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UK

·Mar. 22, 2017

Australia and the UK Collaborate on Fintech

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and Austrade have signed an agreement with the UK that will facilitate fintech innovation in both countries; the agreement will help to support introductions and the sharing of information on regional fintech business; as part of the agreement the CBA will also utilize its London Innovation Lab for UK and European networking. Source

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Europe News Roundup Online Lending Real Estate

·Mar. 22, 2017

Property Crowd Launches IFISA

UK debt crowdfunding platform Property Crowd has announced the launch of its innovative finance individual savings account (IFISA); the minimum investment for the IFISA is 5,000 British pounds ($6,220) and the account will target returns of 7% to 10%; Property Crowd will compete for investment across the alternative debt market however its offerings vary slightly from traditional P2P lenders since the firm's debt products include structured real estate bonds. Source

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Europe Fintech News Roundup

·Mar. 21, 2017

UK Digital Bank Tandem Loses License to Take Deposits

In the midst of getting ready to launch in a few weeks the UK digital bank Tandem is now unable to launch with savings accounts; the bank was approved in 2015 for a banking license so long as they fulfilled a number of criteria including hiring a board, building out sufficient technology systems and raising enough capital to cover losses; the final point is where the bank was unable to comply, they fell short of raising enough capital and now are forced to launch without the savings feature; Tandem was expecting 29 million British pounds ($36.1 million) from House of Fraser, the UK department store chain that was bought by China's Sanpower Group, but Sanpower was worried about capital restrictions coming out of China so they pulled the funding. Source

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Europe Fintech News Roundup

·Mar. 20, 2017

Innovate Finance Announces Industry Leaders for Ambassador Program

Innovate Finance has announced eight industry leaders for a new ambassador program; Innovate Finance is one of the UK's most active trade associations for fintech; it's led by CEO Lawrence Wintermeyer; some of the program's industry leading ambassadors include Anju Patwardhan from the CreditEase FinTech Fund and Mike Sigal from 500 Startups; the ambassadors will be actively involved in the organization's upcoming Global Summit on April 10 and 11 in London. Source

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Europe Fintech News Roundup

·Mar. 17, 2017

UK Venture Capitalists Risk Losing European Investment Fund Due to Brexit

The European Investment Fund (EIF) has pumped over $2 billion into venture capital funds and startups in the last four years; with the vote to leave the European Union, venture capitalists in the UK now fear that this important source of funding will disappear as the government looks to officially complete Brexit; the UK is not as fortunate as the US when it comes to endowments that allocate capital to funds, therefore the EIF has filled a much needed role; there currently is no plan to replace the EIF when the UK officially leaves, though lawmakers and lobbyists are looking to see if they can strike a deal to keep the flow of capital coming. Source

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Europe News Roundup Online Lending

·Mar. 22, 2017

HNW Lending Launches IFISA

HNW Lending offers secured loans from 50,000 British pounds ($62,375) to 1 million British pounds ($1.2 million) for a range of assets including planes and classic cars; the firm launched in April 2014 and is now offering the innovative finance individual savings account (IFISA) to its investors after receiving full platform authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority; the minimum investment for the IFISA is 5,000 British pounds ($6,238) and the accounts will target annual returns of 7% to 15%. Source

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Europe News Roundup Online Lending

·Mar. 21, 2017

British Business Bank Investments in P2P Platforms Total 135mn British Pounds

Media site Bridging & Commercial filed a freedom of information request into the British Business Bank's investments in P2P platforms; since 2014 the British Business Bank has invested 135 million British pounds ($168 million); commitments are made via the Business Finance Partnership Tranche (BFP) and the Investment Programme (IP); the details are outlined in the above chart. Source

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Europe News Roundup Online Lending

·Mar. 20, 2017

Zopa Reports on the Success of Plus

Zopa launched its Plus product one year ago; the Plus product is the firm's highest risk and highest return offering; investors are reporting a 6% short-term return for the loan investments which fall in two additional risk categories: D and E; since introduced the platform has lent more than 100 million British pounds ($124 million) from approximately 9,000 investors. Source

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Europe News Roundup Online Lending

·Mar. 20, 2017

Zopa’s Giles Andrews Joins MarketInvoice as Chairman

Giles Andrews launched Zopa, the industry's first peer-to-peer lending platform, in 2005; he has now taken on a new role as the chairman of MarketInvoice; MarketInvoice provides P2P financing for small business invoices giving them an alternative source for working capital; Giles Andrews will help the firm scale its business and reach its 2017 goal of 2 billion British pounds ($2.48 billion) in lending. Source

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Europe News Roundup Online Lending

·Mar. 17, 2017

Funding Circle SME Income Fund Offers a New C Share

Firm is currently launching a new C share to broaden its investment offering and increase assets under management which are currently at approximately 167 million British pounds ($206.25 million); this is one of the market's most recently launched closed end funds with a diversified portfolio of P2P business loans; in its initial launch it raised 150 million British pounds ($185.25 million); the fund has no management or performance fees and targets an annual total return of 8% to 9%. Source

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