US legislators have proposed that student loan debt be discharged in the case of bankruptcy; the current law gives added protection to student loan lenders by requiring the debt to be repaid in bankruptcy; lawmakers and lobbyists are also considering other provisions that would provide debt relief to student loan borrowers who have filed for bankruptcy; while the debt relief initiatives will benefit borrowers, the effects will add increased default risk for investors in private student loans and private student loan securitizations. Source
Affirm's earnings call came with an announcement of layoffs, in an effort to streamline in accordance with low revenue growth.
Rumours have surfaced that Wall Street heavyweight, Goldman Sachs, is looking to offload its Apple Partnership.
Finnovista is a leading market advocate for fintech in Latin America and Spain; looking ahead to 2017 the organization thinks fintech will be important in promoting financial inclusion specifically with 40% of the fintech services in Latin America focused on unbanked and underbanked consumers and businesses; Finnovista's Fermin Bueno says Latin America has the ecosystem, venture capital and government support for fintech growth and financial inclusion improvements; Bueno also predicts growth in fintech will increase competition for traditional providers with 30% of traditional industry income at risk from fintech companies. Source
Automation can be a key factor in scale-up success. From start-up to unicorn, investing early makes the difference.
Fund manager, Ben Conway of Hawksmoor, promotes alternative credit as a risk averse investment in the current market; with cash levels reaching 15 year highs according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, many investment managers have significantly increased their low risk fixed income allocations; Hawksmoor says the growing number of alternative credit investments are providing a good area of value across all markets and a strong fixed income alternative. Source
For investors who want to make an impact on the climate crisis, Ziggma provides data on companies' financial performance and their footprint.
A wide range of loan options for small business funding are available; Lend Academy provides an overview of the market's credit products for small businesses in their article; loans from the Small Business Administration and large lenders have traditionally been the main focus for many borrowers however online marketplace lenders and innovative credit products such as invoice financing have greatly evolved the options for credit funding in the market. Source
Kroll Bond Rating Agency has assigned preliminary ratings to a LendingClub securitization portfolio; the loan securitization, LendingClub Issuance Trust, Series 2016-NP2 (LCIT 2016-NP2), is valued at $101.75 million and includes two classes of notes with LendingClub consumer loans; the class A tranche which accounts for 84% of the deal at $85.3 million, is rated BBB; the class B tranche accounts for 16% at $16.4 million and is rated BB+. Source
The Telegraph explores performance on Lendy Finance, previously known as Saving Stream; outlines specific properties that have struggled and that almost 25% of loans are outside original terms; Lendy states that just 14.5% of its loan book is in default and is in line with the wider bridging and development finance market; the property lender’s loan book now totals £300 million. Source