Banks of all sizes have been trying to figure out how to adapt to the changing landscape and at LendIt USA 2017 we hosted a panel to look at the future of digital banking; panelists cover how they see the future of banking, is it mobile only or mobile first, how do millennials help to guide strategies and when life becomes more complex how many different devices do people use; panelists focused on how to leverage social networks and how important digital strategies are to grow your audience; when doing partnerships who really owns the customer, is it the bank or does the customer feel more ownership to the social network or other type of partner; how do you compete with larger incumbent banks and how are smaller more nimble players able to gain market share; the panel also touches on different types of fees, how to make money in the digital age and how smaller firms can keep costs lower as they scale. Source
India has become one of the fastest and most diverse fintech markets in the world; at LendIt USA 2017 we hosted a panel featuring leading India fintech firms; panelists talk about what makes the India market unique and what is the size of the opportunity right now; banks have helped to serve the top of the credit pyramid and micro lending has helped to serve the bottom of the credit pyramid, there is a big opportunity in serving the missing middle; panelists focused on how their lending models differ, the differences in the small business and consumer markets and how India has gone from a data scarce country to a data rich country; Aadhaar has also played a key role in helping to get more people and businesses into the financial system; other areas discussed include borrower acquisition channels and leveraging third party data sources. Source
LendIt has partnered with Sharestates to provide a list of LendIt USA 2017 speakers to follow on Twitter; the list includes over 300 speakers with company and personal twitter handles; you can also follow @LendIt and #LendItUSA for details about the event. Source
Patrick McHenry is one of the most proactive advocates for fintech in Congress; at LendIt USA 2017 he provided his insight from Congress on fintech and also spoke with Lend Academy in their podcast; his views are framing many of Washington D.C.'s legislative debates and his legislation, the Financial Services Innovation Act of 2016 (HR 6118), could be a significant factor helping to support future fintech innovation in the US. Source
Marcus by Goldman Sachs was launched in 2016 and marked an important point in the consumer lending industry as they decided to build their own platform from scratch; Ainsley O'Connell from Fast Company interviews head of Marcus, Harit Talwar; Talwar shares what was attractive about getting into personal loans and details the Marcus product; stated that there were many consumer pain points and Goldman Sachs was confident they could help; Goldman also has several advantages to give them an edge; not only do they have their own balance sheet, but they essentially built a startup, leaning on 147 years of experience; they also had the advantage that there were no conflicts over any legacy consumer businesses within Goldman; the company worked closely with consumers to bring to market a product they want which Talwar discusses in the interview. Source
Scott Sanborn gave a recap of his LendIt USA 2017 keynote presentation and reiterated his excitement and positive outlook for the marketplace lending industry in a blog post; Sanborn identified three key areas of importance: evolving the customer experience, unleashing the platform potential and amplifying core innovations; with a focus on these three things Lending Club plans to see more borrowers and investors as well as a number of new and innovative partnerships fueling its future business growth. Source
Competition in the personal loan market has become quite heated since the financial crisis; banks of all sizes, and credit unions now have to compete with the likes of emerging fintech companies who have originated billions in loans; at LendIt USA 2017 Ken Lin of Credit Karma did a keynote presentation on some of the keys to success in this highly competitive market; helping to understand the trends of the last few years (higher defaults and increased APRs) can first give you a better understanding of current market conditions; the keys to success to overcome and reverse those trends are to continuously refine your underwriting models, solve real customer pain points and find a way to win on mobile; keeping ahead of the curve is not easy with so many players but making improvements to certain areas could go a long way. Source
Prime Meridian Capital Management is a Bronze Sponsor at LendIt USA 2017; in this featured blog post they give a review of marketplace lending in 2016; a challenging year for the industry, lending volumes and confidence retreated for one of the first times in the industry's history due to rising rates and an executive scandal; the release of Lending Club's CEO and Founder Renaud Laplanche added increased incentive for improving operations and increasing transparency which led to recovery in the second half of the year; a number of platforms, including Lending Club, secured new sources of funding and introduced new product expansion; the top three P2P platforms ended the year with combined originations of $2 billion per month and momentum for continued growth appears to be positive for the industry in 2017. Sponsored Blog Post
Fintech companies are always looking for the right type of venture capital for their business; at LendIt USA 2017 we hosted a panel that featured a diverse group of leading venture capitalists in the fintech space; the panel was a great mix with a seed stage investor, an international investor, a nonprofit fund looking to grow jobs and the fintech sector in New York, a credit fund who has moved into venture capital investing and a strategic investor at a key Wall Street bank; panelists discussed their investment strategies when evaluating companies and when they look to invest during a company's lifecycle; panelists also discussed key areas where money is currently being invested and what areas of fintech are oversaturated with capital. Source