Thomas Curry spoke on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's fintech charter at LendIt USA; Curry primarily refuted arguments against the OCC's authority for establishing a fintech charter; Curry sited the National Bank Act stating, "To be clear, the National Bank Act does give the OCC the legal authority to grant national bank charters to companies engaged in the business of banking."; the banking charter would encompass all fintech companies engaging in banking activities regardless of whether or not they take banking deposits; the OCC is still evaluating the provisions of the fintech charter following its December 2016 white paper and comment period which ended in January 2017. Source
StreetShares provides loans for veteran-owned small businesses; following the California bizWin™ and VetBizWin™ initiatives, StreetShares has partnered with the Northern California Financial Development Corporation (Nor-Cal FDC) which will expand its business lending solutions with contract financing; Nor-Cal FDC is a licensed Financial Development Corporation and supports small business capital solutions for more than 3.6 million small businesses throughout California including a focus on companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley. Source
StackSource has launched an online lending platform for commercial real estate; the company provides a marketplace for connecting owners and developers with banks and non-bank lenders for credit financing; the multi-lending platform connects borrowers with lenders through the StackSource proprietary lender database; StackSource was developed from the TechStar accelerator program and was founded by Tim Milazzo. Source
AlphaFlow has announced the launch of AlphaFlow Managed Portfolios; created by Ray Sturm, co-founder of RealtyShares, AlphaFlow has been managing real estate investments that allow investors to invest in loans across multiple real estate crowdfunding platforms since its launch in 2015; the introduction of the AlphaFlow Managed Portfolios is an effort to better meet the needs and demands of the firm’s investors; the new platform will provide investors with a real estate portfolio of 75 to 100 real estate loans; the portfolio will be driven by AlphaFlow Advanced Analytics and targets returns of 8% to 10% with a 1% fee on assets under management. Source
Experian is the most recent company to join the Marketplace Lending Association; credit reporting agency Experian has become actively integrated in the marketplace lending ecosystem and is committed to supporting transparent and responsible financial innovation for the marketplace lending industry; Experian's expertise in data and analytics will greatly support the goals of the Marketplace Lending Association. Source
Featured keynote speaker Richard Cordray from the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) discussed the Bureau's fintech initiatives at LendIt USA; a video of the presentation can be found here; in prepared remarks Cordray discussed the Bureau's focus on both providers and consumers with three areas of special interest including: consumer-friendly innovations, consumers' control over their personal financial data and the use of alternative sources of data for underwriting loans; recent fintech innovation activity from the CFPB has primarily been centered around its Project Catalyst; on February 16 the CFPB also issued a request for information on the uses of alternative credit data with an open comment period until May 19. Source
The US marketplace lending industry has matured with a number of self-regulating industry associations however the evolution of the industry and its integration into mainstream financial services has brought about increased regulatory attention which was one prominent topic for discussion at LendIt USA; HousingWire details the keynote speeches from Thomas Curry and Patrick McHenry also discussing insight from Amias Gerety; Richard Cordray from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was also a featured keynote speaker discussing government regulatory efforts pertaining to the industry. Source
LendingHome will now offer an online mortgage product for consumers; LendingHome was launched in 2014 and has been funding short-term bridge and rental loans for property investors; the platform has funded over $1 billion in loans; features of the product include: an automated process, real time rates, loan guidance and real estate agent connectivity. Source
Harit Talwar discussed the new Goldman Sachs online lending platform, Marcus, and six ways the company is striving for a competitive edge in the market at LendIt USA; one of the platform's top marketing initiatives is direct mail marketing which Talwar say consumers are highly responsive to; the firm is also not charging any fees, allowing for one deferred payment and staffing its call center with human agents. Source
Experienced fintech expert, John Sculley talked about investment opportunities he sees in the market at LendIt USA; former president of Pepsi and former CEO at Apple, Sculley says he is interested in transformative opportunities; in the fintech sector, Sculley recently joined the board of directors at Lantern Credit after becoming an investor; Lantern Credit is positioned to provide transformative technology with machine-learning services for financial institutions that allows for a broader assessment of a borrower's creditworthiness. Source