Dianrong announced the hiring of former Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley banker Yawen Cui as the new CFO; now former CFO Xuxia Kuang has been named chief operating officer; Dianrong CEO Soul Htite praised Mr. Cui: "His extensive experience managing initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and financial reporting will also help Dianrong explore opportunities within the capital markets. We are thrilled to welcome Yawen to our executive leadership team."; Long Hsiang Loh, the previous COO, will remain on the executive leadership team and a new role will be announced soon. Source
Data from Invest Hong Kong's Start-up Profiling Survey shows private market startup business growth for the country; the number of startups in Hong Kong has increased from 1,558 in August 2015 to 1,926 in August 2016; fintech startups operating from co-working spaces and incubator/accelerator programs in Hong Kong have also increased significantly, growing from 86 in August 2015 to 138 in August 2016. Source
Personal loans increased in Australia in March with credit card applications decreasing by approximately 4%; peer-to-peer personal loan borrowing is reportedly a factor driving personal loan applications which increased by 13.5% in March; according to the senior general manager of consumer products at Equifax, "The growth in personal loans has, in large part, been driven by newer lenders who cater to consumers' increasing demand for an online experience." Source
China Rapid Finance has filed for an IPO in the US; it will be the fifth online lender to trade on a public US exchange and the second Chinese online lender to list in the US; Lend Academy provides more details on China Rapid Finance and the IPO in their article; the firm is hoping to raise $100 million from the IPO; it is a peer-to-peer lender matching borrowers with investors and does not lend from its balance sheet; the platform targets underserved consumers and uses thousands of data points from alternative data sources including information on work history, payments, e-commerce, telco, search and social data for its credit underwriting. Source
Marvelstone Capital is working with fintech startup Smartfolio to develop a robo advisor solution for family offices; it will target family offices based in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar and India; the robo advisor solution is being designed as a hybrid service for family offices with less than US$1 billion in AUM however Marvelstone will also market to family offices with AUM of US$1 billion to US$10 billion; it plans to launch the new solution in the third quarter of 2017. Source
Pi Capital International LLC has advised Money360 on a $250 million structured debt facility; the funding comes from a financial institution in South Korea; Pi Capital was able to facilitate the transaction through its global alternative capital network. Source
Alibaba payment affiliate Ant Financial has announced the acquisition of helloPay; the company is based in Singapore and will help support Alipay's strategic growth initiatives in Southeast Asia; its primary payments focus is on serving e-commerce platforms; helloPay will be rebranded as Alipay following the acquisition. Source
New York-based commercial real estate developer Tishman Speyer has partnered with CreditEase Wealth Management to invest $1.4 billion in China and other countries within the next three years; according to Tang Ning, CreditEase founder and CEO, the partnership will focus on long-term development, providing clients with globalized and diverse portfolios. Source
Chinese online consumer lender Yirendai has announced progression toward securitization of a portfolio of consumer loans; the firm has transferred an existing trust fund of RMB300 million ($43.6 million) used to fund loans on its platform to Bohai International Trust Co., Ltd., and the firm has completed the issuance of asset-backed securities in the amount of RMB300 million through private placements. Source
Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba and Tencent are leading e-commerce market growth, seeking to do everything from cloud computing to digital payments; the Chinese market infrastructure is also helping their business growth and their business models are rivaling comparative US companies; Jack Ma's Alibaba is expanding rapidly in the global markets with partnerships and acquisitions and Tencent is following closely with numerous acquisitions as well; investment bank Goldman Sachs estimates China's online retail market to double in size by 2020 to $1.7 trillion and aggressive market expansion from Alibaba and Tencent appears to be successfully supporting that estimate. Source