Goji is marketing a P2P lending bond product, the Goji Diversified P2P Lending Bond, which is targeting annual returns of greater than 5%; the firm is based in London and offers a range of services for the P2P lending industry including tools and resources for investors and financial intermediaries, an investing platform, IFISA account servicing technology for platforms and now a new P2P lending bond; the Bond will invest in a minimum of 200 loans across all options available in the UK P2P lending sector. Source
Finbee currently offers consumer loans and has announced expansion into business loans for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); the expansion follows a new law enacted by the government to support online lending and a license obtained by Finbee for the service; the SME loans will be sourced from a separate website; Finbee will offer SME loans for up to 15,000 euros ($15,911) with a 12 month duration; different from the consumer loans, Finbee will not be covering defaults from SME loans with its compensation fund. Source
Anthony Hsieh of loanDepot shared his insights on the marketplace lending industry at the Marketplace Lending and Alternative Financing Summit; said technology would be the industry's main barrier to entry, an even greater factor than regulation; according to Hsieh, tech-enabled platforms with scale in the market will have an advantage as the outlook for new capital is uncertain. Source
Marketplace lending originations have been increasing significantly in the US and China however in 2016 both countries saw a number of challenges influencing the market and increasing risk; Moody's analyzes market similarities and differences in the two countries; reports on the variance in lending model structuring; notes that US marketplace lenders are more deeply integrated with partner-bank relationships; while structuring and partnerships vary considerably between the two countries, there are similarities, including reliance on big data, lack of credit cycle testing and ongoing development of regulatory standards. 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
Brett Boehm, principal and director of business development for TBF Financial, shares the various options that lenders have for non-performing loans; many firms chase non-performing loans when perhaps selling the loans to a commercial debt buyer is a better option; blog post discusses commercial debt buying, recovery options for the lender, and how to deal with reputable buyers and brokers. Source
New regulations slowed the growth of P2P lending in China in 2016; data from P2P001 reports that transaction volume in P2P lending increased by 138% in 2016 to over 2.8 trillion yuan ($403 billion) however that was only half of the transaction volume growth reported in 2014 and 2015; on August 24, 2016 the government issued new requirements for the industry, one of which requires that lenders partner with banks for custodian services; this adds additional costs for lenders and as of the end of 2016 only 7.98% had partnered with a custodian bank. Source
According to a report by AltFi, P2P Global Investments (P2PGI) is continuing their share buybacks; P2PGI has purchased shares on 14 days in the past two months with buybacks ranging from 3,400 to 50,000; the fund currently trades at a 25.3% discount to net asset value; contributing factors to recent performance have been cash drag from currency hedging, level of defaults and volatility surrounding Brexit. Source
Chinese regulators have mandated that P2P lenders work with custody banks for depository services; Ping An Bank has announced a third party depository service and provides details in a document titled, "Measures for Third Party Depository of P2P Online Lending Platforms"; the document provides access criteria for lenders and the bank appears to be setting the industry standard for P2P custody services. Source
The "Facebook Initiative" has helped increase lending at Irish credit unions and now 15% to 20% of loan inquiries come through the social networking site; the program initially started out as a pilot project and has moved into a key source of new leads; half of consumers that used this program never borrowed from a credit union before; the process involves a 30 second inquiry online, then lending officers call the borrowers to ensure they understand what they are borrowing; this is part of a broader move by the Credit Union Development Association (CUDA) in Ireland to spur innovation in finance. Source