the eastern city want to rein in what had once been runaway growth in the industry. They plan to do this by clearing out small and midsize platforms one step at a time, a P2P lender told Caixin.

European Union

Fintonic Links Up with Amazon (Finovate) Rated: AAA

Personal finance app Fintonic announced today it will collaborate with Amazon in Spain. Starting next week, Fintonic customers in Spain will be able to finance their Amazon.es purchases ranging from $225 to $1,100 (€200 to €1,000) at a rate of 0% interest for up to four months.

Mintos to Provide Debit Cards and IBAN Accounts to Investors (P2P Banking) Rated: AAA

P2P lending marketplace Mintos has raised 5 million EUR in a Series A. The money is earmarked to provide new features for investors.

Crowdlending campaign raises total of €1.5 million for the first time (The Brussels Times) Rated: A

A crowdlending campaign has, for the first time, raised a total of €1.5 million in Belgium.

The announcement came on Wednesday from the platform Look&Fin, which specialises in such participative finance loans. The company, Carimat Matériaux, based in Braine-le-Château and active in construction, has raised this record amount.

In total, 483 individuals have invested in Carimat Matériaux, for a global total of €1.5 million. The group, which has specialised in construction since 1988, recorded a turnover of €56 million in 2017 and employs more than 170 people.

Berlin-based fintech startup Bonify raises funding to provide free credit scores and financial advice (EU Startups) Rated: A

Want to apply for a loan, but you’re unsure about your credit score? The Berlin-based startup Bonify provides free, easy-to-read credit reports. Users can use the startup’s platform or app to check and correct their scores, monitor changes, and receive tips on personal finance and how to optimise their scores.

Bonify evaluates consumers real-time creditworthiness, enabling them to improve their financial wellbeing through tailored financial and non-financial recommendations. The app delivers recommendations for how consumers can save money, for instance by switching to a different loan or energy provider. Bonify is also able to predict six to eight weeks in advance when its users might go into their overdraft, and provide personalised suggestions for how to avoid this.

Italian lendtech Credimi feeling dreamy with €10m funding (Fintech Futures) Rated: A

The investment funds came via United Ventures and Vertis, as well as some of the (unnamed) investors who took part in the first round of €8.5 million in September 2015.

Ignazio Rocco di Torrepadula, Credimi founder and CEO, and cool name winner, says: “Credimi’s initial start-up phase has been exhilarating, with results that have far exceeded our expectations.

SME Online Lender Creditshelf Names Fabian Brügmann New CFO (Crowdfund Insider) Rated: B

Creditshelf Aktiengesellschaft, a Germany based online lender, announced on Wednesday it has appointed Fabian Brügmann as its new CFO, effective on January 15, 2019. The lender reported that this appointment continues its planned expansion of its management team and in the newly formed position, Brügmann will be responsible for Finance and Investor Relations and directly report to Dr. Tim Thabe, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of Creditshelf. He will not serve as a member of the Management Board himself.

According to Creditshelf, Brügmann previously worked as Director of Investor Relations at Commerzbank AG, where he was the contact for shareholders, fixed-income investors, and sell-side analysts. He joined the bank’s Corporate Development and Corporate Finance team in 2012. As IR Manager, Brügmann worked on the capital market communication for the “Commerzbank 4.0” strategy. He previously spent six years with the U.S. bank Goldman Sachs in Frankfurt and London.

Small Business Lender iwoca Appoints Seema Desai as COO (Crowdfund Insider) Rated: B

Online lender iwoca has selected Seema Desai as their new Chief Operations Officer (COO). iwoca provides loans of up to £200,000 to small and micro businesses across the UK, Germany, and Poland via its website and through partner integrations using its proprietary Lending API.

Desai joined iwoca in January 2017 as Head of People, developing the company’s organizational capabilities. Prior to joining iwoca, Seema led the development of the Innovative Finance ISA at peer-to-peer lender Zopa as Head of Product.

As COO, Desai is expected to help scale customer service that has helped propel iwoca to become one of the fastest growing business lender in the UK.

International

Prodigy Finance Launches Refinance Product for International Working Graduates Looking to Reduce Financial Costs (PR Newswire) Rated: A

Prodigy Finance, the pioneer in cross-border finance, announces the launch of a loan refinance product for international working graduates looking to reduce their student debt. The product will allow these alumni, who previously had limited options available to them, to save at least US$20,0001 over the life of the loan, by accessing lower rates and choices of terms.

The edge a serial entrepreneur sees in challenger banks (American Banker) Rated: A

Challenger bank entrepreneur Anthony Thomson has had several lives in banking and fintech.

In 2010, with Commerce Bank founder Vernon Hill, he co-founded Metro Bank, which started with one location in London and now has more than 56 branches and 2,800 employees. Thomson founded a second challenger bank in 2014 called Atom Bank, the first mobile-only bank in the U.K. As of March, it had 1.3 billion pounds of deposits and lent 1.2 billion pounds in mortgages and small-business loans.

Thomson is currently working on his third institution, called 86,400, a mobile-first challenger bank slated to launch in Australia in early 2019.

So it’s fair to say Thomson has learned a lot about what it takes to raise money and how to make it as a neobank entrepreneur.

The Ripple Effect: Crypto Backed Lending Platform Exploring XRP-Powered xRapid (The Daily Hodl) Rated: A

The crypto lending platform Nexo says it’s exploring Ripple’s xRapid, which uses XRP to boost the speed and lower the cost of cross-border payments. The announcement comes from Antoni Trenchev, the co-founder and managing partner of Nexo.

The company is backed by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington and calls itself a “decentralized lending ecosystem that facilitates open access to credit anywhere and anytime.” It uses a long list of banking and exchange partners to deliver loans.

Nexo follows the payment company and Ripple partner TransferGo, which also revealed its interest in xRapid this week. Nexo recently added XRP to its platform, becoming one of the first lenders to use XRP as collateral.

MSTS Makes B2B Commerce Effortless for SMBs with Credit as a Service (Globe Newswire) Rated: B

MSTS, a global B2B payment and credit solutions provider, today announced that its innovative Credit as a Service solution is now available to mid-market and small businesses.

The original enterprise product, with a record of accelerating sales growth for companies by as much as 500 percent, has been optimized to meet the needs of businesses with simpler payment and credit processes. The cloud-based Credit as a Service solution for mid-market businesses can issue credit lines in less than a minute, automate the customer onboarding process and apply unique B2B customer invoicing, accounts payable and payment term requirements – providing customers flexibility and an enhanced experience.

MSTS works with B2B companies across transportation, manufacturing, retail and eCommerce.

Australia

Advice demand soaring in Australia despite trust issues (International Investment) Rated: AAA

The 2018 Financial Advice Report from Investment Trends found that an estimated 2.1 million adults intend to turn to a financial planner for advice, up from 1.6 million in 2017.

However, trust levels in banks and financial planners fell severely over that same period. On a scale of 0 to 10, banks fell from a trust rating of 5.5 to 4.8, while financial planners fell from 5.1 to 4.8.

The report found more than 40% of Australians do not believe the financial services and banking industries are meeting their obligations to everyday citizens.

Big banks welcome government competition for small end of town (Sidney Morning Herald) Rated: A

Australia’s biggest banks insist they welcome the prospect of looming lending competition from the federal government’s proposed $2 billion small business loan plan.

Under the policy unveiled by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Wednesday the government will establish a $2 billion securitisation fund which it will use to buy pools of small business loans from smaller banks and non-bank lenders.

Small business cheer $ 2b end to funding drought (Australian Financial Review) Rated: A

Small business and non-bank lenders have endorsed the Morrison government’s plans to inject $2 billion into the small and medium enterprise loan market.

But regulatory experts warned the government must avoid taking too much financial risk and not weaken bank rules in its quest to stimulate SME funding via a separate proposed bank-financed Australian Business Growth Fund.

Piper Alderman brings in financial services team (Australasian Lawyer) Rated: B

A national firm has added a financial services team, including a new partner in Sydney.

Andrea Beatty has commenced at Piper Alderman as a partner. She brought to the firm two other lawyers and an administrative assistant from NewLaw outfit Keypoint Law, where she was a consulting principal since 2016.

With more than 20 years’ experience in financial services regulation and corporate finance, Beatty is a former partner at legacy Mallesons Stephen Jaques and then at K&L Gates.

Asia

New securities law sparks concerns from expert (Vietnam News) Rated: AAA

Under the revised draft Law on Securities, the foreign ownership ratio in a public company is expanded up to 100 per cent. Previous regulations had capped foreign ownership at 49 per cent. However, this ratio in commercial banks, which is a much-concerned issue recently, was not mentioned in the draft. Why?

The draft has removed limits on how many voting shares foreign investors can buy in public Vietnamese companies. This indicates that the Government has sped up the equitisation process in State-owned enterprises, especially in non-essential sectors that are not too sensitive to the economy. However, under the draft, some conditional business lines, such as commercial banks, would retain their existing 30 per cent limit. I agree with this provision of the drafting agency.

How Standard Chartered Bank is tackling digital disruption (Tech in Asia) Rated: A

While banks have not been immune to the technology bug that has spread in the last few decades, digitization in the industry has only largely been implemented “for purpose in the back end,” according to Michael Gorriz, group chief information officer at Standard Chartered Bank.

“Fifty years ago, we introduced mainframes. We took paper ledgers and put them into computers,” the CIO explains.

But the emergence of a tech-savvy millennial generation is bringing about “the first real massive change in banks since the inception of banking,” he says. As such, banks like Standard Chartered have to digitize front-facing processes or risk losing their customers.

Eurasia

Russian Online Lender MFC Zaymer Joins Robo.cash (Crowdfund Insider) Rated: AAA

Automated peer to peer platform Robo.cash has issued a note saying Russian microfinance company MFC Zaymer is joining their platform. The company operates Zaymer.ru that offers short-term (payday) loans with interest rates for investors of 14% in Euros and up to 18% for loans originated in Rubles.

Africa

Nigeria dials up mobile banking revolution (Financial Times) Rated: AAA

Nigeria’s central bank is looking to increase access to millions of people by opening up the banking system to non-financial companies for the first time; South African telecom operator MTN is set to be the biggest beneficiary with more than 50 million customers located in Nigeria; MTN is planning to apply for a banking license soon with the hopes of having their Mobile Money product available in country by Q2 2019; more than 60 million people in Nigeria do not have bank accounts, showing there is an enormous opportunity for telcos to expand the banking footprint.

Authors:

George Popescu
Allen Taylor