RateSetter Australia was the country's first P2P lending platform for retail investors; it has now announced $100 million in funding; the firm has seen a significant increase in investment from millennial investors seeking yield alternatives to low rate savings accounts and volatile stock markets; concurrently with data on its origination milestone it also released research conducted among RateSetter's investors on millennial investing. Source
A new wave of IPOs by mainland Chinese fintech companies is taking shape; P2P companies in particular are hungry for fresh capital to reinforce their business growth; two mainland-based P2P operators – Yirendai and China Rapid Finance – are currently traded in New York; Sorghum Investment last month announced a reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed China Commercial Credit which would make it the third. Source
The Cosun Group has told investors it will be defaulting on $45 million worth of corporate bonds issued to investors through online platform Zhao Cai Bao; the online platform is run by Ant Financial Services Group, an affiliate of China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.; the bonds should be insured by Zheshang Property and Casualty Insurance Co. Ltd. however China Guangfa Bank is claiming the insured documents are fake; Ant Financial is working to help investors receive the insurance payouts for the bonds and says Zheshang Insurance has no reason to refuse payment which should have been made within three days of default. Source
Artificial intelligence company, Flamingo, has listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and partnered with online lender, DirectMoney; the company seeks to help increase the sales conversion rate of online customers through web chat, web forms and artificial intelligence that guides customers through an online purchase. Source
Andy Taylor previously co-founded marketplace lending platform SocietyOne; his new venture Douugh is a personal financial app; it uses a virtual assistant called Sophie to help users manage their finances; much like other apps, users input their financial accounts; users can interact with Sophie, asking questions like "How much did I spend on food this week?"; the app will also provide context around whether the amount spent is higher than usual and also aid users in setting up spending targets; the company is in beta for the rest of the year and will officially launch in February of next year; they hope to eventually make Sophie accessible via Alexa and Siri. 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
Chinese internet finance business, Lufax, is developing an online trading platform for Chinese investors that will allow them to invest in assets anywhere in the world; the firm is the world's second largest financial technology company; the trading platform it is developing will launch in 2017 and seeks to meet a demand from Chinese investors to diversify away from a depreciating yuan. Source
After the Bust, Are Bitcoins More Like Tulip Mania or the Internet? Google’s Ulku Rowe on how innovative financial services...
The report, "Payment: The Ecosystem Gateway" is the first one in Goldman Sachs' "The Rise of China FinTech" series; the report focuses on the emergence of new electronic payment methods, as payment is a crucial gateway to most other services, and this is where the innovators have gained the strongest footholds in China. Source (Chinese)
Korea's Financial Services Commission just issued a guideline that limits most individual investors from committing more than 10 million won ($8,750) to P2P investments in a year; those individuals who have earnings over 100 million won ($87,500) can still commit up to 40 million won to P2P; Korean P2P platforms are complaining that investments in any equity project or loan portfolio tend to be skewed to a few individuals who invest more than 10 million won (60% of investors fall into this category on average across platforms there), therefore the new regulation will drive up funding costs; regulators say this over-concentration of funds from few investors is precisely the trend they hope to curtail. Source