The business lending P2P platform will offer innovative finance individual savings accounts (IFISA) with three year fixed rate terms on A+ rated secured residential property loans targeting returns of 7%; the IFISA announcement follows the firm's February authorization from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority; the firm will offer the eighth UK IFISA and according to HMRC 30 firms have now received authorization for IFISAs. Source
P2P Global Investments' shares fell 20.7% on the London Stock Exchange in 2016; the fund's portfolio manager Simon Champ provides some insight on the fund's performance; the underlying assets reported a lower than expected 4.1% return due to increased delinquencies from loans at the midpoint of their duration; hedging costs have also been a factor with approximately 60% of US loans in the portfolio; as the investable market expands the fund is likely to increase its investment in European loans to help diversify away from currency risks. Source
Fintech is improving the financial services industry and providing new borrowing opportunities across the country; the current framework makes innovation challenging with differing requirements for online lenders in each of the 50 states; Nat Hoopes, the Marketplace Lending Association's director, writes in favor of the OCC fintech charter and the benefits it would provide for online lending, fintech and the industry overall. Source
Harvard Business School has released a comprehensive report on the state of small business lending and its current landscape; Lend Academy provides more details in their article with insight from author, Brayden McCarthy of Fundera; paper includes details on the evolution of online lending within the small business lending market; goals of the paper include laying a foundation for regulatory reform and exploring how online small business lenders can partner with banks. Source
Credit reporting agency TransUnion has announced the launch of a new innovation lab with increase support for client data modeling through broader access to proprietary data and analytics experts; the innovation lab will allow clients to test new models and solve business problems with real time data empowering credit data platforms and solutions across the industry; many companies have already reported success in building new models, analyzing new markets and expanding into new products; the innovation lab is also uniquely positioned to integrate with TransUnion's startup lender development program providing support for new market launches. Source
Wangdaizhijia has released two market reports providing insight and projections on P2P lending and crowdfunding in China; report finds 2,235 P2P platforms with total loans of $385 billion, including $181 billion in loans originated in January through August of 2016; predicting originations of $300 billion for online lending in 2016; nonlending crowdfunding market is smaller with 380 platforms as of August and crowdfunded investments of $1.57 billion for January to August of 2016. Source
Marketplace lending analytics platform dv01 has announced the launch of a new securitization portal called Securitization Explorer; the new product will provide data, analytics and visualization tools for marketplace lending securitizations; in comments regarding the announcement, Perry Rahbar, founder and CEO of dv01, said, "With Securitization Explorer, we are extending the reach of our already robust tools to meet the specific needs of investors in these deals." Source
Jilliene Helman won the LendIt Fintech Woman of the Year award at LendIt's first industry awards show and has led RealtyMogul since 2013 as the firm's founder; offering debt and equity real estate investments as well as a REIT, RealtyMogul is one of the most innovative real estate investing platforms that has evolved from the JOBS Act's new regulations for crowdfunded investments; Helman talks with Forbes about the firm's REIT investment, the experience of its management team, and how economies of scale and the firm's technology are helping the firm succeed. Source
Customer acquisition cost is a central tenant to all lenders; in his keynote from LendIt USA 2016, Ken Lin of Credit Karma focused on trends in customer acquisition and ideas on how to improve innovation.
The three main themes he touched on were certainty, transparency and simplicity.
Certainty - 70% to 80% of loan applications are denied, this gives the consumer uncertainty when applying for a loan. Using underwriting to offer a unique loan to the customer can better help them to understand the right loan for them.
Transparency - There are over 6,500 lenders who offer tens of thousands of loan products, this can overload the customer and cloud their understanding. Giving borrowers more insight into their credit profile can help the consumer and force the lenders to differentiate themselves.
Simplicity - On average loan applications still consist of 25 to 50 questions, some can even go up to 100. By making the loan application simpler, consumers will spend less time applying for a loan and have more time to understand and explore the right loan for them.
A few trends and ideas he touched on were the move to mobile loan applications and new innovation in technology. 70% of Credit Karma traffic is driven through mobile and the younger generations use mobile almost 80% of the time. Making sure you give them the proper mobile experience is key.
Additionally, new innovations in technology are helping to drive down costs, including biometric technology such as a fingerprint to help identify who the borrower is and pre populating their information to cut down on loan times.
Check out the full video interview here:
Lending Club announces Q3 earnings on November 7th; LendingRobot provides a review of past quarters including comments on regulation, revenue and loan performance; shares three things they are looking for in the next release including results from corrective actions, a clear path forward for 2017 and a hint of something new. Source