Prosper is in talks with Chinese conglomerate Linca to sell an approximately 10% stake in the company; according to the source, Linca would invest $50 million in Prosper at a valuation of about $550 million, reducing Prosper's value from approximately $2 billion reported in 2015; plans for its recent $5 billion investment in loans on the platform from a consortium of investors continues and this new deal is reportedly expected to help provide capital for future investments. Source
In a statement defending allegations against its issuance of new bank charters, the FDIC reaffirmed its authority to review and approve applications for US businesses seeking deposit insurance from the FDIC; the criticism comes from the OCC as it continues to develop plans for its national fintech charter; in a podcast interview Friday with a Commodity Futures Trading Commission official, Keith Noreika criticized the FDIC's process for chartering banks, suggesting that the open process was too long and cost too much for requesting companies eventually leading to many withdrawn applications; Noreika also said the OCC has proposed a bill that would take away the FDIC's role in approving newly chartered entities for deposit insurance. Source
Join LendIt for a webinar about blockchain technology and how it can streamline operations for wealth managers and insurance back office operations; register here for the August 14 webinar at 2:00 PM EST; presenters include Jayant Khadilkar, global head of analytics and technology at Tiger Risk, and Ryan Rugg, business development at R3. Source
Event follows Ethereal Summit hosted by ConsenSys earlier this year; will include panels, live music, discussions and workshops about blockchain; the event will focus on making blockchain technology easier to understand and is being marketed as a culture focused event rather than a technical one; Cointelegraph provides a list of featured speakers. Source
Challenger banks, including Virgin Money, TSB and Metro Bank, are seeing a market that is becoming more crowded by the day and profit margins in lending areas are being trimmed; mortgage rates coming down and customer acquisition costs going up are two of the main reasons for these worries; pricing in consumer credit has also forced some of these banks to pull out of that segment all together as competition has become too much; the newest space entrants, like Atom, Monzo and Starling, are only adding to the heated environment; Richard Iferenta from KPMG explains to the Financial Times, "The challenge is, if you want to build a bank, how do you get sufficient scale, attract a big customer base, and make a lot of money."; one group who is particularly benefiting is the consumer, they are seeing prices come down and new innovative products hit the market that are helping them to better understand their finances. Source
The OCC has filed a motion to dismiss in a court case filed by the CSBS suggesting that the agency is not authorized to issue the fintech charter it has been drafting to support the growth of fintech companies in the US; the primary argument of the CSBS centers around the issuance of a national charter to fintech companies offering only unbundled banking services with no deposit taking business; in its motion to dismiss the OCC says the CSBS' allegations are speculative given that the OCC has not yet begun taking any applications for a national charter. Source
OnDeck Capital beat earnings estimates and missed revenue estimates for the second quarter; revenue was $86.85 million, increasing 25% from the comparable quarter; earnings per share were $0.02, increasing from -$0.20 in the second quarter of 2016; loan originations decreased from $589.7 million in the second quarter of 2016 to $464.4 million in the second quarter of 2017; company reported success in acceleration to profitability; expanded online lending partnership with JPMorgan for up to four years; deBanked provides their perspective on the earnings release. Source
LendingRobot shares returns for the second quarter; aggregated return for the LendingRobot series was 2.7% year to date; there are currently four risk-based funds in the series ranging from short term conservative to long term aggressive; loans included in the funds are from Lending Club, Prosper, Funding Circle and Lending Home; the series funds are available to accredited investors for investment. Source
P2P lenders in the UK will be required to give information to investors on loan performance; the new measure is expected to be announced this year with implementation not likely until mid-2018; both information on delinquent loans and due diligence were included in the FCA's interim consultation paper; the latest review by the FCA is the second in two years. Source
In its most recent podcast, ReBank talked with Rob Moffat of Balderton Capital; the podcast provides a venture capitalist's view on European fintech; Moffat talks about the market opportunities for investment and the firm's investment portfolio; LendIt will also be featuring Rob Moffat as a PitchIt judge at this year's LendIt Europe event in October. Source