Marketplace lending loan servicer First Associates has announced the opening of a new operations center; the operations center is located in Baja California, Mexico with capacity for 1,000 seats; in comments regarding the announcement, First Associates CEO David Johnson said: "We couldn’t be more excited about our new Baja facility. We are able to deliver the same outstanding quality and service as our San Diego operations center, offer an economically advantageous option to our clients and provide significant opportunities in a developing business community that is an important part of the greater San Diego/Tijuana metro area." Source
The marketplace lending platform has facilitated over $7 million dollars in financing to small businesses in Canada; it currently has over 9,500 investors; Auto-Lend will allow investors to automate investing on the platform through pre-set or customized strategies. Source
Leading Canadian point-of-sale (POS) platform Flexiti Financial raised an oversubscribed CAD$6.25 million (USD$5 million) convertible debt offering; they will use the capital to accelerate growth and improve technology; according to Flexiti Financial Founder and CEO Peter Kalen: "Retailers across Canada are looking for unique solutions to increase sales and maintain customer loyalty in a highly competitive and shifting market. Flexiti Financial's POS lending platform has become an important tool in their sales arsenal, and this investment will help us better serve our retail partners while managing our growth across Canada." Source
U.S. Bank and Bank of Montreal are investing in digital technology to overhaul their websites, mobile apps, call centers and ATMs; the two companies shared their plans with American Banker; common themes from both companies include: 1) invest in what customers are dissatisfied with 2) make incremental enhancements 3) create a unified customer experience 4) establish an innovation team and 5) test emerging technologies. Source
Flexiti Financial has announced Diane Brisebois and Rick Padulo as the first two members of its advisory board; Diane Brisebois is president and CEO of the Retail Council of Canada; Rick Padulo is Chairman and CEO of Padulo Integrated, which provides multi-media retail communications services; Flexiti Financial is a growing provider of point-of-sale financing technology for retailers and recently received the Emerging Consumer Lending Platform award at LendIt USA 2017; its new board advisors will seek to support the firm's growth and advise the firm on its strategy for business development and retail expansion. Source
Aspire Financial Technologies has announced a new asset-level disclosure data and analytics module; the module is targeted for securitization professionals; it provides free access to market participants seeking to analyze loan-level characteristics and performance data of US public securitizations; data is from SEC Edgar filings and is provided as a result of Reg AB II from the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act which requires certain public securitization issuers to post monthly asset level disclosures on public securitization trusts. Source
NewOak will invest up to $2 billion in loans originated by Canadian online lender LendingArch over the next three years; NewOak will also make a significant contribution to the strategy of the firm; the New York-based asset management and institutional advisory firm will take an advisory role with LendingArch supporting its business development and capital markets strategies. Source
Panel explores a diverse set of small business lenders based in Canada; topics covered include the differences of regulation, underwriting, and views on traditional banks between Canada and the rest of the world; Canada has five large banks which control a majority of the market which makes it hard to build a brand as an alternative lender; panelists answer how they can overcome this challenge and scale their business; they also share their thoughts on the current market opportunity and what the future holds for fintech companies in Canada. Source
Moven has agreed to extend its exclusivity rights with TD Bank in Canada for another five years and broaden the agreement to the US; the exclusivity rights in the US are likely to result in a US launch of the partnership's money management tool, the MySpend app, which allows users to track spending and receive notifications; expansion of the white label app from Brett King's Moven is expected to add significant value for the fintech firm. Source
A husband and wife from Sri Lanka were arrested in Canada for fraud and money laundering; the couple reportedly used fraudulent checks and synthetic identities for fraudulent charges and purchases; both are charged with fraud of CAD5,000 ($3,729) and possession of proceeds obtained of over CAD5,000 ($3,729); the fraudulent charges are an example of the emergence of sophisticated synthetic identities that are more difficult to be detected by fraud prevention systems. Source