As most companies were trying to figure out how to handle the economic downturn Airwallex was able to raise $160mn;...
Indonesia's Financial Services Authority has issued regulations for alternative lenders; the regulations are slightly less strict than expected; they require fintech companies to have capital of 1 billion rupiah ($74,239) when registering their business and capital of 2.5 billion rupiah ($187,210) when applying for a business license; the regulations do not set any limits on interest rates. Source
The CreditEase Wealth Management Offshore Private Credit Fund (OPCF) has announced new investments in OnDeck and LendingHome; in 2015 the fund raised $80 million from Chinese clients, including high net worth and mass affluent investors, which it expects to be fully invested by March 2017; a $30 million investment in OnDeck and LendingHome adds to previous investments in Avant and Prosper in 2016; the firm also says it is planning to fundraise for another offshore private credit fund, OPCF II; CreditEase is targeting $200 million for this fund and its investments will likely be similar with a different fund structure, varying durations, new geographies and new types of credit products. Source
Bloomberg and Quartz have recently been granted access to one of the largest bitcoin mines in the world operated by Bitmain; this Bitmain mine generates about a quarter of a million dollars a day worth of bitcoin; Bitmain's valuation is in the billions and the company is preparing for a possible IPO; Bitmain is also investing in an expansion to US. Source
Standard Chartered China's credit cards can now be added to WeChat user payment accounts, marking the first foreign capital-backed bank to cooperate with Tencent this way; according to Tencent Financial Technology Group (Tencent FiT) Payment Platform Product Manager Chen Qiru. the cooperation will help WeChat Pay to acquire more international users and WeChat Pay will strengthen cooperation with international financial institutions. Source (Chinese)
Yirendai announced the appointment of Dr. Yichuan Pei as chief credit officer; Dr. Pei was recently vice general manager of Ping An Bank in Shanghai; "Dr. Yichuan Pei is a highly regarded credit expert with extensive experience in the financial industry. We warmly welcome him to join our senior management team. With Dr. Pei assuming his roles as chief credit officer, we are very confident to further enhance our market leading capabilities of credit underwriting and risk management," said Ms. Yihan Fang, chief executive officer of Yirendai. Source
The agreement was signed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the People's Bank of China, the intention of the deal is to strengthen regulatory cooperation and boost market access for fintech startups in both markets; the "Fintech Bridge" as it is being called will allow the countries to share information about financial services and help to spot emerging trends in each market. Source
A WeBank employee wrote a post in WeChat Moment, announcing that the loan amount of Weilidai (WeBank's micro loan product) is over RMB100 billion ($14.92 billion); Weilidai's loan amount has increased almost 300% over the past seven months; according to its financial results, WeBank lost RMB583 million ($86.97 million) in the first year (2015); but in 2016, it made a profit of RMB401 million ($59.82 million); in the first four months of 2017, WeBank made a profit of RMB500 million ($74.59 million); in terms of product, WeBank has launched an enterprise-grade product, "Weiyedai"; Weiyedai provides unsecured loans of up to RMB3 million ($447,507) to enterprises, with annual percentage rates ranging from 10.95% to 16.43%. Source (Chinese)
CredifX will add to the firm's data services which provide data on over two million US commercial properties and $13 trillion in loans; the CredifX platform will offer a marketplace for commercial loans, providing access to financing and investing for commercial real estate borrowers, brokers and lenders; the new commercial real estate loan platform is expected to increase market competition and pricing for loans. Source
MoolahSense, a marketplace lender focused on small business loans, has received a full Capital Markets Services (CMS) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS); the MAS license allows the business to offer its loan investments in the country to a broad range of investors including retail investors, high net worth individuals and private funds. Source