2016 was a year filled with shaky investor confidence, compliance issues and bad credit performance in online lending; OnDeck CEO Noah Breslow's 2017 LendIt USA keynote focused on the challenges posed by 2016 and the trends for 2017 and beyond; after seeing how the industry reacted to these challenges he stated that he is now more optimistic than ever before; the industry is maturing and measures of success have shifted; the unstoppable trends include: customer awareness, trust and adoption of online lending, bank partnerships, constructive engagement between the public and private sector, and the global growth of online lending; he also predicts that by the mid 2020's nearly all small business loans will be made online. Source
Starling is a challenger bank based in the UK; Boden speaks about Starling, open banking and how she came to discover fintech which in turn led her to founding Starling; Boden previously worked in executive positions at UBS, ABN Amro, RBS and AIB; Starling was founded in 2014 as an app-only bank; in an interview Boden stated: "…and in 2014, I started the journey to build a bank. And it's been a long process because you don't just build a bank overnight. We've done things the hard way in that I'm a big believer that things that are worth doing are things that tend to be quite hard – because easy things anybody can do." Source
Inter-bank payments platform Swift says it is a step closer to adopting blockchain; a project that could potentially move member bank accounts to the blockchain and provide for real time reconciliation is now ready for its next phase; the project is focused on dormant funds held in various currencies supporting transactions. Source
Huddle Capital provides P2P loans for businesses; Terry Fisher talks about the platform's differentiators and advantages; also discusses its ownership by Access Commercial Finance, its relationship with Rebuildingsociety, its technology and what investors can expect. Source
Global Times recently comments on China's unregulated internet finance sector, stating that the online finance market requires cooling through tighter regulation after years of explosive but unruly growth; due to the lack of regulation, internet finance is often associated with financial irregularities, with many players operating without obtaining any license, for one; Global Times believes only a regulated internet finance industry can serve the real economy, and that chaotic development of internet finance will only pose risks to the country's financial stability. Source
The New York Fed's most recent Household Debt and Credit Report shows credit levels reaching new highs; total consumer debt for Q2 2017 was $12.8 trillion and student loan debt reached $1.3 trillion; Forbes highlights an increasingly upward trend in student lending which it says is being supported by federal government loans. Source
Almost a third of venture capital investment in the UK was done by the European Investment Fund (EIF) and since the Brexit decision was made this funding source has been turned off; while the British government has attempted to fill the void they have fallen short; "The pullback of the EIF puts the UK at a structural disadvantage compared to other European countries," Fred Destin, a London-based venture capitalist tells Politico; the EIF accounted for $2.7 billion worth of investment into 144 companies from 2011 to 2015 in the UK; the EIF has said they are just doing more diligence on the companies from the UK but the reality is that they have completely pulled back; the British Business Bank has announced plans to offer over $450 million in investments but venture capitalists have said they are unsure if the government can afford to do this in the long term. Source
AltFi Data has raised new capital and formed an advisory board; the new initiatives will help AltFi Data launch new products, increasing analytical tools and market transparency; the board’s advisors bring experience in market data and investing. Source
EEO.com has exposed 13 board member candidates of Wanglian (or Nets Union), China's newly established centralized clearinghouse for third party payments: Lai Zhiming (Tencent VP), Wang Zuogang (Alipay Director) and Ma Ji (JD Finance VP) are on the list, among other executives from People's Bank of China and its affiliated organizations. Source (Chinese)
Open banking is facilitating innovation across the banking sector and ING has plans to use it for voice automated artificial intelligence services; the bank's vision includes voice automated banking services through devices such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home, where digital assistants can pay bills and provide personalized advice through voice prompts; the bank is seeking to utilize new concepts being developed in Europe and has invested EUR800 million ($945 million) in a digital transformation. Source