European marketplace lender Lendix will offer loans to Italian SMEs; the platform will now support peer-to-peer loans from EUR30,000 ($32,175) to EUR2 million ($2.1 million) for Italian businesses; Lendix has originated a total of over EUR70 million ($75 million) in business loans from borrowers in France and Spain. Source
LendKey is a lending-as-a-service technology provider for banks and credit unions; the company has released a Student Loan Refinance Report discussing borrower trends at banks and credit unions; provides statistics on borrower demographics, lending preferences and loan performance; finds that the student loan refinance market is healthy and that borrowers are saving an average 2.2% in annual interest expense after refinancing. Source
LendUp has secured a new $100 million credit facility from Victory Park Capital bringing its total financing to $325 million; the firm has also announced a new lending milestone, with loan originations surpassing $1 billion from more than 3.3 million loans; the firm was launched in 2012 and seeks to support the emerging middle class through lending and financial education. Source
Consumer demographics are changing with more volatile income, and less interest and access to traditional banking products; LendUp has been working to provide a broader array of solutions for an underserved demographic of consumers and the fintech company has reported a number of successes; it has originated over $1 billion from more than 3.3 million loans; success for the company has come from offering innovative and diverse solutions paired with educational support; examples include graduated credit products that help customers migrate from a $250 emergency loan to a $1,000 installment loan to a $300-$500 low-balance credit card; the firm has integrated initiatives that improve credit availability for on time payments and credit management classes, also reporting $55 million in savings for customers. 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
Linked Finance, an Irish P2P SME lender, has received new funding from Eiffel Investment Group; under the deal Eiffel Investment Group has agreed to provide up to 20% of funding for new loans on Linked Finance's platform; Eiffel has been around the space since 2011 and manages 200 million euros ($213.43 million) for institutional investors across other platforms including Lendix and Funding Circle; Linked Finance has originated 700 loans since launching in 2013 and plans to lend 350 million euros ($373.50 million) by 2020. Source
State Street and the Alternative Investment Management Association have released a report on decreased liquidity in the investment market; approximately half of respondents see less market liquidity as a long-term factor and three-fifths of respondents are considering less trading liquidity in their investment strategies; report cites new market entrants, electronic platforms and peer-to-peer lending as reasons for increased illiquidity in the market overall; report says investors are focusing on three areas to adapt to the shift in market liquidity including rationalizing risk, optimizing for liquidity, and implementing new rules and tools. Source
A blog post from MonJa provides details on the "Liquidity Outlook: Establishing a Secondary Loan Market" panel discussion which took place on December 1 at the 2nd Annual Investors' Conference on Marketplace Lending; Orchard Platform has made building a comprehensive secondary market for marketplace loans a firm priority and has the lead on an industry wide trading platform; interactive data technology and advanced market pricing technology are some of the barriers; until broader secondary market trading becomes available, innovative industry funds and securitization portfolios are the leading secondary market options available for investors. Source
Government officials recently created legislation for P2P lenders in Lithuania; FinBee, a small business lender is the first to have received the license and has officially launched using Madiston's software; according to FinBee CEO Laimonas Noreika: "We were delighted to be the first P2P platform to receive our license to help small businesses borrow to finance their growth. Our technology helped us to achieve this. When we first launched consumer lending, we chose Madiston's software because it was ready to go with what we needed but also gave us the ability to add functionality as we grow. The first step in our expansion plan was to add business lending and the technology was there for us, Madiston has been a supportive partner throughout." 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