DirectMoney completed the wholesale lending deal with 255 Finance where $50 million worth of originated loan assets will be purchased; the deal will also include an equity stake and options for 255 Finance, with the plan to increase loan buying in the future; DirectMoney Executive Chairman Mr. John Nantes said: "We are very excited to complete this agreement with a company with the capability of 255 Finance as we target the fintech opportunities in the $100 billion consumer finance market in Australia. After engaging with many potential wholesale funders and varying structures over recent months, this deal was always our preferred outcome, and we're delighted to announce it today." Source
City A.M. reports on Sydney-based Othera's use of blockchain for improving liquidity in online lending; Othera is a P2P lender; once its loans are made, it has developed a process through blockchain operations that can assign loan portions to tokens that can then be tracked through blockchain operations and sold on an exchange; the firm already uses blockchain for all of its lending operations and has a global patent pending for the tokens. Source
MoneyMe is an Australian consumer lending fintech focused on the millennial market; Fortress Investment Group led the facility which also included Evans & Partners; Clayton Howes, CEO and Co-Founder of MoneyMe stated, "A capital investment of this magnitude is recognition of the strength and depth of our value proposition, and an indication of the strong potential for Australian fintechs to capture serious wholesale market funding." Source
Personal loans increased in Australia in March with credit card applications decreasing by approximately 4%; peer-to-peer personal loan borrowing is reportedly a factor driving personal loan applications which increased by 13.5% in March; according to the senior general manager of consumer products at Equifax, "The growth in personal loans has, in large part, been driven by newer lenders who cater to consumers' increasing demand for an online experience." Source
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and Austrade have signed an agreement with the UK that will facilitate fintech innovation in both countries; the agreement will help to support introductions and the sharing of information on regional fintech business; as part of the agreement the CBA will also utilize its London Innovation Lab for UK and European networking. Source
Klarna has received a $200 million investment from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) ahead of their launch in Australia;...
TruePillars, an Australian SME lender that focuses on individual investors, raised $3.9 million in a series A round; the round was led by a Melbourne-based private investor; "This investment will give us the means to further innovate and build on our service, including our ground-breaking secondary marketplace which allows investors to liquidate their investments ahead of schedule by selling to another investor in real time," says John Baini, TruePillars co-founder and CEO; the company allows for individual investors to fund loans with a $50 minimum commitment per loan. Source
Australian robo advisor SuperEd is seeking AUS$6 million (USD$4.53 million) to expand its services; the founders expect to use the funds to provide white label robo advisory services for Australian superannuation funds; the robo advisor is also developing tools for analyzing retirement income from the funds. Source
A partnership with DomaCom has helped ThinCats Australia offer its first mortgage loan on residential property; the funder of the firm's first mortgage-backed loan requested a loan-to-value ratio of 36% resulting in a A$212,000 interest-only loan with a term of 24 months and interest rate of 6.5%; prior to the residential property lending expansion, ThinCats has primarily been focused on small business loans. Source
Andy Taylor previously co-founded marketplace lending platform SocietyOne; his new venture Douugh is a personal financial app; it uses a virtual assistant called Sophie to help users manage their finances; much like other apps, users input their financial accounts; users can interact with Sophie, asking questions like "How much did I spend on food this week?"; the app will also provide context around whether the amount spent is higher than usual and also aid users in setting up spending targets; the company is in beta for the rest of the year and will officially launch in February of next year; they hope to eventually make Sophie accessible via Alexa and Siri. Source