News Comments
- Today’s main news: SoFi is planning a credit card. LendingClub reports Q1 results. OnDeck reports Q1 results. Kabbage closes Orchard acquisition. Cross River passes $600M in monthly originations. Mintos achieves profitability. iZettle to pursue $1.1B valuation through IPO. TransferWise moves into Canada.
- Today’s main analysis: Review of OnDeck earnings.
- Today’s thought-provoking articles: Review of Marcus. Cities where borrowers save the most on mortgages. The future of credit.
United States
- SoFi’s planning a credit card. AT: “I wonder how this will play out with their primary target, millennials, who aren’t warm on credit cards.”
- LendingClub reports Q1 results. AT: “Looking good.”
- OnDeck’s Q1 results. AT: “Still at a loss, but looking better.”
- Review of OnDeck’s results. AT: “Lend Academy breaks it down and shows why OnDeck’s performance is improving.”
- Kabbage closes acquisition of Orchard. AT: “Besides the technology acquisition, a big benefit to Kabbage is that Orchard’s co-founders Matt Burton and David Snitkof are staying aboard.”
- Business Insider’s review of Marcus. AT: “Not only should traditional financial institutions be concerned about Marcus, but up-and-coming technology companies should be, too.”
- Cities where borrowers save the most on mortgages. AT: “It pays to shop around. Alt lending firms that offer mortgages should look at the competition.”
- Cross River passes $600 million in monthly loan orginations. AT: “Congratulations.”
- MoneyGram seeks more digital gains.
- Credit Karma monitors the dark web.
- Zillow invests in house flipping.
- Why fintechs should move on from millennials.
- Strategies for saying good-bye to student loan debt.
- Goldman, Wells Fargo look to credit cards for big returns.
- Making the ask is key to success.
- SmartBiz Loans adds Seacoast Bank.
- Fidelity’s student debt employer contribution program still hot in attracting talent.
European Union
International
India
- BigWin Infotech gets P2P lending license.
- The future of credit is here.
- Finzy wants to change how lending is viewed.
Other
News Summary
- United States
- SoFi Is Said to Plan Credit Card With Help From Former Citi Executive (Bloomberg) Rated: AAA
- Lending Club Corp.: LendingClub Reports First Quarter 2018 Results (The Wallstreet Transcript) Rated: AAA
- OnDeck Reports First Quarter 2018 Financial Results (PR Newswire) Rated: AAA
- Review of OnDeck Q1 2018 Earnings Results (Lend Academy) Rated: AAA
- OnDeck swings to loss, but loan demand surges (American Banker) Rated: A
- Kabbage’s Acquisition of Orchard Officially Closes (Crowdfund Insider) Rated: AAA
- We tried Goldman’s Marcus, here’s our conclusion (Business Insider) Rated: AAA
- LendingTree Reveals Cities Where Borrowers Save the Most by Shopping Around for Mortgage Loans (PR Newswire) Rated: AAA
- Cross River Passes $ 600 Million in Monthly Loan Originations (The Public Opinion) Rated: AAA
- MoneyGram Seeks More Digital Gains In 2018 (PYMNTS) Rated: A
- Credit Karma Partners with SpyCloud to Add Dark Web Data Monitoring (Finovate) Rated: A
- Data Sheet—Zillow’s Audacious House Flipping Plan Scares Wall Street (Fortune) Rated: A
- Fintech Companies Should Move On From The Millennials (Forbes) Rated: A
- 3 Strategies To Help You Say “Bye, Felicia” To Student Loan Debt (Forbes) Rated: A
- Goldman, Wells Fargo Look to Credit Cards for Bigger Returns (Bloomberg) Rated: A
- Making the Ask, Part 1: The Key to Entrepreneurial Success (Newswise) Rated: A
- SmartBiz Loans Adds Seacoast Bank to Technology Ecosystem (Business Wire) Rated: B
- Fidelity’s Student Debt Employer Contribution Program Continues to Be Selected by Leading Businesses to Attract and Retain Top Talent (Business Wire) Rated: B
- United Kingdom
- What are the benefits of IFIsas? (Bridging & Commercial) Rated: A
- China
- Chinese Rural Fintech Firm Shenma Completes $ 47.3M Series C Round (Chinese Money Network) Rated: A
- European Union
- Riga-based fintech startup Mintos reaches profitability as it eyes global expansion (EU Startups) Rated: AAA
- Swedish fintech group iZettle to seek $ 1.1bn valuation in IPO (Financial Times) Rated: AAA
- International
- ArthaCoin ICO (ATH Token): Long Term Crypto Lending Program? (Bitcoin Exchange Guide) Rated: A
- What’s The Difference Between Trading Crypto VS. Lending Crypto (Finsmes) Rated: A
- Australia
- Do You Still Only Have One Bank Account? Here’s How Many You Should Have By Now (MyDomaine) Rated: A
- India
- BigWin Infotech gets P2P lending licence (The Economic Times) Rated: AAA
- The Future Of Credit Is Here (Businessworld) Rated: AAA
- P2P loan marketplace Finzy wants to change how India sees lending (Your Story) Rated: A
- Latin America
- Ripio CEO: Reinventing P2P Lending With The Blockchain (PTMNTS) Rated: A
- Canada
- Fintech company TransferWise to launch borderless debit card in Canada in 2019 (Financial Post) Rated: AAA
United States
SoFi Is Said to Plan Credit Card With Help From Former Citi Executive (Bloomberg) Rated: AAA
Social Finance Inc., a startup looking to offer a range of banking services to millennials, is working on a credit card and is bringing in a former Citigroup Inc. executive to help oversee the initiative, said people familiar with the matter.
The San Francisco-based company hopes to offer credit cards within the next year, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. In preparation, SoFi is hiring Richard Garside to help lead the company’s operations, the people said.
Lending Club Corp.: LendingClub Reports First Quarter 2018 Results (The Wallstreet Transcript) Rated: AAA
Financial highlights for the first quarter include:
- Delivered revenue of $151.7 million, up 22% year-over-year
- Achieved 18% year-over-year growth in originations to over $2.3 billion
- Improved Contribution Margin to 49.1% from 42.7% in the same quarter last year
- Delivered Adjusted EBITDA of $15.3 million, or a 10.1% Adjusted EBITDA margin, compared to an Adjusted EBITDA of $0.2 million, or a 0.1% Adjusted EBITDA margin, in the same quarter last year
- GAAP Consolidated Net Loss was ($31.2) million, including $17 million of expenses related to outstanding legacy issues disclosed by the Company in 2016, related to ongoing legal costs from government investigations, as well indemnification costs for the previous management.
Operational highlights for the first quarter include:
- In the first quarter of 2018, LendingClub continued to execute on its mission to make credit more affordable and investing more rewarding, now having served over 2.4 million borrowers.
- For Borrowers: LendingClub saw strong adoption of a new feature called Direct Payoff that allows borrowers to seamlessly pay off their credit card balances in exchange for a better rate – thereby improving their financial profile and lowering their monthly payments.
- For Investors: LendingClub’s recently launched innovation, CLUB Certificates, attracted over $160 million in funding from several of the top names in asset management. The new CLUB Certificates give investors easy access to consumer credit and provide a single security that offers greater flexibility and liquidity.
- Scott Sanborn, LendingClub CEO said, ‘We feel good about how we’ve kicked off the year and the fundamentals of our business continue to be strong. Our strategic initiatives are working on both sides of our marketplace and we’ll keep innovating to help more Americans on their journey to financial success.’.
OnDeck Reports First Quarter 2018 Financial Results (PR Newswire) Rated: AAA
OnDeck (NYSE: ONDK) today announced first quarter 2018 Gross revenue of $90 million, Net loss of $1.9 million, and Adjusted Net income of $6.4 million.
“Our first quarter results reflect a strong start to 2018 as we continue to execute on our strategic priorities to position our business for future success,” said Noah Breslow, chief executive officer, OnDeck. “We delivered 8% sequential loan growth while managing our sales and marketing costs, and had positive credit performance, as the 15+ Day Delinquency Ratio and Net Charge-off rate both improved significantly from a year ago.”
Review of OnDeck Q1 2018 Earnings Results (Lend Academy) Rated: AAA
While the company posted a net loss of $1.9 million for the quarter, this was within guidance. Gross revenues were $90 million, coming in at the top end of projections for the quarter. The increase in revenue was attributable to higher interest income or the company’s effective interest yield, or EIY which came in at 35.6%, compared to 34.8% in the previous quarter. OnDeck also beat on adjusted income which came in at $6.4 million (Q1 2018 guidance was between $1 and $5 million).
Originations were up 8% from the previous quarter at $591 million.
OnDeck swings to loss, but loan demand surges (American Banker) Rated: A
Kabbage’s Acquisition of Orchard Officially Closes (Crowdfund Insider) Rated: AAA
Orchard co-founder Matt Burton has emailed industry members stating the previously announced acquisition of his company by SME lender Kabbage has formally closed. The purchase had been rumored for weeks with an official announcement hitting the press at the end of April.
Burton, and co-founder and Chief Analytics Officer David Snitkof, have both joined Kabbage in leadership roles. In total, Kabbage will add more than twenty Orchard employees who are predominantly focused on advanced analytics, data science and engineering to its New York City office.
We tried Goldman’s Marcus, here’s our conclusion (Business Insider) Rated: AAA
Goldman Sachs’ consumer lending platform, Marcus, appears well on its way to becoming a full-scale digital banking offering. The platform has originated some $2.5 billion in loans since launching in October 2016, and now offers savings accounts with a minimum threshold of $1.
Here’s why FIs should be worried about Marcus:
- It’s backed by Goldman’s reputation, and deep pockets.
- The interface is sleek and consumer friendly.
- Its offerings are extremely competitive.
LendingTree Reveals Cities Where Borrowers Save the Most by Shopping Around for Mortgage Loans (PR Newswire) Rated: AAA
LendingTree today released its Mortgage Rate Competition Indexes for the 50 largest cities in the U.S. to assess how different markets behave across the country.
Cross River Passes $ 600 Million in Monthly Loan Originations (The Public Opinion) Rated: AAA
Continuing its strong record of growth, Cross River, a leader in the emerging Fintech industry, announced today that it has set a new monthly loan origination record of more than $600 million in April.
Cross River’s April 2018 volume represents approximately 60% growth in loan origination from April 2017, and keeps Cross River on pace to exceed $7 billion in loan originations for 2018.
MoneyGram Seeks More Digital Gains In 2018 (PYMNTS) Rated: A
MoneyGram revenue declined 2 percent year over year in the first quarter, to $380 million. That was lower than analyst expectations of about $386 million. Net income declined 19 percent, to $7.1 million, with earnings per share at $0.15 per share — below analyst expectations of $0.26.
Moneygram.com, the digital business, posted a year-over-year revenue gain of 21 percent in the first quarter, with most credit going to customer acquisitions, the company said in its financial release. Digital revenue accounted for 16 percent of all money transfer revenue in the first quarter.
Credit Karma Partners with SpyCloud to Add Dark Web Data Monitoring (Finovate) Rated: A
Credit Karma has expanded its identity theft monitoring offering to include data from the dark web. Courtesy of a partnership with fellow Finovate alum – and Best of Show winner – SpyCloud, Credit Karma will dramatically increase the number of data breaches it is able to review for its 80 million users. Currently searching 4.5 billion public breaches, the new service will boost the total number of data breaches searched to 13 billion.
Data Sheet—Zillow’s Audacious House Flipping Plan Scares Wall Street (Fortune) Rated: A
Looking merely at the numbers, Zillow reported a fine quarter Monday. The Seattle company doesn’t make money. But it does grow quickly on top of a billion-dollar-plus annual-revenue clip. It is worth more than $10 billion and is the winner of its category, having absorbed competitor Trulia and outlasted others.
Yet Zillow isn’t satisfied. It is starting a new home-flipping business using its own balance sheet to buy, touch up, and sell homes. Wall Street hates the idea, wondering why a perfectly respectable online business would wade into the messy and highly variable world of investing real money in actual houses.
Fintech Companies Should Move On From The Millennials (Forbes) Rated: A
These days, for consumer fintech companies in wealth management (we will call them fintechs for short), it is, to paraphrase Meghan Trainor, all about the millennials. Fintech unicorns are courting millennials and garnering billion-dollar valuations for succeeding at it. The Robinhood is 28, and 78% are under 35. The average age of a Betterment customer is 35 and . With three million accounts, Acorns has primarily a millennial customer base as well. However, if these companies and their millennial-chasing brethren are hoping to raise meaningful assets under management, it is time for them to move on from the millennials.
According to the , millennials today have just 4% of the nation’s wealth, compared to 50% for Baby Boomers and 33% for the Silent Generation.
3 Strategies To Help You Say “Bye, Felicia” To Student Loan Debt (Forbes) Rated: A
Goldman, Wells Fargo Look to Credit Cards for Bigger Returns (Bloomberg) Rated: A
Two of the biggest U.S. banks, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co., are on the brink of piling into credit-card lending, seeking a share of the $183 billion in fees and interest tied to the product.
Making the Ask, Part 1: The Key to Entrepreneurial Success (Newswise) Rated: A
Professor Saras Sarasvathy, a renowned scholar of entrepreneurship at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, has discovered that successful entrepreneurs are not only relentless “askers,” but they also have a repertoire of asks for different startup scenarios.
Rather than develop business plans to raise money, experienced entrepreneurs start with their means at hand — who they are, what they know and whom they know — exploring what they could do with those means. At the same time, they enlist others who want to work with them. Together, they iteratively co-create new products, ventures and markets. As more stakeholders self-select, committing their resources to the emergent ideas, the goals start to coalesce.
In the early stages of venture creation, effectual asks start as open-ended conversations.
SmartBiz Loans Adds Seacoast Bank to Technology Ecosystem (Business Wire) Rated: B
SmartBiz Loans today announced the addition of Seacoast Bank ( to the company’s unique technology ecosystem, taking the total number of banks on their platform to nine. SmartBiz Loans’ intelligent technology platform matches Florida-based Seacoast Bank to the right loan customers in a fraction of the time a referral typically can take, allowing the bank to originate SBA loans more efficiently while increasing the likelihood that small business owners get approved for funding.
Fidelity’s Student Debt Employer Contribution Program Continues to Be Selected by Leading Businesses to Attract and Retain Top Talent (Business Wire) Rated: B
With student debt levels reaching crisis proportions in the United States, Fidelity Investments announces significant response to its Student Debt Employer Contribution benefit, with 25 employers making plans to offer the Fidelity program and nearly 9,000 of their eligible employees expected to be enrolled in the program by the end of June.
United Kingdom
What are the benefits of IFIsas? (Bridging & Commercial) Rated: A
Over a third of UK savers (36%) would place their money in an IFIsa if they had the available funds, a new study has found.
The Next Gen: Investors and Savers report from P2P lending platform ArchOver found that 61% of respondents acknowledged the prospect of higher returns and better interest rates from an IFIsa.
However, over half (57%) claimed that they still didn’t fully understand the service.
China
Chinese Rural Fintech Firm Shenma Completes $ 47.3M Series C Round (Chinese Money Network) Rated: A
Shanghai-based Shenma Finance, a fintech company focused on rural mobility, has raised a RMB300 million (US$47.25 million) series C round led by China Growth Capital, Hina Group and Chinese fintech firm Tongbanjie Group.
Existing investors Credit Ease Financial Industry Investment Fund and ChinaEquity Group also participated in the round, the firm announced on its official WeChat account.
European Union
Riga-based fintech startup Mintos reaches profitability as it eyes global expansion (EU Startups) Rated: AAA
Three years after launch, the Riga-based fintech startup Mintos has turned an annual profit for the first time. The company’s revenue increased more than four-fold in 2017 to over €2.1 million and net profit for 2017 was €197K.
In more than three years since its establishment, Mintos has exceeded €660 million in cumulative investments by investors and the company expects the amount of loans funded to reach €1 billion by the end of the year.
Swedish fintech group iZettle to seek $ 1.1bn valuation in IPO (Financial Times) Rated: AAA
Some of the biggest names in payments, including Mastercard, American Express and Santander, have invested in iZettle, as have venture capital firms including Index Ventures and Dawn Capital.
International
ArthaCoin ICO (ATH Token): Long Term Crypto Lending Program? (Bitcoin Exchange Guide) Rated: A
Arthacoin is a sustainable investment-lending platform that aims at providing prosperity and guaranteed returns to its investors. Arthacoin is viewed as an alternative investment, which uses different investment methods to ensure investors get active returns using their collected funds. The platform purposes to create returns by use of derivatives and leverage in cryptocurrencies.
Besides, it is a self-managed financial system, which supports peer-to-peer transactions with a basis on the open-source platform. Arthacoin is built with a vision of creating a regular passive and sustainable income in the end for its investors.
What’s The Difference Between Trading Crypto VS. Lending Crypto (Finsmes) Rated: A
When it comes to investing in cryptocurrencies, the most common way to invest is by trading. Cryptocurrencies have revolutionized how we do business, make investments and raise funds. Some would even call blockchain technology the invention that would shape the 21st century. Trading cryptocurrencies is a fast and easy way to profit and can be interesting too.
But there is also another way to earn profits from cryptocurrencies and make your money work for you – crypto lending.
Let’s take a look at both crypto trading and crypto lending.
Crypto lending is a relatively newer way to earn profits. It revolves around the concept of shorting.
Australia
Do You Still Only Have One Bank Account? Here’s How Many You Should Have By Now (MyDomaine) Rated: A
If you’re living from pay cheque to pay cheque and can’t seem to break the cycle, chances are you’re not alone, dear millennial. In fact, it may not have even been bad shopping habits that landed you here. Whether it’s an underpaying job, or a weekly rent payment that is far from sensible, in the words of financial adviser, from Honest Money, Jacqui Park: “There’s no time like the present” to stop spending frivolously and start saving. But before you downsize, start a side-hustle, or, cut up the credit cards; it’s worth noting the basics of saving, so when you do decide to forgo life’s little luxuries you are able to make the most of it.
India
BigWin Infotech gets P2P lending licence (The Economic Times) Rated: AAA
Online lending platform BigWin Infotech has received an in-principle approval from RBI to start peer-to-peer lending operation as a non-banking finance company.
The company claims to be the first among all the P2P applicants to have received the licence and is planning to commence operations under the brand name of Paisadukaan.
P2P loan marketplace Finzy wants to change how India sees lending (Your Story) Rated: A
The rules of investment have changed over the years. First it was traditional methods like saving with fixed deposits, and then came insurance and stock markets.
However, the rules have changed yet again, and peer-to-peer lending is being viewed as an investment avenue that is expected to give returns to the tune of 18-22 percent, according to industry estimates.
According to the company, the rate of return for investing in Finzy is 15.5 percent for investors.
Latin America
Ripio CEO: Reinventing P2P Lending With The Blockchain (PTMNTS) Rated: A
Ripio has had more than one name in its evolution as a firm – but only a single goal. Originally known as BitPagos at launch, and then rebranding to Ripio in advance of its late 2017 ICO – the Argentina-based firm wants to use the blockchain to unlock the power of P2P lendingon a global scale.
The problem with traditional credit systems, according to Ripio, is that when it comes to access, geography is more or less destiny in many cases.
Canada
Fintech company TransferWise to launch borderless debit card in Canada in 2019 (Financial Post) Rated: AAA
European financial technology company TransferWise is planning a Canadian launch next year for its borderless debit MasterCard, which allows users to hold and spend a balance in multiple currencies with lower fees than traditional banks.
Kaarmann says there would be no transaction fees for people making purchases on the borderless debit card in the currency a balance is held in.
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