Credit Karma has had huge success in the US providing free credit scores and recommending products for their users; they...
Zopa, the industry's first P2P lender, has reached a new milestone, originating over 2 billion British pounds ($2.5 billion) in loans since 2005; according to Zopa the firm has originated 300,000 loans from 246,000 borrowers and has 75,000 investors; in the UK, Funding Circle is also close to reaching the 2 billion British pound mark with cumulative loan originations of 1.92 billion British pounds ($2.40 billion) since its launch in 2010. Source
Fleximize is a SME revenue-based finance provider; offers financing from GBP250,000 ($310,000) unsecured and GBP500,000 secured ($621,000); funds from the facility will be used to increase lending capacity; anticipates GBP100 million ($124 million) in funding by 2019; lending in 2016 was GBP40 million ($49 million), up 132% from 2015; company also plans to expand their product set and tech platform. Source
The Bank of England kept its central bank borrowing rate at 0.25% and decided to continue with its $86 billion asset purchase program; while no changes were made to monetary policy, the BOE changed its guidance; with an increased focus on inflation in the region, the BOE said it would be prepared to raise rates in order to keep inflation at its 2% target rate. Source
In the midst of getting ready to launch in a few weeks the UK digital bank Tandem is now unable to launch with savings accounts; the bank was approved in 2015 for a banking license so long as they fulfilled a number of criteria including hiring a board, building out sufficient technology systems and raising enough capital to cover losses; the final point is where the bank was unable to comply, they fell short of raising enough capital and now are forced to launch without the savings feature; Tandem was expecting 29 million British pounds ($36.1 million) from House of Fraser, the UK department store chain that was bought by China's Sanpower Group, but Sanpower was worried about capital restrictions coming out of China so they pulled the funding. Source
Assetz Capital has now been in business for four years with 240 million British pounds ($307.61 million) in loan issuance; the platform focuses on lending for SMEs and says it plans to double its current originations in the next twelve months; the firm offers secured loans that generate annual returns of 3.75% to 18%. Source
Passporting could increase fintech competitiveness across Europe as the UK prepares to leave the European Union; passporting would lower regulatory requirements for fintech firms in the European Union allowing them to operate more freely across Europe; it would also create greater incentive for firms to move their business to the European Union and away from London; the European Commission has launched a three month consultation period on passporting and new legislations for fintechs which will be followed with legislative proposals; on Thursday, March 23 the European Commission also published a plan for European Union financial services companies that will focus on reducing costs and increasing consumer protection. Source
ClearBank has received its license for digital banking services in the UK; firm is run by Nick Ogden who also has payment services experience with WorldPay and CashFlows; the UK currently leads the challenger bank market with approximately 42 digital only banks. Source
UK challenger bank Metro Bank sees the value in having branches along with the innovation they are doing; speaking at The Economist's Finance Disrupted conference, Metro Bank CEO Craig Donaldson explained that offering the right mix of both is the key for his firm; reliance on one solution or the other does not allow them to serve customers in the way they would like, though he did say that the market has room for the digital only bank. Source
P2P Finance News breaks down the projected returns of marketplace lending platforms in the UK; notes that business and property lending platforms offer the highest projected returns. Source