Goldman Sachs is investing £100m ($132.6) in UK consumer lending platform Neyber; the financing will come in the form of debt and equity; the FT reports, “We are now in a place where we are confident in our model,” said Martin Ijaha, co-founder of Neyber. “The Goldman Sachs investment of £100m is really about expanding the amount we lend from the £70m we have done to date.” Source
The Fintech Delivery Panel (FDP) is a new industry group focused on helping promote the UK fintech in the wake of Brexit; members include TransferWise, Funding Circle, Onfido, Monzo, FreeAgent, MarketInvoice, Starling Bank, Barclays, HSBC, RBS and Santander; the group plans to meet four times a year and post meeting minutes on the website of TechCityUK. Source
AutoGravity CEO Andy Hinrichs was interviewed by CNBC’s On the Money program with Becky Quick; Andy explains the AutoGravity solution of simplifying the car buying process; successes to date include availability in 49 states, 500,00 app downloads and 20,000 dealership members since launch in 2016; they also discuss who the target buyer is for their product and how they generate revenue. Source
Both Lending Club and Prosper have announced several programs to help borrowers affected by Hurricane Harvey; Lend Academy shares an email to Lending Club investors which states approximately 30,000 live in the affected areas; Lending Club has made changes around collections calls, late fees, credit bureau reporting and hardship plans; Prosper has taken similar actions by waiving late and NSF fees as well as adjusting payment schedules. Source
The securitization portfolio will include private consumer loans from the SoFi platform; associated parties on the deal include PwC, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Deutsche Bank Securities, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Mizuho Securities USA LLC; according to Finsight, the securitization is SoFi's ninth this year with the last being a $500 million transaction that took place in June. Source
MoneyLion’s new feature is called Grow Your Stack; will help customers see a visual representation of their account balance as ‘cash’ over the real world; the feature will leverage iOS 11’s ARKit technology; Tim Hong, Chief Marketing Officer at MoneyLion stated, “If I write that you spent $350 on coffee as text, versus if I show you that in terms of a [visual] stack, you may be more likely to change your habits,” he said. “Not everyone learns in the traditional way.” Source
Groundfloor is a real estate crowdfunding company that has historically focused on retail investors; yesterday the company announced a whole loan purchase agreement with Direct Access Capital (DAC); this is their first institutional partner; Groundfloor to date has facilitated $40 million on the platform and has raised $8.5 million in venture capital. Source
Robo advisors are meant to be simple and automated to keep costs low and allow your wealth to accumulate; in looking at the top four firms in the market the Wall Street Journal found that humans choose what goes into the portfolios; this begs the question whether investors are aware of this human intervention; the WSJ takes a closer look at how Vanguard Group's Vanguard Personal Advisor Services (PAS), Betterment, Wealthfront and Schwab Intelligent Portfolios allocate their clients money; while robo advisors are deemed a simple solution they might not be and investors should understand how their money is allocated. Source
Renaud Laplanche's new consumer lending platform, Upgrade, has announced a new executive hire; John Dye will be joining the executive team as general counsel; John brings experience from Western Union and has also worked at Freddie Mac, Citigroup and Salomon Smith Barney; John Dye will support the firm's legal, compliance and regulatory operations; he is joined by Louis Shansky who has also been hired as deputy counsel. Source
Orchard has a unique perspective on online lending given how close they are both with originators and investors; Matt Burton shares themes from LendIt 2017 and looks back at what has happened over the past few years; Burton believes that many companies are positioned for growth this year with increased institutional investor interest; shares that the industry is still small compared to where it could go and explores what needs to happen in order to "expand the tent"; discusses growth in originations, securitization, partnerships and the expansion of asset classes in the industry. Source