Bloomberg reports on the possibility of ride-sharing companies getting into financial services; Grab is a leading ride-hailing company in Southeast Asia; app users can now start sending credits which are used to pay for rides to other users; by the end of 2017 credits will be able to be used at 1,000 restaurants and retailers, turning Grab into much more of an e-payment platform than just a taxi service; in Indonesia, the 200,000 drivers of Go-Jek can use e-wallets to store their earnings and also spend funds on a variety of services; article also shares innovation in Kenya with M-Pesa as well as China's Alibaba and WeChat. Source
The app is designed to help users pay down student loan debt; it links with customers' debit cards and rounds up purchases as spare change which is then used to make weekly payments to student loans; the bank will market the app to target millennials and add new customers. Source
dv01 provides insight on marketplace lending originations with data from Lending Club, SoFi, Marlette and Prosper; shows 2Q17 originations increasing 21% from 1Q17 and up 52% from 2Q16 with average loan coupons increasing to 14.31%; average FICO has increased from 703 to 711 as firms tighten their credit underwriting. Source
Scott Zoldi, chief analytics officer at FICO, discusses innovation in credit data, credit scoring and fraud protection; FICO has been using artificial intelligence for decades and the firm has over 130 patents; Scott has experience in theoretical physics and joined FICO in 1999 to focus on the use and development of data with a specific interest in machine learning; Scott talks about the company's standard credit scoring services and also the innovative solutions FICO has developed including the FICO XD score for financial inclusion and their fraud solution product, Falcon. Source
Its platform focused on funding from fans for internet celebrities on YouTube, Twitch and other live streaming platforms; in August it raised 119.5 ether which is about $47,000; the SEC notified Protostarr of its investigation however a final status has not been reported; the firm says forming a legal department to manage the ICO investigation and potential need for registration is not within its short-term plans and it will refund its ICO investors. Source
Australian lending platform Timelio has received investment from new investor, Anthony Thomson; Anthony Thomson is founder of Atom Bank and Metro Bank; the Timelio platform has funded over $100 million in invoices since launching approximately two years ago. Source
Peter gives a recap of activity in 2016 which included issues across most all of the largest firms and reported many small firm closings with the launch of Marcus by Goldman Sachs changing market competition; compared to 2016, 2017 appears much better with equity investments already surpassing 2016 totals and many new startups launching lending platforms; overall, Peter says the industry is recovering but not recovered and notes that returns are dropping. Source
PeerIQ provides analysis of the recent OneMain securitization; the chart above compares the deal to other recent online lending securitizations; the deal closed at $947 million and it includes loans from Springleaf and OneMain which have merged under the OneMain brand. Source
Two cases involving sexual harassment charges have been filed against SoFi; CEO Mike Cagney wrote an open letter regarding the cases, stressing that he is taking the complaints seriously; Cagney and SoFi's legal team are in the process of investigating and responding to the filings. Source
Originating the loan to a borrower is just the beginning; at LendIt USA 2017 we hosted a presentation by Envestnet | Yodlee on monitoring the consumer after the loan; key items to focus on include: monitoring the lending relationship and data analysis of the borrower, ensuring you have the best data for a specific borrower, are credit data and scores enough or should you look to alternative data sources, what alternative data and details do you focus on to make sure you are making the right decision, and how do changes to income and employment effect the borrower status; focusing on the details is key, making sure you understand the different borrowers and the data points that affect them the most. Source