The BBC reports on the practices of internet lenders, noting that borrowers should be cautious when searching for online loans in order to protect their credit scores; TSB says some loan providers issue a hard inquiry for a loan price or quote which can harm borrowers who are only considering loan options; the bank is lobbying for more regulated practices and says, "Personal loans providers must agree never to perform a hard credit check until the customer chooses to actually purchase a loan in full knowledge of the price being offered." Source
Alfa Finance Group has launched a new P2P lender in Latvia called DoFinance; the platform is available in all EU and EEA countries and will focus on consumer loans; it has over 150,000 registered clients and has originated over EUR16 million ($17 million) in loans. 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
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
The securitization market in marketplace lending continues to strengthen as more lenders utilize this capital route; the LendIt USA 2017 panel on securitization talked through the market conditions and what it takes to do a deal; the panel went through the challenges faced in 2016 and how the industry has come back looking stronger; the industry has gotten back to the fundamentals which are a cornerstone of securitization deals; the vast majority of deals are made up of unsecured consumer loans, but other asset classes including mortgages, student loans and auto have been coming to market; topics touched upon also included barriers to success, vertical versus horizontal interests and the effects of risk retention on the overall market. Source
BondMason has launched a new self-invested personal pension (SIPP) service; the service provides for tax efficient retirement investing and the platform allows investors to invest in loans from across the UK's most competitive P2P platforms; "For this SIPP offering, we've worked with pension administrators to create a product which benefits from our due diligence process and the selection of only the best loans from the best P2P platforms," says BondMason CEO Stephen Findlay. Source
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
Fifth Third Bank will expand its partnership with Accion US Network which provides access to a network of small businesses; the initiative will focus on increased lending for underserved small businesses in Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio; the effort is also an extension of the bank's five-year, $30 billion Community Commitment and will utilize $10 billion allocated to small business lending, product innovation and enhanced underwriting and fulfillment for this alternative lending channel. Source
PeerIQ highlights the US Fed's "Quarterly Trends for Consolidated US Banking Organizations" report and notes bank sector earnings and banking ROE in the 7% to 9% range; the weekly newsletter also analyzes funding costs and liquidity of publicly traded nonbank lenders Elevate, OnDeck, OneMain and Enova; the chart above includes the funding mixes of each company. Source
US online lender Affirm has announced its 1 millionth consumer installment loan; the platform works with Cross River Bank for loan originations and partners with retailers to offer its credit financing solution; the firm is managed by Pay Pal co-founder Max Levchin and has also announced it will be moving its San Francisco headquarters to 650 California Street with 86,225 square feet of office space for the growing company. Source