Scott Sanborn provided the opening keynote presentation at LendIt USA 2017; the appointment of Sanborn has been a critical success factor for Lending Club and the marketplace lending industry; in his presentation he discusses the challenges of 2016 and the significant growth opportunity that still remains ahead; compares the market's potential to the growth of Amazon; provides insight on important factors for growth over the next ten years.
A group of House Republicans has sent a letter to Comptroller Thomas Curry requesting his agency slowdown its plans for a fintech charter; the letter was signed by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling and 33 other House Republicans; it primarily suggests that stakeholders are not receiving an appropriate amount of time to comment on the full details of the fintech charter and that there is potential for the fintech charter to be overturned by Congress. Source
Lend Academy provides more details on defaults triggering a breach in a SoFi securitization portfolio; the portfolio reporting the defaults was SoFi's first securitization of unsecured consumer loans, the SoFi Consumer Loan Program 2015-1 LLC; given the terms of the deal and the overall characteristics, the breach does not seem to have broad market indications; the deal arrangers set the trigger level at 3% which is a relatively low rate and the cumulative net loss is only reported to be marginally above the trigger; a chart from PeerIQ also provides more details on the cumulative net loss rates for SoFi. Source
Groundfloor has partnered with IRA Services to offer clients investment through tax-deferred retirement accounts; Groundfloor is the US market's first and only real estate platform with all of its investments open to non-accredited investors; through IRA Services, which provides a unique platform for facilitating investment in alternative finance, investors can now invest in Groundfloor's range of real estate offerings, achieving returns of 5% to over 20% in tax deferred retirement accounts; Groundfloor's P2P real estate lending platform has been growing substantially with $16.5 million in loans originated in 2016, an increase of 621% from 2015. Source
Brickell Capital Finance will now offer its healthcare clients Liquid FSI Convert2Pay services through its sales representatives; Liquid FSI Convert2Pay allows healthcare professionals to upload healthcare claims and receive payouts; the firm has a range of solutions for healthcare claim payouts and also offers healthcare industry lending services. Source
The service from Whitepages Pro can add another layer to identity verification for online lenders; it provides lenders with analysis of a potential borrower's associated phone number, email, mailing address and business name; Whitepages CEO Rob Eleveld says the service gives lenders a broad profile of the borrower which in most cases is difficult to fraudulently create; it can also be accessed through APIs which makes connecting to the service easy for lenders. Source
LendingHome was founded in 2013 and is the second startup business founded by Matt Humphrey; the firm announced its new consumer loan mortgage product at LendIt USA 2017; since its initial launch, the business has originated over $1 billion in mortgage loans with a focus specifically on fix and flip property owners; the new product will expand the capabilities of the firm's technology by offering consumer mortgage loans to first time homebuyers; the product expansion is a natural extension of the business and talking with Forbes, Humphrey says it has been a part of the firm's plan since founding the company. Source
The Federal Reserve increased its federal funds rate by 0.25% following its March Federal Open Market Committee meeting; the rate is now at 0.75% to 1.00%; the Fed also alluded to plans for two more rate increases in 2017. Source
Marlette Funding has announced plans to cut one-fifth of its workforce as the company scraps plans for expansion to new verticals and remains focused on its online unsecured personal loans; the company has reported significant lending growth with over $3 billion in loans originated through its Best Egg brand in the first three years in business; the more conservative strategy follows some signs of increasing defaults, plans for new regulations and slowed capital investments. Source
Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) has provided ratings and released more details on Marlette Funding's Marlette Funding Trust 2017-1 (MFT 2017-1) securitization; the transaction is valued at $257.44 million and includes consumer loans from Marlette; the portfolio includes three tranches rated A to BB; the majority of the loans are contained in tranche A which accounts for 80%. Source