MarketInvoice has appointed Shaun Alexander to head of risk; Alexander joins MarketInvoice from Santander and will be the firm's first head of risk directly overseeing the underwriting unit of the business; the new hire is another example of a fintech firm adding traditional banking risk oversight experience; MarketInvoice expects Alexander will help improve risk management for the firm by providing broader insight on sector risks and market risk factors. Source
The UK has triggered Article 50 and the 27 European Union countries will now begin negotiating with the UK for new terms; Innovate Finance's Lawrence Wintermeyer provides comments on the effects on fintech; says Brexit will make it more challenging for the UK to attract global investment and talent; Wintermeyer also says Brexit could potentially create new opportunities for regtech which will become increasingly important in cross-border activities. Source
Niels Turfboer of Spotcap provides insight on UK disclosure standards for online lenders, a topic he will be discussing at the AltFi Europe Summit; Niels Turfboer presents the importance of framing the disclosure standards debate and evaluates some of the approaches being used in the industry; notes the disclosure of the UK's big four lenders and the SMART Box introduced by the US Innovative Lending Platform Association; also mentions the involvement of third parties in the disclosure process. Source
Lendable provides consumer loans from high net worth and institutional investors; says the new investment is an important milestone for the firm and will help support its next phase of growth; according to Martin Kissinger, Founder and Chief Executive of Lendable, "This investment affirms our strong track record and operational excellence, and helps us reach the next level of scale." Source
P2P commercial real estate lender Relendex has received authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority; the platform provides secured commercial property loans through its P2P marketplace lending platform and now plans to seek the offering of innovative finance individual savings accounts for its investors; in comments regarding the authorization, Michael Lynn, the firm's founder and chief executive officer said, "FCA full authorization marks a fantastic start to 2017 for the Relendex team and platform which will further encourage and facilitate investment in commercial property from both our UK and foreign investors." Source
UK marketplace lender Landbay has lowered its borrowing rates and fees in an effort to refresh its offerings for buy-to-rent property borrowers; rates for a two-year fixed term loan will now start at 3.39% and rates on a five-year fixed term loan will start at 3.59%; arrangement fees have also been reduced to 1.5% from 1.75%; the firm has also made some changes to its approval criteria; Paul Brett, managing director of intermediaries at Landbay had the following comments: "We are constantly listening to our intermediary partners and to the requirements of the market. Our rates have been reduced across the board to ensure we remain competitive whilst our criteria enables us to serve a wide range of specialist borrowers seeking a fast decision." Source
Monzo has set a new Crowdcube record with fundraising from over 6,800 investors in its current fundraising campaign; firm has raised of 2.46 million British pounds ($3.06 million) and is targeting 2.47 million British pounds ($3.07 million); the crowdfunding campaign is part of a broader Series C funding round for 22 million British pounds ($27.37 million) which includes a 19.5 million British pounds ($24.26 million) investment from Thrive Capital, 5 million British pounds ($6.22 million) from Passion Capital and 1.5 million British pounds ($1.87 million) from Orange Digital Ventures; the firm has raised a total of 35 million British pounds ($43.54 million) in growth capital including a funding of 1 million British pounds ($1.24 million) in March of 2016 on Crowdcube. Source
Square has launched its mobile payment services for businesses in the UK; the UK marks the fifth country to offer the firm's services and Jack Dorsey says the firm plans to also expand further throughout Europe; with the launch, small businesses in the UK can now begin to use all of the services offered through the firm's feature products, the Square Reader and the Square Point of Sale app for transactions. Source
HSBC has shared insight from the development of its HSBC SmartSave app which it developed within the Financial Conduct Authority's Regulatory Sandbox initiative in partnership with Pariti; the app provides personal finance management services using algorithms and four customer plans; overall the app has proved successful, saving customers 63.17 British pounds ($78.80) per month; of the four service plans HSBC reported "Rounding Up" to be the most popular, allowing customers to round up purchases to save spare change on transactions. Source
Saving Stream and Lendy have merged and will now combine operations under the Lendy platform; the platform will focus on property development lending and plans to triple its loan issuance in 2017; Paul Riddell, head of marketing and communications at Lendy had the following comments regarding the merger, "Unifying our lender and borrower brands together under one banner – and on a single online platform – is a step that allows us to streamline our process and make our offering simpler for the entire market." Source