Nutmeg will offer clients five portfolio options with automated rebalancing to client risk profiles; platform is also updating its fees to a two tiered fee structure; new fees are 75 bps on the first 100,000 British pounds ($120,310) and 35 bps on anything above that; the individual investment strategies also include fees ranging from 13 to 22 bps; the changes follow private market capital investment of 42 million British pounds ($50.53 million) in 2016. Source
IW Capital has surveyed 1,000 investors who have between GBP10,000 ($12,812) and over GBP250,000 ($320,300) worth of investments; the report shows UK investors are willing to take on greater risk in 2017; 44% of investors think Brexit will have a positive impact on their investment strategy; many investors see investment opportunity in private equity and UK investors also reported they will be looking more to tax efficient investing. 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
ThinCats has received endorsements from the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) and Defaqto for its business operations in the P2P lending industry in the UK; the NACFB has recognized ThinCats for its best practices within commercial finance brokerage activities and ThinCats has joined the NACFB as a patron; ThinCats has also been recognized by Defaqto with a 5-star rating for product quality and comprehensiveness. Source
Abundance sold 72% of all Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) products in the last year; this represented 62% of investment into the new product overall; while the P2P lender is happy with their success they realize their market lead will diminish as they were one of a few platforms approved in the last year; a host of other platforms, including top lender Zopa, have been approved recently and the numbers are sure to be more widely spread out among a larger group of platforms; Bruce Davis, co-founder and joint managing director of Abundance, tells AltFi, "Abundance's success is very much the good news part of the Innovative Finance ISA story to date." Source
Huddle Capital provides P2P loans for businesses; Terry Fisher talks about the platform's differentiators and advantages; also discusses its ownership by Access Commercial Finance, its relationship with Rebuildingsociety, its technology and what investors can expect. Source
Artificial intelligence firm Cleo has raised 550,000 British pounds ($626,300) from angel investors; investors included Niklas Zennström, Jason Goodman, Alex Chesterman, Siraj Khaliq, Errol Damelin, Simon Franks, Wendy White and Joe White; Cleo is an AI-powered service working in connection with AI robots like Amazon Alexa to offer consumers personal finance advice; firm plans to use the new capital to further develop its technology and increase its user base of clients which are primarily in the UK. Source
The UK government has told P2P lenders that wholesale lending does not count under the current regulations and the practice is too risky for retail investors; wholesale lending is when you lend money to a business who then lends that money out; the FCA said, "this would mimic banking – but without the same protection for individuals or regulations for the firms involved"; P2P lender RateSetter started to wind down their wholesale loan book after getting more clarity from the FCA in December; the FCA still hasn't provided full clarity on the subject, but they are at least beginning to give more insight so lenders know where the boundaries are. Source
UK marketplace lender Landbay has lowered its borrowing rates and fees in an effort to refresh its offerings for buy-to-rent property borrowers; rates for a two-year fixed term loan will now start at 3.39% and rates on a five-year fixed term loan will start at 3.59%; arrangement fees have also been reduced to 1.5% from 1.75%; the firm has also made some changes to its approval criteria; Paul Brett, managing director of intermediaries at Landbay had the following comments: "We are constantly listening to our intermediary partners and to the requirements of the market. Our rates have been reduced across the board to ensure we remain competitive whilst our criteria enables us to serve a wide range of specialist borrowers seeking a fast decision." Source
Square has launched its mobile payment services for businesses in the UK; the UK marks the fifth country to offer the firm's services and Jack Dorsey says the firm plans to also expand further throughout Europe; with the launch, small businesses in the UK can now begin to use all of the services offered through the firm's feature products, the Square Reader and the Square Point of Sale app for transactions. Source