Credibly has been chosen to service BizFi's $250 million portfolio; Credibly also announced it had crossed the $500 million mark in capital deployed to SMBs; this does not include the portfolio of loans being serviced from BizFi; Ryan Rosett, Credibly's founder and co-chief executive officer stated: "Acquiring the servicing rights of BizFi's portfolio is a testament to our data-driven approach and laser focus on the working capital needs of small businesses. We welcome our new customers and are committed to ensuring that their growth capital needs are met." Source
The Fundrise Income eREIT previously sold out and was closed to new investors; the platform has re-opened the Income eREIT and requires minimum investment of $1,000; the Income eREIT is focused on investments in real estate debt and has posted a 10.5% annualized dividend yield. Source
LendIt has partnered with SeedInvest to include live fundraising at this year's PitchIt @ LendIt Europe competition; through the partnership LendIt Europe delegates and SeedInvest's 185,000 users can invest in the eight startup finalists during the event; these finalists will present before an audience and panel of judges on October 10 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. Source
PitchIt @ LendIt Europe is one of the industry's most popular startup competitions providing eight finalists with unparalleled access to industry expertise and funding opportunities as well as invaluable exposure, branding and more at the event; hosted in partnership with Startupbootcamp, the event also offers fast-track status to the finalist round for Startupbootcamp Fintech Accelerator as one of its prizes; interested startup companies must submit their application by September 4 and finalists will be announced on September 10; more details about the competition can be found here. Source
National Internet Finance Association (NIFA) of China on August 30 released ICOs risk alerts; the Association highlights two kinds of risks: 1) some projects raise money in the name of ICO with misguided publicity and this may lead to illegal fundraising; 2) the assets of some ICO projects remain unclear and the information disclosure is far from sufficient. Source (Chinese)
Banking and finance software specialist Temenos has worked with Baxter Credit Union to launch the Temenos Lifecycle Management Suite on Microsoft Azure; the loan platform includes modules for collection service and loan origination; its launch marks the first use of the Lifecycle Management Suite in the cloud through integration with Microsoft Azure and Baxter Credit Union says it is currently focusing on a strategic initiative to move all of its technology to the cloud. Source
Marcus by Goldman Sachs was launched in 2016 and marked an important point in the consumer lending industry as they decided to build their own platform from scratch; Ainsley O'Connell from Fast Company interviews head of Marcus, Harit Talwar; Talwar shares what was attractive about getting into personal loans and details the Marcus product; stated that there were many consumer pain points and Goldman Sachs was confident they could help; Goldman also has several advantages to give them an edge; not only do they have their own balance sheet, but they essentially built a startup, leaning on 147 years of experience; they also had the advantage that there were no conflicts over any legacy consumer businesses within Goldman; the company worked closely with consumers to bring to market a product they want which Talwar discusses in the interview. Source
Renaud will kick off day two of LendIt Europe with a keynote speech discussing online lending 2.0 as well as the US online lending industry and its role within fintech overall; Laplanche is currently the CEO of newly founded US consumer lending platform Upgrade; the platform raised $60 million from a Series A fundraising and launched in April 2017. Source
As of December 2016, shadow loans in China reported an annual increase of approximately 15% to 14.1 trillion yuan ($2.3 trillion); a study by UBS reports that as the market grows one area adding increased risk is regional banks, specifically banks located in China's Rust Belt region, which have been integrating the shadow loans into various methods for diversifying their balance sheet risk as the steel and metal-producing provinces struggle to remain profitable in the changing economy; the UBS report says alternative financial statement accounting regarding the loans could lead to a number of issues including overstated capital adequacy ratios, understated nonperforming loans and reduced provision charges. Source
ICOINFO, one of China's largest ICO exchange platforms, announces the suspension of new project launches, awaiting relevant regulatory rules; users will not be able to add value to their accounts during the suspension. Source