A new report by NextGen Crowdfunding documents increasing use of Reg. A+ as the regulatory umbrella for real estate crowdfunding and other financial offerings; Reg. A+ was finalized in June 2015 as a means for non-accredited investors to access private offerings; companies can raise up to $50 million per year under Reg. A+; across all sectors, 131 companies to date have filed under Reg. A+, with 38% of these filings being by real estate and financial services platforms and many others being IT startups; roughly half of the filers are using "Tier 1" rules for Reg. A+, meaning they will continue to register in individual states as well as at the federal level, and half are filing "Tier 2", seeking national fundraising scope while avoiding the added prudence of vetting against state rules. Source
Payday lender, Advance America, and its representative association, the Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA), have filed a motion with the court to halt regulatory pressure on banks to end relationships with payday lenders; the motion follows the decision by U.S. Bancorp and four other banks to end their relationship with Advance America citing regulatory pressure as a factor; regulators say they have done nothing to pressure banks to end relationships with payday lenders; the court motion is part of an ongoing litigation process involved with a court case filed by Advance America and the CFSA in 2014. Source
According to a report from Reuters, more large businesses in China are increasing their internal mergers and acquisitions teams and relying less on investment banks for intermediary deal support; Fosun, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. are examples, with all three reportedly expanding their in-house mergers and acquisitions teams. Source
Fund manager, Ben Conway of Hawksmoor, promotes alternative credit as a risk averse investment in the current market; with cash levels reaching 15 year highs according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, many investment managers have significantly increased their low risk fixed income allocations; Hawksmoor says the growing number of alternative credit investments are providing a good area of value across all markets and a strong fixed income alternative. Source
Marketplace lender, Peerform, has been acquired by Versara Lending; Versara is a New York City-based consumer lender seeking to expand its lending business in consumer loans; Peerform will enhance the lending capabilities for Versara and Peerform Founder Mikael Rapaport will join Versara Lending as a senior vice president. Source
SmartBiz has been ranked the number one provider for non-Express, SBA 7(a) loans under $350,000 and fifth among providers for traditional SBA 7(a) and Express 7(a) loans under $350,000; SmartBiz is the first SBA marketplace and bank-enabling technology platform; it facilitates small business lending from banks; in the government's 2016 fiscal year, SmartBiz generated $200 million in funded SBA 7(a) loans. Source
The financial markets were slightly surprised by the presidential outcome with Dow futures down approximately 250 points on Wednesday morning; uncertainty over some big changes specifically in financial services from Donald Trump will be a factor for markets and the industry going forward; in financial services Trump looks to deregulate the industry easing many of the controls implemented by Dodd-Frank; another factor for fintech will be Trump's position on net neutrality which could limit open source internet development; overall, speculators see increased volatility and uncertainty for the near-term. Source
Santander Consumer USA Holdings describes itself as a technology-driven consumer finance company; they focus on vehicle finance, and have been originating retail installment contracts since 1997; company announced originations for the quarter of $5.2 billion; "Fewer originations are in part due to our disciplined underwriting standards as we are committed to driving originations at the right price and structure, and in part due to increased competition in the prime space," said Jason Kulas, president and chief executive officer. Source
