Raleigh-based HCG has raised $5.4 million from 12 investors for a fintech fund; firm specializes in digital finance investments and has previously invested in online lenders including Lending Club; firm is led by Chief Executive Officer Hadi Habal and Chief Investment Officer Jose Penabad. Source
Hexindai sees credit market opportunity in China worth 10 trillion RMB ($1.46 trillion); provides insight on the market in their featured blog post; with high net worth clients primarily served by traditional channels the firm is targeting the country's underserved population; says new and evolving technologies will be a factor helping emerging service platforms like P2P online lending gain market share. Sponsored Blog Post
In our recent blog post, we share a list of companies who spoke at LendIt USA 2016; companies came from over 20 countries with strong participation from the major markets including the UK, China, India, Canada and Australia; below we share details on our attendee breakdown by country and segment which illustrates the diverse crowd you'll get to interact with at LendIt USA 2017. Source
HNW Lending offers secured loans from 50,000 British pounds ($62,375) to 1 million British pounds ($1.2 million) for a range of assets including planes and classic cars; the firm launched in April 2014 and is now offering the innovative finance individual savings account (IFISA) to its investors after receiving full platform authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority; the minimum investment for the IFISA is 5,000 British pounds ($6,238) and the accounts will target annual returns of 7% to 15%. Source
Since 2008 home equity has rebounded as the economy has recovered; since 2012 housing equity has increased by $7 trillion; despite the borrowing opportunity, home equity lending has yet to return to its pre-crisis levels; data from the New York Federal Reserve outlines current borrowing trends and factors that are now influencing home equity borrowing. Source
Monexo plans to hire 30 to 40 people in a new office in Salt Lake Sector V; company plans to first start with personal loans and has already tied up with CIBIL for credit scores of borrowers; according to Monexo, good borrowers will receive a rate as low as 13%; Monexo has been in operation for 18 months and has offices in Bengaluru and Chennai. Source
The House Financial Services Committee has scheduled a hearing for March 28 with a panel of banking executives to gain greater insight into how Dodd-Frank has affected lending in the banking industry; the House Financial Services Committee works within the House of Representatives and is the main group governing regulation of the financial services industry; the hearing will help to gain insight into the effects on bank lending from Dodd-Frank which will help in directing Trump administration reform; the House Financial Services Committee is led by Jeb Hensarling who has previously reported the Financial CHOICE Act which is presented as a replacement for Dodd-Frank. Source
Online marketplaces specializing in lead generation services play an important role in marketing lending products; ThinkWallet, a lead gen platform, provides insight on how lead gen companies are serving online lenders in the current market environment; some of their benefits include lower marketing costs, a wider pool of prospects and better quality leads; a formalized compliance process used by third party lead generation providers is also becoming a greater benefit to lenders as regulatory oversight increases specifically from the FTC and CFPB. Sponsored Blog Post
Marcus by Goldman Sachs was launched in 2016 and marked an important point in the consumer lending industry as they decided to build their own platform from scratch; Ainsley O'Connell from Fast Company interviews head of Marcus, Harit Talwar; Talwar shares what was attractive about getting into personal loans and details the Marcus product; stated that there were many consumer pain points and Goldman Sachs was confident they could help; Goldman also has several advantages to give them an edge; not only do they have their own balance sheet, but they essentially built a startup, leaning on 147 years of experience; they also had the advantage that there were no conflicts over any legacy consumer businesses within Goldman; the company worked closely with consumers to bring to market a product they want which Talwar discusses in the interview. Source
eOriginal has been an active innovator in the digital finance revolution and began working with marketplace lenders in 2013; expanding its services in the industry, the firm discusses how online lenders can become even more competitive in the securitization market through digitization; their featured blog post also includes their recent white paper, "Creating Securitization eCertainty in the Secondary Market." Sponsored Blog Post