During the week I share the latest marketplace lending and fintech news on Twitter as it happens. Then every Saturday I take the most interesting news items and blog posts from the past week and share them here.
Best Fintechs to Work For from American Banker – Great new list out from American Banker: The Best Fintech Companies to Work For. Congrats to everyone who made the list.
Credit-Card Losses Surge at Small Banks from The Wall Street Journal – It is interesting that credit card delinquencies at small banks have risen sharply while at larger banks they have remained relatively steady.
The stepladder of inclusion from The Finanser – Looking at the steps the unbanked in Africa can go through from excluded to fully included in the financial system.
Kabbage vows to curb lending to gun sellers from American Banker – Small business lender Kabbage has entered the national gun debate by curbing lending to certain firearms companies.
Next Up for Amazon: Checking Accounts from The Wall Street Journal – The latest foray from Amazon into fintech may be offering checking accounts to millennials. No, they are not applying for a banking license, looks like they intend to partner with a large bank on this initiative.
Amazon in talks with JPMorgan to offer bank accounts from Financial Times – More on the Amazon-JPMorgan potential checking account deal with an interesting quote from David Klein.
Citi developing digital-only bank, CFO says from American Banker – Now it is Citi’s turn to be in the news. Their CFO just shared they will be releasing a nationwide digital bank in the near future.
Fintech firms revealed on UK Department of International Trade mission to NYC from AltFi – Details of the UK fintech trade delegation coming to NYC for Fintech Week in April.
Inside SoFi’s sports sponsorship strategy from Tearsheet – While SoFi has done two Superbowl ads they have a broader sports marketing strategy in place today.
Goldman Sachs is recruiting at least 6 people for the UK launch of its online lender Marcus from Business Insider – Goldman Sachs just keeps marching ahead with the expansion of the Marcus brand. Next stop the UK as they are recruiting for the launch of their online lending platform there.
Why institutional investors are turning to marketplace loans from LendingClub – There is a new report out on institutional investment in marketplace lending from Greenwich Associates. LendingClub highlights some of the key takeaways.
To keep burnout in check, PeerStreet mixes play with hard work from American Banker – Good piece on the PeerStreet business culture in American Banker and how they encourage play while working hard.
Online Lender CommonBond Receives First AAA Rated Securitization from Crowdfund Insider – Congrats to CommonBond on receiving their first AAA rating in their latest securitization.
SoFi Is Paying Top Dollar To Acquire Its Prime Customers from Fast Company – Fascinating piece on SoFi about customer acquisition costs and marketing strategies.
Amazon hiring head of newly-formed mortgage lending division from HousingWire – According to HousingWire Amazon is actively recruiting for someone to lead their new mortgage lending division. It is pretty clear now that Amazon is making a real push into financial services.
At Best Egg, talk is a best practice from American Banker – Interesting look at the work practices inside Marlette and the drive to make their business profitable in 2017.
Fintechs on Bank of Amazon: It’d be a net plus from American Banker – With Amazon dominating the fintech news cycle this week Penny Crosman reached out to several leaders in the space to get their thoughts.
How Upstart Is Helping Increase Access to Credit from Bloomberg – Short video of Dave Girouard, the CEO of Upstart, talking to Bloomberg about their approach to underwriting and what makes them different.
From the Lend Academy Forum
The Lend Academy forum is where investors go to discuss p2p lending. Below are some topics that were being discussed this week.
What percent of IGP notes will default? – A forum member asks for more details on what percentage of loans that go into grace period notes will default.
Six month review of my Lending Club account – A new LendingClub investor shares a review of their account after six months.
LC Fourth Quarter 2017 Earnings Release and Conference Call Tuesday 2/20 – Investors discuss buying and selling LendingClub stock.
