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
Singapore software-as-a-service company Lenddo has announced a new data partnership with Experian to support financial inclusion in Indonesia and Vietnam; the partnership will provide data analytics technology for Experian's Consumer Financial Inclusion Indexing platform; through the combined services of Lenddo and Experian, underserved banking consumers will gain access to financial services including remittances, savings, credit and wealth management services. Source
Oliver Wyman has published a report titled "Fintech In China: Hitting The Moving Target"; the report says when it comes to fintech, China could claim to be a world leader in some respects, in spite of an increasing number of voices questioning the health and legitimacy of the fintech business models; Oliver Wyman believes that technological advances, coupled with the unique circumstances of China's financial system, will propel fintech companies to further drive innovation and disrupt the traditional financial services space. Source
China's major bitcoin exchanges halted trading on Friday, January 13 and the platforms are updating their trading terms; some have yet to reopen and others are operating with trading restraints, reports CoinDesk; the changes follow discussions between Chinese bitcoin exchanges and regulator People's Bank of China. Source
As of December 2016, shadow loans in China reported an annual increase of approximately 15% to 14.1 trillion yuan ($2.3 trillion); a study by UBS reports that as the market grows one area adding increased risk is regional banks, specifically banks located in China's Rust Belt region, which have been integrating the shadow loans into various methods for diversifying their balance sheet risk as the steel and metal-producing provinces struggle to remain profitable in the changing economy; the UBS report says alternative financial statement accounting regarding the loans could lead to a number of issues including overstated capital adequacy ratios, understated nonperforming loans and reduced provision charges. Source
Congress wants to extend PPP, lenders ready to move on Groundfloor Says Q2 was a Record Quarter Broadhaven Ventures’ Michael...
Ticket Camp, one of Japan's most popular ticket marketplaces, has announced it will accept bitcoin payments starting on August 17; the website's bitcoin payments are processed by one of Japan's largest bitcoin exchanges Coincheck; Japan started to recognize bitcoin as a legal method of payment in April 2017. Source
A report on China's consumer credit finds that consumers are increasing their use of debt with 94% of consumers using credit or a loan in the past year; consumers are borrowing more from internet-based sources with consumers increasing their borrowing from P2P loan providers while also borrowing more for car loans and mortgages; consumers in their 20s appear to be the leading borrowers as a trend towards living in the moment is motivating their spending habits; the report expects the rise in debt to continue, projecting household loans to increase at a rate of 14% for the next five years. 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
Australian robo advisor SuperEd is seeking AUS$6 million (USD$4.53 million) to expand its services; the founders expect to use the funds to provide white label robo advisory services for Australian superannuation funds; the robo advisor is also developing tools for analyzing retirement income from the funds. Source