This weeks PeerIQ Industry Update looks at strong job growth despite the hurricanes, Lending Club’s investor day and the latest in securitization; Rep. Patrick McHenry accused the Cleveland Fed, who recently had their p2p lending report retracted, of trying to block the bill entitled Protecting Consumers Access to Credit Act; Lending Club’s first Investor day was not received well by the markets as their stock hit all time lows; PeerIQ reviews the full scope of the investor day including positioning & strategy, product & financial innovation, funding mix, investor returns and stress tests. Source.
American Banker’s Penny Crossman volunteered as a mentor for Barclays New York Accelerator and found that succeeding as a fintech startup is quite a challenge; she was tasked with helping entrepreneurs deal with the media, she found that most were looking to be featured in the WSJ or FT; she also sat down with Jon Zanoff, managing director, recruiter and top coach of the program to discuss the program; interesting tidbits from the interview include 4 of 9 company founders are female, the program is a lot more in depth than other bank accelerators and the challenge the program presents on a daily basis. Source.
A recent review done by the International Monetary Fund found Chinese Banks face capital shortfalls, in particular medium and small banks; the IMF stated that China should consider boosting risk-weighted assets by 0.5 to 1 percent in the next 12 months; Jin Zhongxia, China’s representative on the IMF’s executive board said the assessment was for the most part correct but that they have already begun implementing remedies; the IMF said the problem is manageable but laid out a set of potential reforms to improve the shortfalls going forward. Source
The Curo Group targets underbanked consumers through WageDayAdvance in the UK and Speedy Cash in the US; they went public on Wednesday at $14 a share and were up more than 2.4 percent in their first day of trading; the former head of the CFPB led a Industry crackdown on payday lenders but new leadership points to those restrictions being lifted; the company charges about $25 per $100 borrowed and are backed by private equity group Friedman Fleischer & Lowe. Source.
Karen Mills is a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Business School focused on SME finance, entrepreneurship and competitiveness; she previously served as the Administrator of the US Small Business Administration; in her post on AltFi she discusses why London will remain a global leader in financial innovation despite uncertainty with Brexit. Source
While hosting their first investor day the online lender again cut guidance for profits and shares fell to record lows; “The last 18 months have been among the most challenging of my career, but my conviction has never wavered: consumer credit is a data problem that a technology-driven marketplace is well positioned to solve,” CEO Scott Sanborn said at the investor day; Lending Club has had is share of issues and new entrants like Marcus have begun to crowd the market; not all investors are put off by the news, Chinese investor Shanda said he was keeping the faith in the lender as they recently made a big investment. Source.
PNC Financial Services Group is looking to launch a national consumer lending product through their mobile app and new branches; they plan to launch into new markets with branches in Minneapolis, Dallas, Kansan City and more; “We're going there to be there with our full-service capabilities, patiently banking the clients that we ultimately want to bank,” Chairman and CEO William Demchak said this week; the new plans will take place in 2018. Source.
WSFS Financial is working with SoFi to offer the new accounts early next year; the bank will process payments and provide debit card sponsorship services for SoFi Money. Source
TCF Financial has stepped away from the auto lending business while Regions Financial and Fifth Third Bancorp are tapping the breaks according to American Banker; lenders are concerned with credit, regulation as well as low yields; some expect the trend to continue while creating an opportunity for lenders who stick around. Source