Tuesday October 23 2018, Daily News Digest

United States

OnDeck Announces PNC Will Be The Second Bank On The ODX Platform (Lend Academy) Rated: AAA

It was back in December of 2015 that we first learned about OnDeck’s partnership with JPMorgan Chase. This was the first significant partnership between a large American bank and an online lending platform and it caused a lot of excitement in the industry back then.

A couple of times this year we have heard OnDeck CEO Noah Breslow hint that a second major bank was coming on as a partner soon. Today, we learned who that partner will be: PNC Bank. They are the ninth largest bank in the country, so this gives OnDeck two of the top ten largest banks as clients.

I caught up with Noah and Brian Geary, who heads up OnDeck’s new ODX division (we covered the story of ODX just last week) to talk about this new deal.

FICO Plans Big Shift in Credit-Score Calculations, Potentially Boosting Millions of Borrowers (Wall Street Journal) Rated: AAA

PeerStreet Named to the 2018 CB Insights Fintech 250 List of Fastest-Growing Fintech Startups (Business Wire) Rated: AAA

PeerStreet, a marketplace for investing in real estate backed loans, is honored to announce that it has been named to the second annual CB Insights Fintech 250 list, a prestigious group of emerging private companies working on groundbreaking financial technology. This comes on the eve of PeerStreet’s third anniversary of opening to the public. PeerStreet opened to all accredited investors on October 30th, 2016 at Money 20/20, an annual conference which is happening this week in Las Vegas. Both PeerStreet founders Brew Johnson and Brett Crosby are in attendance.

PeerStreet is being recognized as a leader in real estate investing for the platform’s innovative approach to making real estate debt an accessible asset class for retail investors. The loans offered for investment are vetted by private lenders who know their communities well, and then again by PeerStreet’s own team using big data and market research.

Small Businesses Need Their Bankers More Than They Realize (Nasdaq) Rated: A

It’s easy to see why entrepreneurs are bonding with alternative lenders. What’s not so easy to see is why they’re leaving bankers out of the loop. However, with renewed trust in each other, both institutions are finding mutual benefits. What’s more — the B and B called “Business and Bankers” is finding a renewed comeback.

Say you’re a small business owner feeling the squeeze. You could turn to a traditional bank that requires loan applicants to go through a rigorous review process for a 20 percent chance of approval. Or you could apply online with a peer-to-peer firm that approves more than 60 percent of applications and receive a decision in minutes.

MoneyLion Announces America’s Most Powerful and Rewarding Financial Membership (Business Wire) Rated: A

MoneyLion, the innovative financial platform offering consumers a better way to borrow, save, earn and invest, today officially launched America’s most powerful and rewarding financial membership to help people take control of their finances and achieve their dreams.

In support of the most powerful financial membership, MoneyLion will be launching the Financial Heartbeat as well as a comprehensive suite of premium banking products to help everyday Americans better understand and engage with their finances.

Study Shows Student Debt Can Kill 75% of Millennials’ Average Net Worth (Magnify Money) Rated: A

As of 2018, outstanding student loan debt in the U.S. surpassed $1.48 trillion, almost one-and-a-half times what Americans owe on credit cards.

According to a MagnifyMoney analysis of Federal Reserve data, all this debt is hampering millennials’ chances for long-term financial success.

In fact, this study revealed that the average net worth of a millennial with student loans is only 25% of the net worth for a fellow millennial without them. What’s more, the data suggest student loan debt is preventing some millennials from saving for retirement or buying homes.

Key facts

Millennial households with student loan debt have…

• An average net worth of $29,087, compared with $114,376 for student loan-free households.
• 46% less in their savings and checking accounts (median balance of $5,500 vs $10,180 for those without student loans).
• $21,160 in retirement savings versus an average of $39,905 for those with no student loan debt.

HSBC gets back into US consumer lending (Financial Times) Rated: A

HSBC is getting back into US consumer lending almost a decade after it was forced to write off $10.6bn for its last foray into that market.

The UK banking giant said on Monday that it is launching a digital lending platform for US customers in the first half of 2019. The platform will be powered by online lender Avant, which has already processed almost $5bn of loans for more than 600,000 customers.

Transparency, career development and — a puppy button? Here’s how OppLoans shapes its culture (Built in Chicago) Rated: A

OppLoans CEO Jared Kaplan likes to stress that a company can’t responsibly serve its customers without creating an inclusive atmosphere for its employees first.

That’s why OppLoans promotes from within and supports career development with ongoing education initiatives. We spoke with Kaplan and two other leaders at the company to learn more about what they do to ensure their team feels truly valued.

How would you describe your leadership style?

My leadership style follows a few key principles: rule by motivation, not fear; drive a high-performing culture and reward the top performers; and enable ultimate transparency. If employees are excited to come to work, see clear development paths when they perform and understand the good and bad of the business, I’ve created a great place to work.

We also ensure a workplace where everyone is encouraged to speak their minds when they see opportunities to improve the business.

Hundy Launches Mobile App Turning High Cost Payday Loans Into Low Cost Friends & Family Loans (Hundy Email) Rated: A

Hundy, a peer-to-peer micro-lender that empowers the creditworthy to benefit from their good character, announced today at Money 20/20 that it has released the latest update to its lending platform enabling friend-to-friend lending for a low 1% fee. Now, even borrowers who don’t pass a credit check, will be able to request a loan from a friend or family member utilizing all the tools of the platform including signed loan documents, SMS and email reminders, and automated payment scheduling. Hundy was designed to foster community around a marketplace of borrowers and lenders whose participants benefit from transparent terms, wide availability and low prices.

Gary Beasley of Roofstock (Lend Academy) Rated: A

Investing in real estate has been around for centuries but it is only in the past few years that it has become possible to do this remotely and at scale. While institutional investors have had lots of options individual investors have been limited, for the most part, to buying homes in their local area.

Our next guest on the Lend Academy Podcast is Gary Beasley, the CEO and co-founder of Roofstock. Gary and his team have created the first online platform for investing in single family homes across the US. They help investors select the homes, obtain financing as well as find tenants and property managers.

OCC still ready to grant special fintech charters despite state lawsuits (Lexology) Rated: B

The OCC is still moving forward with plans to grant Special Purpose National Bank charters to qualifying non-depository financial technology firms, notwithstanding a lawsuit challenging the move from New York state regulators and the threat of additional litigation. In response to a question following her speech at the October 9 Online Lending Policy Institute conference, Grovetta Gardineer, OCC’s senior deputy comptroller for compliance and community affairs, said the OCC will accept applications from fintech companies seeking the SPNB charter and intends to grant charters to applicants meeting the criteria. As reported in the October 8 edition of Bank Regulatory News and Trends, the New York State Department of Financial Services filed suit against the OCC, challenging the federal agency’s authority to grant the charters. The Conference of State Bank Supervisors also signaled its intention to file suit against OCC over the charters.

Princeton Alternative Income Fund’s Independent Restructuring Officer Rejected by Ranger Direct Lending (PR Newswire) Rated: B

Princeton Alternative Income Fund’s (PAIF) latest attempt to resolve its bankruptcy dispute by appointing an independent restructuring officer was rejected by Ranger Direct Lending (RDL.L)(RDLZ:LN) last week.

The fund proposed hiring respected former United States Bankruptcy Judge Donald H. Steckroth as an independent officer to oversee the fund’s restructuring to protect all its investors. The executives at Ranger had demanded the appointment of an independent officer earlier in the bankruptcy process only to reject it this week.

CrowdOut Capital Continues Expansion With New Hires (Business Wire) Rated: B

CrowdOut Capital LLC, a pioneer in non-bank private lending for growing middle market companies, today announced two new additions to its management team, Christina Gustavson and Darlene Esquivel.

Gustavson will be CrowdOut’s first controller. She brings a strong accounting background having worked as a senior accountant at C3 Entertainment and at RGM Advisors, an Austin-based quantitative trading firm. A licensed CPA, Gustavson earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Texas State University.

United Kingdom

Funding Circle Q3 2018 Update (Proactive Investors) Rated: AAA

Funding Circle Holdings plc (“Funding Circle” or the “Company”), the leading small and medium enterprise (“SME”) loans platform in the UK, US, Germany and the Netherlands, today announces updates to its statistics pages for the three months ending 30 September 2018 (the “Quarter”) and selected highlights from the quarter.

The data by country included in this announcement is also available on the Company’s website at corporate.fundingcircle.com/investors/loan-performance-statistics.

UK peer-to-peer lender asks regulator for help (Financial Times) Rated: AAA

A British peer-to-peer property lender has taken the unusual step of appealing to its regulator for help after one of its biggest borrowers threatened to sue the company and many of its investors.

Retail investors in Lendy are already facing tens of millions of pounds in potential losses after almost two-thirds of borrowers failed to repay their loans on time, according to a Financial Times analysis of its loanbook.

The developments threaten to trigger the first big crisis in Europe’s rapidly expanding peer-to-peer industry, at a time when the sector is fighting to convince regulators it does not need stricter regulation.

Peer-to-peer lending growing in popularity (Computer Weekly) Rated: A

P2P lending is becoming a significant alternative source of financing for SMEs in the UK. According to Entrenching Innovation – The 4th UK alternative Finance Industry Report, published in December 2017, P2P business lending grew from £21m in 2011 to £1.23bn in 2016, generating £3.14bn over the six years. The report noted that the annual growth rate in volume from 2015 to 2016 was 40%.

The report cited data from the British Banking Association that revealed P2P business lending equated to 15% of new small businesses loans. More than a fifth of borrowers had a turnover of less than £500,000 and 23% were in the £500,000 to £1m turnover bracket. It also found that lenders were biased towards localised funding. This diversity of lending across the UK suggested that P2P business lending could become “a suitable solution to systemic geographic biases that exist in traditional and bank SME lending”.

The UK extends its lead as Europe’s established tech unicorn capital (City AM) Rated: A

London has cemented its standing as the capital of Europe’s billion-dollar technology startups, as surrounding cities help to push the UK forward while its companies expand internationally.

New figures released today show the UK has now created 60 so-called unicorn startups – companies with a valuation of $1bn (£769.6m) or more – since 1990, according to research prepared for Tech Nation and the government’s Digital Economy Council by Dealroom.

London houses 36 of those UK startups, representing more than a fifth of all unicorns in Europe at a total valuation of $132bn. In comparison, Berlin holds the second biggest city spot with just eight unicorn startups, worth $32bn.

New partnership aims to encourage growth in P2P lending market (Introducer Today) Rated: A

Landbay has chosen Oracle NetSuite to create a more accessible buy-to-let mortgage marketplace for investors, borrowers and brokers.

Through NetSuite, Landbay will be able to process loan applications ten times faster than other lenders and enable its staff to make swifter decisions around mortgage applications and investor sign ups.

Founded in 2014, Landbay offers individual investors direct access to the lucrative mortgage lending market and offers landlords competitively priced buy-to-let mortgages, with plans to lend £1 billion to UK landlords by 2020.

ACORN machine rebrands to OakNorth Analytical Intelligence (Fintech Finance) Rated: B

OakNorth Holdings Ltd today announces the launch of a new corporate brand identity, logo and website. Its fintech platform, ACORN machine, will now be known as OakNorth Analytical Intelligence (ON AI) and we have a new domain (www.oaknorth.ai).

Rishi Khosla, co-founder of OakNorth Holdings said: “Since our founding, our mission has been to enable small and medium-sized businesses obtain the debt finance they need to grow. Our fintech platform, which we developed to address this problem, is being used by a number of leading banks globally, and by us in the UK.”

China

Pintec Technology Aims For $ 41 Million IPO (Seeking Alpha) Rated: AAA

Pintec Technology Holdings (PT) intends to raise $41 million in an IPO from the sale of ADSs representing underlying Class A shares, according to an amended registration statement.

The company provides a range of point-of-sale and related financial services and solutions to retailers and their customers.

PT appears to be transitioning its business to more diversified revenue streams, and it faces significant regulatory uncertainties and potentially harmful trade war effects that may not be transitory.

Peer-to-Peer Lending in China May Be Going Extinct (Barrons) Rated: A

China’s peer-to-peer lending system may effectively vanish in the next year.

European Union

Lithuanian P2P Lender NEO Finance Now Seeking €200,000 Through Seedrs Funding Round (Crowdfund Insider) Rated: AAA

NEO Finance, a Lithuania-based peer-to-peer lending platform, is now seeking €200,000 through UK’s equity crowdfunding platform, Seedrs.

NEO Finance also reported it is the first P2P platform in Lithuania to have reached constant €1 million monthly issues.

The lender also revealed its current stats are:

• 5400 active lenders
• 47,000  registered borrowers
• €21.7 million in loans financed
• 2017 revenue grew by 395% to €479,000

Australia

MBIE strongly opposed to the introduction of a comprehensive creditor licensing regime as part of government’s loan shark crackdown (Interest) Rated: AAA

A Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment assessment that introducing a comprehensive creditor licensing regime as part of the Government’s crackdown on loan sharks would be worse than the status quo doesn’t appear to be based on much evidence.

The recent announcement from Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi included plans to introduce a “fit and proper person” test for lenders.

This means the fit and proper person test was chosen over two other options floated in June’s Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE) discussion paper aimed at increasing lender registration requirements. The other two options were expanded powers to deregister lenders and ban directors from future involvement in the credit industry, and introducing a comprehensive creditor licensing system.

India

Fintech non-performing loans under control, financial authority says (The Jakarta Post) Rated: AAA

The Financial Services Authority (OJK) said the non-performing loans (NPL) rate among financial technology (fintech) firms that use peer-to-peer lending (P2P) hovered around 1 percent monthly, safely below the 2 percent maximal set by the OJK.

“The NPL rate can go as low as 0.9, then rise as high as 1.3 then go down again,” said OJK fintech licensing and supervision director Hendrikus Passagi on Sunday as reported by kompas.com.

Serial entrepreneur Satyen Kothari’s Cube Wealth raises $ 2M in Series A funding (Your Story) Rated: A

Wealth management startup Cube Wealth announced on Monday that it has raised Rs 14 crore (about $2 million) in equity funding from Singapore-based venture fund Beenext, Japan-based Asuka Holding and 500 Startups.

The company said that it will use these funds for additional asset partners, and to develop a network of premium sales and marketing partners across different countries including Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Pune.

Cube Wealth also plans to expand its presence across Europe and Japan, as it is looking to target non-resident Indians from these markets.

Pay for surgery via a cheaper P2P loan (Times of India) Rated: A

If you need a loan for a medical emergency like a surgery, it might help to turn to your peers rather than institution rather than institutions. Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms say they have seen lenders willing to offer interest rates between 8% and 12% for medical emergencies on their platforms. On the contrary, if you try to raise funds as a personal loan from banks, the interest rate is likely to be between 13% and 17%. P2P technology platforms bring borrowers and lenders together, and most offer a variety of  of loans, including personal loans, vehicle loans, education loans and — in some cases — even home loans. Most lenders tend to be individuals too.

P2P players like Faircent, LenDenClub, i2iFunding and LoanTap say they also process medical loans faster.

Asia

Online alternative lending goes mainstream (Opalesque) Rated: AAA

While alternative lending is currently gaining traction among borrowers, it’s also becoming a formidable asset class in its own right, with the U.S. market now accounting for an estimated $50 billion of annual origination.

Born out of peer-to-peer lending, online alternative lending has gone mainstream, presenting new opportunities for small businesses, consumers and investors.

According to Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s study, what began as “peer-to-peer” marketplaces bringing together borrowers and lenders has evolved considerably in recent years.

Alternative-lending platforms now span many categories, including unsecured consumer, small-business and other forms of specialty financing, it said.

Africa

Local fintech start-ups bag R16m in funding (IT Web) Rated: AAA

Prospa, a mobile savings wallet for low-income earners, and Nisa Finance, an invoice financing platform, are among the eight local fintech start-ups awarded a total of R16 million in funding by AlphaCode.

AlphaCode is an incubation, acceleration and investment vehicle for early-stage financial services businesses, powered by Rand Merchant Investment (RMI).

More than 200 start-ups applied to participate; of these, 16 made it to the final pitch evening and eight recipients were selected.

Authors:

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