·
[Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Rodolfo Gonzalez, an associate at Foundation Capital. Foundation Capital is a bronze...
LendIt News has launched as a new media brand for LendIt; serving as a unique industry resource, it will provide up to date content and analysis on fintech industry news, giving LendIt followers daily insight on the industry's most important topics and trends; subscribers receive daily industry news emails and insight on global activity. Source
LendIt USA 2017 featured keynote speakers discussing all aspects of the online lending industry and new developments in fintech overall; videos on the keynote presentations from the event are now available; a list of the event’s keynote speakers can also be found here. Source
Crowdfund Insider provides a roundup of keynote speaker quotes from LendIt USA expressing sentiment from the event; a great deal of attention at LendIt USA 2017 was on the industry's rebound from challenges faced in 2016 including a disturbance of platform confidence following the release of Lending Club's CEO with economic uncertainty and increased defaults also factoring into the market landscape; Scott Sanborn began the conference with an opening keynote speech discussing the exponential market opportunity still ahead likening the market's growth to Amazon's initial market potential; Lending Club's appointment of Sanborn appears to be a critical success factor for the firm and the industry overall; generally market leaders were confident about the industry's current trajectory and government officials reported an increased presence as mainstream integration becomes even more prevalent. Source
Scott Sanborn discussed the current market environment for online lending in his speech at LendIt USA comparing the industry to the growth of online retail and using Amazon as an example for how businesses can dramatically change and adapt to provide the best services for market needs; online lenders will have to be strategic in identifying market opportunities, building on their proprietary systems and partnering with other companies; Ash Gupta from American Express also noted at the conference the challenges and opportunities presented to online lending through the use of big data; the growing amount of data sourced by the industry has the potential to improve credit models and fraud prevention while also providing broader capabilities through machine learning technology. Source
loanDepot has been steadily becoming one of the US's top mortgage lenders, rivaling both online businesses and traditional institutions; Anthony Hsieh talked with Forbes at LendIt USA about the growth of the business; the company has funded over $100 billion in mortgage loans and is building out a fintech ecosystem that will empower future market growth and product expansion; loanDepot is the third online mortgage company founded by Anthony Hsieh and the company is in its eighth year of operations; Hsieh says the firm is potentially considering an IPO. Source