Creditas recently closed one of the largest rounds in Latin American history and has originated more than $100mn in loans since 2011; they company offers loans backed by collateral, charging 17 to 25 percent for their home equity loan and 23 to 50 percent for auto equity loans; this is unique as banks typically charge 120 percent APR on unsecured loans and 480 percent APR on revolving credit cards; having a lower cost, more secure loan has seen them keep defaults around 1 percent and grow the company workforce threefold in the past year alone. Source.
Endaoment announced the completion of a combined fundraising round of $6.67 million in a mix of charitable donations and investment capital.
Fitch Ratings has upgraded its outlook for Canadian banks from negative to stable; cites solid risk management, increasing profits and better than expected capital positioning as factors for the upgrade; says recent regulatory changes, slow GDP growth, high household debt and decreasing home prices are still concerns for 2017. Source
U.S. Bank and Bank of Montreal are investing in digital technology to overhaul their websites, mobile apps, call centers and ATMs; the two companies shared their plans with American Banker; common themes from both companies include: 1) invest in what customers are dissatisfied with 2) make incremental enhancements 3) create a unified customer experience 4) establish an innovation team and 5) test emerging technologies. Source
eOriginal has added Ron Suber, Prosper Marketplace president, to its advisory board; the digital transaction document management company has been steadily expanding its business in the marketplace lending market; Ron Suber will help support the company's growth as an advocate for its unique digital documentation products also advising the company on the marketplace lending market overall; eOriginal is currently growing and expanding, also adding Jon Barlow, founder and former CEO of Eaglewood Capital Management, to its advisory board and raising $26.5 million in a recent funding round. Source
Prosper released its October 2016 performance report with the month's estimated return of 7.12% just below the estimate of 7.17% for the third quarter; in October, vintage prepayment rates continued to trend higher; delinquencies and loss patterns since 2013 are below levels in 2012; cumulative gross charge-offs appear to be a factor trending higher; average FICO of the portfolio was 714.1 in October. Source
The UK Financial Conduct Authority and Ontario Securities Commission will now partner on fintech innovation; an agreement between the two agencies will help facilitate expansion for financial technology companies; both agencies will support cross-border business growth and will also share information on trends and regulatory proceedings. Source
The Department of Justice's case against Quicken Loans will be heard in Detroit; in an ongoing case filed in April 2015, the Department of Justice says Quicken Loans used faulty underwriting processes to certify Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans while disregarding FHA rules; Quicken is a direct endorsement lender for the FHA and the loans in the court case were originated from September 2007 through December 2011. Source
Canadian securities regulators released what they call a staff notice on "cryptocurrency offerings"; Coindesk reports on the notice, "With the offerings that we have reviewed to date, we have in many instances found that the coins/tokens in question constitute securities for the purposes of securities laws, including because they are investment contracts."; this has now become a trend in the market as the US SEC released a report and Chinese regulators released a statement about how they view this emerging capital raising method; the statement also covers companies looking to set up funds and encourages a regulatory sandbox to be created. Source
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