Thursday June 20 2019, Weekly News Digest

United States

LendingClub Expands Program to Help Borrowers Actually Pay Off Debt (Lend Academy), Rated: AAA

LendingClub shared a few stats on borrowers who choose this method:

• Save an average of nearly $900 over the course of their loan
• Cut their credit card interest rate nearly in half
• Increase their credit score in just three months

The product has been tested for over a year and LendingClub is working with a partner network of over 1,700 credit card, bank and loan companies to make the process seamless. What’s interesting is borrowers can add up to 12 creditors per loan which is an important feature since borrowers often hold balances across many cards.

Turning Lending Club’s Worst Loans into Investment Gold (Towards Data Science), Rated: A

This is a writeup of a machine learning project I completed. In this post I hope to:

• Describe my algorithm for predicting loan defaults.
• Use the algorithm to construct a portfolio of clean loans…

Inflation Miss (PeerIQ), Rated: AAA

US Core CPI rose by 2% YoY in May, just at the Fed’s target rate but below economists’ expectations. Consistently low inflation is boosting calls for a rate cut next week. The market is pricing in a 24% probability of a rate cut next week and a 76% probability of a rate cut in September.

Fintech algorithms discriminate 40% less than traditional lenders (Quartz), Rated: AAA

Algorithmic fintech lending is less discriminatory against minorities than traditional loan officers, according to a recent study of US mortgages. The findings signal hope that technology could provide financing that’s more fair, but the research also underscores how widespread discrimination remains.

The US housing market has long been prejudiced against minorities. When Latino and Africa-American borrowers are looking to buy a home, they usually end up paying 7.9 basis points (0.079 percentage points) more than whites to take out the mortgage, and 3.6 basis points more when they refinance the debt, according to a National Bureau of Economic Researchworking paper published this month.

Buttigieg worries tech may add racial bias to credit decisions (American Banker), Rated: A

Pete Buttigieg said the way credit scoring is done in the U.S. is fraught with inequality and he’s worried the process may get worse with systems based on artificial intelligence.

Commercial Real Estate Crowdfunding Eyes ’18-Hour Cities’ for Small Investors (The Street), Rated: A

When Clear Point Gardens, a 604-unit apartment complex in Columbus, Ohio, recently changed hands, it produced a nearly 43% gain in 16 months, an amazing windfall for investors in the deal.

All 68 of them.

The sale of Clear Point, financed with help from investors on CrowdStreet’s online platform, is the latest example of how online syndication is revolutionizing the way deals are financed in the $6 trillion commercial real estate market.

HSBC launches digital mortgage platform with help from Roostify (HousingWire), Rated: A

One of the world’s largest banks is about to join the digital mortgage revolution, as HSBC Bank USA, the U.S. arm of HSBC Group, announced that it is partnering with Roostify to launch a digital mortgage platform.

Mirador’s Trevor Dryer: ‘The world doesn’t need another high price lender’ (Tearsheet), Rated: A

Trevor started Mirador to fill this void of bank-originated small business lending. We talk about why he started Mirador with a lending as a service model and what painpoints he was addressing.

Dave is launching a checking account that helps users build their credit score (Business Insider), Rated: A

The Los Angeles-based company, backed by investors including Mark Cuban, the DJ Diplo, and hedge fund Mark 2 Capital, said on Tuesday it’s rolling out a new checking account product that reports all rent payments to credit agencies. The new feature, added to Dave’s original app, helps customers to build their credit. Dave plans to begin reporting utility payments later this summer.

CoreLogic Launches Marketrac Platinum (CoreLogic), Rated: A

With Marketrac Platinum, lenders and title companies can utilize the interactive platform to identify top performing real estate agents and brokerage firms to prioritize professional relationships based on market trends.

Zirtue Revolutionizes Peer-to-Peer Lending (IT Business Net), Rated: A

Sprout Mortgage Launches ACORN Automated Underwriting System (Yahoo! Finance), Rated: A

Sprout Mortgage, the innovative force in Non-QM lending, today announced the launch of its ACORN automated underwriting system (AUS) as part of an ongoing effort to deliver value-added services to its third-party origination clients.

Finicity Integrates with LendingQB to Optimize Mortgage Origination Process (PR Web), Rated: B

Finicity announced today an integration with LendingQB. LendingQB’s platform now uses Finicity’s digital Verification of Assets (VoA) solution to allow lenders to free up resources, increase processing speed and reduce mortgage fraud while providing borrowers with a more efficient and positive experience.

Cardholders Seek to Capital-ize on Madden (The National Law Review), Rated: A

Last week, three Capital One cardholders filed a putative class action in the Eastern District of New York, Cohen v. Capital One Funding, LLC,¹ alleging that the rates of interest they paid to a securitization trust unlawfully exceed the sixteen percent threshold in New York’s usury statutes.  The Plaintiffs seek to recoup the allegedly excessive interest payments and an injunction to cap the interest rates going forward.

Cross River poaches execs from student refinancing firm Laurel Road (American Banker), Rated: A

Cross River Bank, a Teaneck, N.J.-based bank that focuses most of its energy on supporting fintechs, is hiring several people from the student loan refinancing company Laurel Road to its capital markets team.

Cross River’s fintech partners include Affirm, Circle, Best Egg, Coinbase, Rocket Loans, Stripe, Upstart and Transferwise.

Optimizely Closes $ US105M Financing Round (Which-50), Rated: A

Optimisation platform Optimizely has closed US$105 million in financing, including US$50 million in Series D funding. The funding, led by Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing, also included Accenture Ventures.

Austin Niemiec Named New Executive Vice President of Quicken Loans Mortgage Services (Yahoo! Finance), Rated: B

Quicken Loans Mortgage Services (QLMS), the second largest mortgage lender serving the needs of brokers, regional banks and credit unions, today announced that Austin Niemiec has been named Executive Vice President.

Self Lender Awarded Inaugural Inclusive Fintech 50 (PR Newswire), Rated: B

Self Lender is pleased to announce its inclusion in the inaugural list of winners of the Inclusive Fintech 50. The Inclusive Fintech 50 is a competition launched in February to help early-stage fintech companies attract capital and resources to benefit the world’s 3 billion financially underserved people. The competition was organized by MetLife Foundation and Visa Inc., with global nonprofit Accion and World Bank Group member IFC.

United Kingdom

No sign yet of breaking out of circle (The Times), Rated: AAA

The early days of a company’s life on the stock market tends to set the tone for what follows. The grief around Funding Circle’s listing began even earlier and has continued to plague it.

Days before trading in shares of the specialist online lender began at the end of September, Funding Circle and its bankers were gunning for a valuation of up to £1.75 billion, only to be forced to narrow the expected range shortly before it came to market, and then to price the shares at the lower level of 440p apiece.

British Business Bank adds £60m firepower to non-bank lender (AltFi), Rated: A

Simply, a non-bank lender, focused on SME asset financing has scored a a third financing tranche of £60m from the British Business Bank.

One fifth of UK investors upping exposure to debt investments (Investment Week), Rated: A

One-fifth of UK investors are increasing their exposure to debt amid low interest rates and Brexit uncertainty, according to research from FJP Investment, which found this number climbs to 34% when 18-to-35 year-olds are considered in isolation.

OakNorth completes loan to Oncore IT for the acquisition of Fuse Technologies (Fintech Finance), Rated: A

OakNorth – the bank for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs – has provided a loan to Oncore IT, a managed service and cloud platform provider.

The finance has been used for the acquisition of Fuse Technologies, a London based provider of unified communications tools.

Brexit and drive for growth sees IT fintech salaries surge (AltFi), Rated: A

London-based java developers lead the pack, commanding starting salaries of up to £60,000, followed by software developers in the capital on up to £55,000.

Intense competition between UK-based fintechs – lead by Revolut, TransferWise, OakNorth and Funding Circle – and high street banks attempting to upgrade their services has led to bidding wars in order to gain top level IT professionals, said the report called The UK Fintech Revolution.

Lloyds first to launch open banking app for credit cards and savings (Fintech Futures), Rated: A

Customers of Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland are the first to see their savings accounts and credit cards in one place, thanks to open banking technology, reports Jane Connolly.

J.P. Morgan working on a secretive digital banking project based out of London (TechCrunch), Rated: A

A number of incumbent banks are known to be developing new digital-first products in a bid to keep the new wave of challenger banks at bay and now it appears that the latest to make that move is J.P. Morgan.

According to sources, the investment bank has begun recruiting for a secretive skunkworks project within London’s booming fintech industry. Very few details are known about what exactly J.P. Morgan plans to build, although TechCrunch understands the bank is busy hiring high level developers with full-stack and cloud-based dev skills for the new project, along with other personnel.

Following Facebook’s Libra launch, UK regulator hints at greater Big Tech scrutiny (AltFi), Rated: A

The FCA says technology is dramatically changing the markets it regulates and blurring regulatory boundaries in a new report into its activities.

China

Yirendai Revenues Come From Suspect Haircut Loans (Seeking Alpha), Rated: AAA

Over 60% of YRD’s FY 2018 revenues stem from “haircut loans” (P2P service fees charged to borrowers) that are prohibited by Chinese regulation. Recent developments in the P2P lending sector with regards to questionable lending practices, unethical collections, and usury are not being disclosed in YRD’s SEC filings, leaving U.S., Canadian, and international investors completely in the dark.

The Chinese P2P Lending Market

Unlike in developed countries, there are no administrative bodies (such as the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission) which regulate peer to peer lending exchanges in China. Instead, such services are regulated by self-organized internet associations and retail banks. The lack of meaningful oversight has caused the Chinese P2P lending market to bubble into $178.9 Billion in FY2018, almost 22 times the size of the P2P lending market in the United States and 447 times that of Japan’s.

Over 850+ fraudulent/ponzi lending platforms were exposed in FY 2018 alone.

But the bad numbers don’t end here:

– The total loan volume amounted to 245.9 billion in Q12019, down -55.5% Y/Y.

– 85.7 in new loans were lent in March 2019, down -53.5% Y/Y.

– Principal balance of all loans: 8,029 CNY billion, down -3.6% Y/Y.

– sum of P2P lenders and borrowers, up 21%.

Chinese P2P lending platforms look to Southeast Asia amid industry purge back home (Technode), Rated: AAA

A slew of Chinese fintech and peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms are looking to more lenient markets in Southeast Asia (SEA), following a prolonged industry crackdown in China that has left the sector reeling.

Over the past year, China’s regulatory clampdown on risky financial practices has wiped out more than half of the country’s P2P lending platforms. As of May, just 900 survived, down from almost 1,900 recorded a year ago.

In early June, Indian daily newspaper the Economic Times reported that Chinese fintech companies, including WeShare, 9F Group, and CashBUS, are exploring investment opportunities in the country’s burgeoning online lending sector, particularly in the P2P lending space.

XW Bank Welcomed by IMF as One of 6 Outstanding FinTech Companies From China (Yahoo! Finance), Rated: A

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) welcomed 6 outstanding FinTech companies from China including Ant Financial, WeBank and XW Bank.

European Union

Snask helps Klarna to communicate its ‘smooth’ banking offer with off-the-wall film and photography (Creative Boom), Rated: A

When Stockholm studio Snask was approached by Klarna, one of Europe’s biggest banks, to help communicate how its revolutionary payment solutions make life easier for its customers, it set out to create seven “never-seen-before” worlds.

LHV Bank Integrates Estateguru Investments in Online Banking Dashboard (P2P-Banking), Rated: A

You might wonder why that is relevant as most readers are unlikely to be LHV Bank customers. LHV Bank is a bank in Estonia.

I think it is highly interesting, as it is – to my knowledge – the first time a bank has integrated p2p lending investments in its customer interface. So the LHV bank customers, not only see their accounts and stock depots, but also their Estateguru investments conveniently listed in their online bank dashboard. Much has been talked about what role could banks have in p2p lending (mere transaction banks? providing credit lines?) and also there is a lot of speculation if PSD2 (open banking) will help fintechs to seize the access to the customer from banks because they could control the user interface in the future. But this is actually a first step a bank takes in the opposite direction. By aggregating “non-bank” information inside the dashboard, they aim to make the banking interface more useful for the customers.

International

How Klarna is Helping the World Shop Like a Queen (Power Retail), Rated: AAA

Klarna is the latest Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) app to sweep through the world. Originating in Sweden, the BNPL platform allows users to purchase goods and schedule repayments in timeslots. At this point in time, Klarna is the first and only BNPL platform that’s available in the U.S. It’s also available in the UK, Denmark, Norway, Belgium and many other European countries.

Australia

Five key ASIC findings on marketplace lending (Cuffelinks), Rated: AAA

In April 2019, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) released its third report on marketplace lending, the Survey of marketplace lending providers: 2017–18. The report paints a clear picture of a once-nascent industry enjoying growth with new borrowing increasing by nearly 45% in the 2017-18 financial year. The report notes that this growth is moderating compared to the near doubling in funds borrowed the previous year (from $156 million to $300 million). By contrast, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reports that overall personal lending has declined by an astonishing 24% in the 12 months to March 2019.

The ASIC report found that the average interest rate charged for marketplace loans entered into during the 2017–18 financial year was 11.5%, up from 10.5% in the 2016–17 financial year.

India

All you need to know about P2P lending and Commodities (India Times), Rated: AAA

Vinay Mathews, Founder and COO, Faircent and Sanjay Gakhar, Vice President, MCX talks about the benefits of investing via the P2P platform and Commodities, ET Wealth investment Workshop in Delhi Listen in!

Watch the video here.

Asia

Indonesian firms turn to P2P lenders for funds (Asia-First), Rated: AAA

Small companies in Asia-Pacific are tapping new funding sources, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) study commissioned by Mastercard, with peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms in Indonesia reportedly posting USD1.4bn worth of transactions in 2018, an increase from USD20m in 2016.

Canada

Borrowell passes one million members, raises $ 20 million in new capital (Zone Startups), Rated: AAA

RFI alumni company Borrowell announced that it had reached significantly more than a million users, making it Canada’s largest consumer fintech company by that measure.

In addition to this membership milestone, Borrowell also confirmed that it has received $20 million in Series B funding.

AltFi Toronto Summit 2019 (AltFi), Rated: B

WED, 9 OCTOBER 2019, 08:30 – 17:30 EDT

Blind Bird tickets are now on sale at a 50% discount ahead of the Summit’s agenda being announced later this Summer.

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