The New York Department of Financial Services continues to thoroughly investigate the business practices of online lenders; a proposal is in process that would require increased regulation for online lenders; specifically new regulations would be instituted for all lenders making personal loans of $25,000 or less and business loans of $50,000 or less and would also apply to online lenders involved in soliciting loans and buying loans. Source
Niels Turfboer of Spotcap provides insight on UK disclosure standards for online lenders, a topic he will be discussing at the AltFi Europe Summit; Niels Turfboer presents the importance of framing the disclosure standards debate and evaluates some of the approaches being used in the industry; notes the disclosure of the UK's big four lenders and the SMART Box introduced by the US Innovative Lending Platform Association; also mentions the involvement of third parties in the disclosure process. Source
Offering products to retail investors is something a lot of online platforms have struggled with as they look for diverse funding sources; the panel at LendIt USA 2017 entitled: New Models of Raising Debt and Equity Funding: eREITs & More with Kendall Davis of Fundrise, Jilliene Helman of RealtyMogul.com and moderator Mesh Lakhani of Mark 2 Capital discussed one of these retail options; panelists focused on how they source deals, inbound versus outbound sales teams, and how you must learn to be selective when looking at dealflow; the eREIT is a good portfolio addition for investors, it is long term and lacks volatility; panelists also discussed their thoughts on the new Trump administration and future innovative ideas for their platforms. Source
Lending Club and Prosper were the first and for a long time the only online lending platforms available to retail investors; recently companies have leveraged Regulation A+ in order to open offerings across real estate and small business lending to retail investors; Lend Academy outlines additional companies open to retail investors including: Fundrise, RealtyMogul.com, Groundfloor and StreetShares. Source
Firm has been providing working capital financing for small and medium size businesses (SME) for three years; reported working capital funding of approximately $200 million in 2016 and estimates total funding through 2017 to reach $700 million; firm primarily lends to retail, IT services, business services, media and entertainment, engineering and construction through its flexible working capital financing and Flex Credit product which offers revolving business credit lines of up to $100,000. Source
Fintek News talked with Ron Suber about the marketplace lending industry and his recent presentations at LendIt, AltFi Australasia and the ACFE Fintech Fraud Summit; as an investor and one of the industry's most active speakers, his insights have helped influence all aspects of marketplace lending both globally and in the US; in his most recent presentations he has discussed current opportunities for the industry, how online lending can be compared to online trading and factors influencing fintech fraud. Source
Global Debt Registry (GDR) will partner with TransUnion for data to enhance GDR's eValidation services; the data partnership will help to improve eValidation's verification for investors and issuing creditors also providing more in-depth analytics on borrowers; GDR President Charlie Moore says, "Their data allows our investors to gain more confidence in the underlying assets through verification, validation and enhanced credit risk tools." Source
Lidya has raised $1.25 million to expand its financing services for small and medium enterprises in Africa; the funding round was led by Accion Venture Lab and will help the company enhance its credit scoring for small businesses and improve access to small business funding; it is targeting $4.9 million in loans for its first year of business. Source
Julieann Thurlow of Reading Cooperative Bank saw the SoFi Super Bowl ad last year and decided to try out the lender as she watched the ad, she received a loan in a few minutes; her reaction set off a chain of events where she is now looking to accelerate her own bank's innovation to keep up with online lenders like SoFi; her reasoning is that these new entrants will begin to eat into their customers unless their technology is on a comparable scale; they now have a mobile experience where you can open new accounts and she is looking to have a mobile mortgage application live in the next year; she now attends innovation events and is looking to help their customers move into the digital age with the bank. Source
Lendable provides consumer loans from high net worth and institutional investors; says the new investment is an important milestone for the firm and will help support its next phase of growth; according to Martin Kissinger, Founder and Chief Executive of Lendable, "This investment affirms our strong track record and operational excellence, and helps us reach the next level of scale." Source