The Marketplace Lending Association has announced the addition of 11 new members bringing its total membership to 14; the organization launched in April 2016 with three founding members: Lending Club, Prosper and Funding Circle; LendIt has joined the consortium as an associate member along with dv01; all together the expanded membership broadens the scope of representation within the industry and also helps to give the association a more powerful voice in Washington as marketplace lending regulations evolve in 2017. Source
Biz2Credit has released its monthly Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index report which provides approval rates on small business loans; large lenders increased approval rates while alternative and credit union lenders reported decreases; big banks reported an approval rate of 23.9% in December, an increase of 0.02% from November and 1% from December 2015; the small bank approval rate increased to 48.9% and the institutional lenders approval rate increased to 63.4%; alternative lending approval rates decreased to 58.6% and the approval rate from credit unions decreased to 40.9%. Source
PeerIQ released its fourth quarter "Marketplace Lending Securitization Tracker" this week; marketplace lending accounted for $2.4 billion of the securitization market in the fourth quarter; data from the fourth quarter report shows securitization investments as an increasingly important source of capital for marketplace lending platforms; in 2016 70% of loans were invested in through securitizations. Source
Marketplace lending platform Flender has reached its investment goal on Seedrs; firm has received investment of 500,000 British pounds ($608,680); the firm's crowdfunding campaign will close on January 17 and it plans to launch in the first quarter of 2017; the platform will provide innovative business credit services that facilitate lending through a borrower's social network. Source
Italian invoice trading platform Workinvoice has packaged 5 million euros ($5.31 million) worth of receivables financed through its platform in a securitization vehicle; the receivables portfolio was purchased by Italian portfolio manager Factor@Work; the securitization deal represents a new source of capital interest for the invoice receivables market. Source
A replay is now available for LendIt's Key Considerations for Risk Retention in Securitization forum which was held on Wednesday, January 11, 2017; the webinar provided insight on new risk retention regulations for securitization in effect beginning December 24, 2016; speakers talked about a range of securitization related topics including optimal risk retention structures, commercial considerations related to sponsors and requirements necessary for majority owned affiliates.
Funding Circle has announced a new equity investment of $100 million; the funding round was led by Accel and included existing investors Baillie Gifford, DST Global, Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Rocket Internet, Sands Capital Ventures, Temasek and Union Square Ventures; the funding brings the firm's total capital raised to $373 million and makes it the largest and best capitalized SME lending platform in the world. Source
dv01 and Experian have announced a data partnership that will increase transparency for institutional investors; the collaboration will bring new data to dv01's platform allowing for broader risk analysis of marketplace loans and bonds; dv01's clients include leading hedge funds, banks and asset managers; the data enhancement will specifically provide for better analysis of origination trends, loan performance and borrower attributes. Source
LendIt's most recent forum, Key Considerations for Risk Retention in Securitization, was held on Wednesday, January 11, 2017; the webinar provided insight on new risk retention regulations for securitization in effect beginning December 24, 2016; speakers provided insight on a range of securitization related topics including optimal risk retention structures, commercial considerations related to sponsors and requirements necessary for majority owned-affiliates; a replay of the webinar is now available.
The Association of Alternative Business Finance is rumored to be the alternative lending sector's next representative association; the consortium has reportedly been developed by seven balance sheet lenders to represent the interests of their lending group; the association will seek to employ and enhance transparency, responsibility, fairness and security; its criteria for inclusion is primarily focused on business product lending. Source