While relaxing over the Thanksgiving weekend you might have noticed a new trend occurring in television while watching the games:...
According to the WSJ, SoFi is pulling back on its expansion to foreign markets and asset management; two executives, Peter Early and Arkadi Kuhlmann are leaving the firm as part of the shift in focus; they led asset management and banking respectively at SoFi; despite some of the challenges the company extended $3.52 billion in loans in the third quarter, up almost 80% from the same period last year. Source
In their weekly update PeerIQ covers the Trump tax plan, the recent Transunion consumer lending report and marketplace lending securitization news; the Transunion report shows that fintech companies have originated 30 percent of unsecured consumer loans in 2016; Darien Rowayton Bank and SoFi filed securitization deals; PeerIQ also took a closer look at SoFi’s SCLP 2017-6 deal which was the largest on SoFi’s shelf so far. Source.
In PeerIQ’s weekly industry update they cover the IMF’s recent global growth forecast being raised and the recent securitization deals in online lending; while global growth is up the IMF also pointed out that a third of banks by assets might struggle to attain profitability; recent securitization deals from Marlette Funding and SoFi highlight a busy quarter in the sector; the newsletter also takes a deep dive into bank earnings for JP Morgan, Citi, Bank of America and Wells Fargo. Source.
Renren, a publicly listed company in the US operates a social media platform in China but has also made several fintech investments; investments include LendingHome, Fundrise, Motif Investing as well as a significant stake in SoFi; a year ago Renren announced plans to spin off its minority venture stakes into a new subsidiary; under the plan retail investors would receive a cash payout, losing their exposure to SoFi; Ryan Roberts, director at MCM Partners stated in the Forbes article, “It certainly looks like Joe Chen is trying to strip the best assets from Renren, particularly SoFi. SoFi is basically the entire value of the company right now, the core business has really deteriorated.” Source
SoFi completed a $727mn issuance, entitled SCLP 2017-6, which makes it the largest consumer ABS deal; this is SoFi’s 11th ABD deal in 2017 worth over $6bn; SoFi said the joint lead managers on SCLP 2017-6 were J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and Mizuho Securities. Source.
In October SoFi launched an offering targeted at medical school graduates; American Banker shares how the move is just the latest example of how lenders use data to tap into new borrower niches; the average debt load of medical school graduates is $190,000 and during residency salaries are around $60,000; since their income is low traditional lenders often won’t refinance these loans; with the new product residents can consolidate their debt and make a $100 monthly payment until they finish training. Source
According to the Financial Times, SoFi had talks with various companies including Schwab earlier this year to sell the company; the discussions took place after an indicative offer of $6 billion from a foreign bank; the company subsequently held talks with other companies with a targeted price of between $8 - $10 billion; no acquirers were willing to match the price and SoFi decided to wait for an IPO. Source
PeerIQ’s weekly update includes a look at recent testimony on capitol hill by Equifax and Janet Yellen’s remarks at an event on reducing regulatory burdens on smaller banks; they also take a deep dive into the recent Navient acquisition of Earnest and how the servicer stacks up to SoFi. Source.
The complaint was filed on Thursday with the story echoing similar stories that have been published in the last few weeks; the lawsuit is one of at least three filed against the company. Source