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
2016 was a year filled with shaky investor confidence, compliance issues and bad credit performance in online lending; OnDeck CEO Noah Breslow's 2017 LendIt USA keynote focused on the challenges posed by 2016 and the trends for 2017 and beyond; after seeing how the industry reacted to these challenges he stated that he is now more optimistic than ever before; the industry is maturing and measures of success have shifted; the unstoppable trends include: customer awareness, trust and adoption of online lending, bank partnerships, constructive engagement between the public and private sector, and the global growth of online lending; he also predicts that by the mid 2020's nearly all small business loans will be made online. Source
Originators are beginning to look at launching their own captive funds; at LendIt USA 2017 we hosted a panel featuring Cross River Bank, Freedom Financial, Money360, Credibly, UBS and Clifford Chance to discuss this idea; the originators on the panel talked about their current funds, if they have launched one, size, structure and how they currently view the idea of this vehicle in the long term; the panelists focused on diversification of funding sources; in good times it is never hard to get loan purchasers but when markets tighten how can you make sure you are prepared; they also talked about when setting up this funding vehicle should you manage it yourself or should you find a third party fund manager; how do conflicts of interest come into play when the originating company is then investing in the loan and servicing the loan; there are still many questions when it comes to setting up a fund like this, as more firms look to this option we will better understand how to answer these questions in the future. Source
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
LendIt has announced eight finalists from a pool of approximately 300 applicants for this year's PitchIt @ LendIt USA; finalists will be connected with mentors for competition preparation and ongoing business support; LendIt has partnered with 500 Startups and sponsor Marqeta to host the event; the finalists will present to a panel of judges at LendIt USA 2017 on March 7. Source
Regulation in the US is far different than in China; CredEx is a Chinese company that shares the state of regulation there; Jo Ann Barefoot shares her perspective on regulation in the US, having spent most of her career working in consumer protection and financial inclusion; she believes that we have produced a regulatory system that has high cost and low value which has left consumers confused by products; while not discounting the importance of regulation, Barefoot shares that fintechs can do more to further goals around financial inclusion than regulation can; one area where the US is lagging behind much of the world, specifically China is in mobile adoption and regulators in the US are struggling to keep up as technology quickly changes. Source
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
Zane Wang shares the contrast of consumer finance in the US and China from 2000 to 2017; in 2000 China had no credit bureau, no decisioning engines but there was a vast market opportunity; this is the opportunity that China Rapid Finance has capitalized on; in recent years there have been many developments in China with more people covered by the credit bureaus and in consumer finance/credit cards; Wang shares the tremendous growth potential that still exists in the Chinese market and their focus on the emerging middle-class mobile active. 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