Stuart Law from Assetz Capital discusses different platform approaches to security, risk assessment and lending in an article for FT Adviser; provides details on the pre-approval and post-approval process for loans, noting the importance of these processes for investors given that P2P platforms provide alternative investments with potentially higher risks; also discusses the advantages that a provision fund can offer for investor security. 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
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
Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) has also invested in Netflix, Snapchat and Twitter; with the newest round of funding the company's value is expected to increase to over $1 billion; it has previously raised a total of $116 million; the firm is currently doing more than GBP1 billion ($1.29 billion) of transfers per month on its platform; new initiatives include opening a Singapore office, launching a borderless business account and adding its service to Facebook Messenger. Source
The Peer-to-Peer Finance Association (P2PFA) is a trade body representing three quarters of the P2P lending market in the UK; RateSetter has breached rules set by the P2PFA; according to RateSetter, "No customer has experienced any loss from our actions but we recognize that our actions breached the principles of the Association."; recently the company has been in the news with regards to their wholesale lending business that it has been winding down. Source
Landbay's most recent fundraising brings total funding to GBP7 million ($8.98 million) which the company has obtained from crowdfunding; the company's business is focused on funding buy to let mortgages and it has received authorization from the FCA; it plans to use the new funds to expand its operations and launch new products. 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
The Series C fundraising included $40 million in equity and a $200 million debt facility; the platform provides post-graduate loans to international students; it plans to use the funding to expand globally and offer more loans. Source
UK Small business lender Funding Circle attempts to simplify the investment process by removing manual bidding in favor of a two tiered autobid process; the two autobid accounts will be: balanced with a targeted return of 7.5% and conservative with a targeted return of 4.8%; UK Managing Director James Meekings tells AltFi: "These changes will make lending at Funding Circle simpler, better, fairer. We want to create a level playing field for all investors and ensure everyone has the same opportunity to lend to UK businesses."; the changes were in response to individual investors "gaming" the system and not allowing the passive investors access to higher return loans which are very popular; according to AltFi this is a trend in in the industry with other platforms, including Zopa in May, moving to this process. Source
There was a recent technology debate held at the Connaught Hotel hosted by Mortgage Solutions and Capita Mortgage Software Solutions that focused on some of the newer technology coming to the mortgage market; a key piece of the conversation focused on the use of APIs which would help to connect brokers and lenders and cut down on repetitive work; according to Mortgage Solutions, the individuals at the event thought that some lenders might be close to rolling out an API but large scale adoption was still potentially years away; other technology discussed included chatbots, artificial intelligence to help read through bank statements and how the open banking initiative will affect the industry. Source