LendingClub to pursue national bank charter, reports Q2 losses

According to Kroll Bond Rating Agency, the online business-loan lender is marketing $198.45 million in notes backed by loans made to small- and medium-sized businesses in the U.S. Funding Circle has previously issued notes for asset-backed pools of small-business loans in its native UK.

The transaction consists of four classes of notes, including a $142.8 million Class A tranche with an initial A- rating from Kroll, and benefiting from 32.5% credit enhancement.

LendingClub Discusses National Bank Charter, GreenSky Exploring Sale (Lend Academy), Rated: AAA

A topic that has been coming up more often is the potential of a national bank charter. Last week we learned that small business lender OnDeck was pursuing a charter and LendingClub is doing the same.

Today LendingClub reported their Q2 2019 earnings. Highlights include record loan originations of $3.1 billion, up 11% from the prior year period and record net revenue of $190.8 million, up 8% year over year.

GreenSky Q2 2019 Earnings

David Zalik, GreenSky Chairman and CEO included this statement in the press release:

Notwithstanding the Company’s solid operating results, in light of the complexity of the Company’s operating model, we do not believe that the Company’s current market value is reflective of the Company’s strong record of cash flow generation and intrinsic value. Accordingly, GreenSky’s Board of Directors, working together with its senior management team and legal and financial advisors, has commenced a process to explore, review and evaluate a range of potential strategic alternatives focused on maximizing stockholder value. In connection with this review, GreenSky has retained FTP Securities LLC (“FT Partners”) and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC as its financial advisors, and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP and Troutman Sanders LLP as its legal advisors.

The news sparked Christopher Donat, an analyst Sandler O’Neill to speculate that Square or Goldman Sachs could be potential buyers according to this article in American Banker.

LendingClub envisions a ‘marketplace bank,’ seeks charter (Bank Innovation), Rated: A

Peer-to-peer lending platform LendingClub is exploring the possibility of obtaining a national bank charter as it adjusts its strategy following a $10.6 million loss in the second quarter.

Digital Banking: LendingClub Gets Some Fintech Love as it Pursues National Bank Charter (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: A

Shares in LendingClub (NYSE:LC) are rising during another down market day as the trade war with China has no end in sight and political tempers flare. Shares are currently trading over 10% higher following yesterday’s Q2 earnings report where LendingClub said it expected to finally report a positive net incoming in Q3 following years of losses.

Second, LendingClub has hardened its lending model with years of fine-tuning. Unlike some other digital-only banks, LendingClub has been providing credit to consumers for more than a decade having originated over $50 billion in loans.

LendingClub Logs Lower-Than-Expected Losses (PYMNTS), Rated: A

By the numbers, net loss came in at $10.66 million or $0.12 per share — a lower loss than last year when Lending Club reported a loss of $60.86 million or $0.72 per share. Adjusted loss per share narrowed to $0.01 from $0.08 a year earlier.

Net revenue increased 8 percent from year-ago revenues of $176.98 million in 2018 to $190.8 million in 2019, driven by the higher volume of loan originations Sanborn mentioned. Loan originations during the quarter were at $3.1 billion, up 11 percent year over year. While the revenue number is an improvement, it came in very, very slightly below analysts’ estimates.

LendingClub posts smaller-than-expected loss on loan originations (Nasdaq), Rated: A

LendingClub said it now expects smaller loss for the year than it had previously forecast. Adjusted net loss is expected to be between $5 million and $20 million, from $9 million to $29 million.

P2P lender LendingClub increases credit access with Select Plus Platform (Verdict), Rated: B

LendingClub, a US-based P2P lending platform, has introduced the Select Plus Platform to offer borrowers access to sophisticated investors.

LendingClub: America Does Not Need Another Credit Card, Apple Card Spells Disaster for Consumers (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: A

Apple Card, a “new kind of credit card” launched by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in partnership with Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) is expected to be made available to the public within the next few days. In fact, it has been reported that invitation emails have already gone out to a small group of iPhone owners. More will follow during August.

One detractor is LendingClub.

Anuj Nayar: Americans don’t need another credit card. They need the right tools to help them build their financial futures and pay down debt without the opportunity to accumulate more at high-interest rates. Goldman Sachs tried to pursue building a helpful consumer tool with Marcus but now has slipped back into its old ways, looking to make money by getting consumers hooked on revolving, high-interest debt on Apple’s credit card.

Court activity on July 12: Sofi Lending Corp. vs Jaime Daric (Northern California Record), Rated: AAA

The Superior Court of California for San Francisco County reported the following activity in the suit brought by Sofi Lending Corp. against Jaime Daric and other unnamed defendants on July 12: ‘Declaration Of Non Service (transaction Id # 63543270) Filed By Plaintiff Sofi Lending Corp., As Attorney In Fact For Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, Trustee Of Sofi Consumer Loan Program 2015 Trust’

Rate cuts (PeerIQ), Rated: AAA

This week, we discuss the Fed rate cut to the 2 to 2.5% target range, and provide market color on OnDeck earnings.

Fun fact #1: It has been 3,878 days (10.5+ years) since the FOMC last cut rates.

This is the second longest streak on record behind the 4,115 days that passed between cuts in the discount rate since 1954. Markets are speculating on additional rate cuts before year-end although Fed Chair Powell positioned the rate cut as an “adjustment” rather than a change in trend.

Chicago business barometer — Source: Chicago Fed PeerIQ

DigiFi Launches the World’s First Open-Source Loan Origination System (Markets Insider), Rated: AAA

DigiFi, an enterprise SaaS company building the future of lending technology, announced today the launch of its open-source loan origination system (LOS). The free-to-use platform, which was built over 45,000+ development hours and has been operating in-market with top lenders since late 2018, provides an end-to-end suite of modular capabilities that can be used individually or together to drive digital transformation.

DigiFi’s open source release underscores the lending industry’s dissatisfaction with the closed-loop systems available from existing LOS providers, which force lenders into onerous long-term contracts for inflexible systems.

Bitcoin and Ether Lender BlockFi Raises $ 18.3 Million Series A (CoinDesk), Rated: AAA

Crypto lending startup BlockFi received $18.3 million in a Series A funding round led by Valar Ventures, the company announced Tuesday.

Valar, which was founded in part by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, was joined by Winklevoss Capital, Galaxy Digital, ConsenSys, Akuna Capital, Susquehanna, CMT Digital, Morgan Creek, Avon Ventures and PJC. Valar’s investment was its first in the cryptocurrency industry following prior investments in other fintech firms like Transferwise, a press release said.

Want to Hire Millennials? Better Help Repay Student Debt (Bloomberg), Rated: AAA

Like millions of her peers, Nicole Read graduated with thousands of dollars of debt. Unlike most of them, she’s getting direct help from her employer to pay it back.

In Read’s case, it’s $100 a month.

Such plans are spreading. They were on offer to staff at about 8% of U.S. employers in 2019, more than double the 2015 level, according to an April survey by the Society for Human Resource Management.

Another study by business adviser Willis Towers Watson found that 32% of firms are considering introducing a similar benefit by 2021.

Student loan repayments — Source: Bloomberg

Verishop and Affirm Partner to Enable Customers to Shop Now and Pay Over Time (Yahoo! Finance), Rated: A

Verishop Inc. is excited to announce a partnership with financial technology company Affirm Inc., giving customers more choice at checkout to pay for their purchases over time.

To see if they qualify, customers only need to provide five simple pieces of information² and a credit decision is made within seconds. Monthly payments are shown in real dollars instead of hard-to-calculate percentages so customers will know exactly what they owe with no hidden or late fees. Customers never pay a dollar more than they agree to at checkout. The pay-over-time option is available for purchases ranging from $50 to $17,500 with a 30-day payment deferral available for smaller amounts.

Klarna offers payment installments to Toms, Asos US customers (Retail Dive), Rated: B

Klarna, an alternative payment platform, announced Monday that Asos shoppers in the United States will now be able to use its services, according to a press release. The announcement comes after Klarna also publicized its partnership with Toms on Thursday.

Lendio Surpasses $ 1.5 Billion in Small Business Loans Facilitated (Lendio), Rated: A

Lendio today announced it has facilitated more than $1.5 billion in financing to small businesses across the U.S.

According to the Federal Reserve Banks’ 2019 Small Business Credit Survey, “applications to online lenders continued to trend upward” last year, with 32% of applicants turning to online lenders, up from 24% the previous year.

Lendio’s 15-minute online application gives business owners access to multiple lenders with offers suited to meet their capital and business needs.

Lendio

Behind the growth of PayPal’s SMB lending business (Tearsheet), Rated: A

In just a few years, PayPal’s business financing solutions has serviced over 225,000 small businesses around the world with funding. Between PayPal Working Capital and PayPal Business Loans, the company has recently surpassed $10 billion of capital it’s leant out to SMBs

Online lender backed by Nas says it was hit by security breach (New York Post), Rated: A

Earnin, which is also backed by tech investor Andreesen Horowitz, discovered in February that a third-party security firm had accessed customers’ bank transactions — including all their debit card purchases and payment statements going back for months, the company confirmed to The Post.

Small Business Loan Approvals at Banks Hit Record Highs (GlobeNewswire), Rated: A

Approval rates for small business loan applications rose to another post-recession record (27.7%) at big banks ($10 billion+ in assets), while also climbing above 50% at small banks in July, according to the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index released today.

Small bank approvals of small business loan applications inched up one-tenth of a percent to 50.1% from 50% in June.

Small business loan approval rates among alternative lenders dropped three-tenths of a percent to 56.8% from 57.1% in June.

What business does a crowdfunding fintech have with banks? (American Banker), Rated: A

Krista Morgan, the founder and CEO of the crowdfunding fintech P2Binvestor, always understood that funding small-business loans through investors would be challenging. But when the firm launched in 2014, she quickly recognized it wasn’t lining up the investors or capital that was the difficulty.

“Finding capital through our investor platform has been relatively straightforward,” she said. “Finding businesses and winning the business and being competitive in market and building the technology that supports the lending has been the harder side of the marketplace.”

Fox Corp. Buys 67% Stake In Consumer Loan Marketplace Credible Labs (Stock News Press), Rated: A

Citing reports, as per the terms of the deal, the shareholders of Credible Labs will reportedly receive A$ 2.21 in cash per CHESS depository interest (CDI), representing A$55.25 per share of common stock of the company.

Fox says it will commit up to $USD 75 million ($AUD110.8 million) of growth capital to Credible over the next two years.

Cross River — A Regional Bank Providing Specialized BaaS Services (Tearsheet), Rated: A

Who we spoke to: Gilles Gade (Founder and CEO) and Phil Goldfeder (SVP and Communications)
Establishment year: 2008
Bank license: Yes
API documentation: https://www.crossriver.com/api

Al Goldstein of Avant and Amount (Lend Academy), Rated: A

We last had Al Goldstein, the CEO and Chairman of Avant and Amount, on the show back in 2015. So much has changed since then not just in the personal loan space but in the banking space as well. And Avant has evolved to meet those challenges.

Mall landlords weigh becoming lenders to blunt retail crash (American Banker), Rated: A

Mall landlords accustomed to offering rent reductions to ailing retailers are mulling a new strategy to forestall the industry’s collapse: positioning themselves as lenders to tenants struggling to stay afloat.

The boutique bank PJ Solomon has organized discussions with several mall owners about pursuing such a strategy with the troubled retailer Forever 21, according to people with knowledge of the matter, in what could serve as a model for future transactions within the sector.

This woman paid off ,000 in credit-card debt with a personal loan, but her first attempt landed her in the red again (MarketWatch), Rated: A

Rogers is far from the only person to have used this debt-consolidation strategy with success. At the end of 2018, nearly 11% of adults in the U.S. held a personal loan, according to data from Experian. EXPN, +1.84%. The number of personal loans has risen 42% since 2015, making them the fastest-growing category of debt in the country.

Around 61% of personal loans are used for debt consolidation, said Ezra Becker, senior vice president of research and consulting at TransUnion.

An update on credit access and the Bureau’s first No-Action Letter (CFPB), Rated: AAA

For some consumers, the use of unconventional sources of information, or “alternative data,” to evaluate creditworthiness may be a way to increase access to credit or decrease the cost of credit. Alternative data includes information not typically found in core credit files of nationwide consumer reporting agencies and may indicate a likelihood of meeting obligations on time that a traditional credit history may not reflect.

The Bureau remains committed to using all of the tools at its disposal under the Dodd-Frank Act to help address these important issues around access to credit. Toward that goal, the Bureau is currently reviewing comments to its proposed No-Action Letter, Trial Disclosure, and Product Sandbox policies.

Don’t let AI trigger a fair-lending violation (American Banker), Rated: A

The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning poses both opportunities and risks for financial institutions.

While using such predictive techniques may mitigate consumer lending credit risk, financial institutions should be cognizant of the potential impacts of bias and its implications on fairness.

Peer-to-peer crypto lending startup Dharma pauses new deposits and loans (The Block Crypto), Rated: A

Dharma, the San Francisco-based crypto lending startup behind the open-source protocol of the same name, has announced via Twitter that it is “pausing new deposits and loans” on its platform.

I quit my job at 34 with $ 3 million—here are my 5 biggest regrets about early retirement (CNBC), Rated: AAA

And in 2012, I finally retired at 34. By the time I quit my job, I had amassed a net worth of about $3 million that generated roughly $80,000 in investment income per year.

If I worked a few extra years before retiring, I would have had the financial confidence to buy more real estate in 2012, right before prices began to take off. (A rental property in San Francisco that cost $900,000 in 2012 would be worth roughly $1.6 million today.)

Source: Bay Area Market Reports, Compass

I also could have leveraged my interests in real estate and technology to start a real estate crowdfunding company — or, at the very least, join one. I still believe that real estate is one of the most straightforward ways most Americans can build wealth over the long term.

OppLoans Review: Installment Loans for Borrowers with Bad Credit (Money Check), Rated: A

One such lender that is looking to capitalize on this space is OppLoans. The US-based lender offers loans to those with poor credit, ranging from $500 up to $5,000.

Galaxy Digital Makes Its Next Move in Crypto Lending Markets (Bitcoin Magazine), Rated: B

DrawBridge Lending (DBL), a digital asset loaning, borrowing and investing company, has received an investment from merchant bank Galaxy Digital with the aim to greatly expand DBL’s institutional investment and lending capacity.

Minneapolis-based Digital Finance Startup DeFiner.org Wins 2019 Detroit Fintech Challenge (Yahoo! Finance), Rated: B

Less than two years after being conceptualized, Minneapolis-based digital lending & borrowing platform DeFiner.org has beat out 17 other Fintech startups to win one of the industry’s most coveted prizes.

United Kingdom

Funding Circle adds to August ABS supply with first US deal (GlobalCapital), Rated: AAA

UK-based marketplace lender Funding Circle is set to issue its first US securitization, a $198.45m deal backed by loans made to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Funding Circle posts higher revenues but pre-tax losses widen (P2P Finance News), Rated: AAA

FUNDING Circle has increased its revenues but widened its pre-tax losses, according to a half-year report which echoed last month’s results preview.

The FTSE 250-quoted firm posted a 29 per cent jump in revenue to £81.4m but pre-tax losses widened to £30.8m from £27.1m in the first half of 2018.

Adjusted core earnings fell year-on-year to £1.2m from £3.3m.

Tide, Starling Ramp Up Rivalry Over SMB Customers (PYMNTS), Rated: A

The rivalry between U.K. challenger banks Tide and Starling continues to heat up as Tide signs on its 100,000th small business customer.

Reports in The Telegraph on Monday (Aug. 5) said the companies continue to compete for the small business customer base. Tide has on-boarded 100,000 small business customers, described by the firm’s chief executive Oliver Prill as a “very significant milestone.”

Young SMEs and companies that have recently switched banks are prime UK neobank targets (Business Insider), Rated: A

UK small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are fairly satisfied with their current banking situation, which leans heavily in favor of major incumbents: 88% of financial decision makers at UK SMEs say their main account is with an established high street bank and 86% are either “very happy” or “fairly happy” with the service they receive, per a report from Finastra and YouGov. Further, just 29% of SME respondents said their business would be likely to switch its main bank account in the next five years.

Young UK SMEs — Source: Business Insider

1 in 4 UK robo-advisors shuttered in two years (AltFi), Rated: A

Digital wealth management, or robo advice as it used to be called, has been around for more than a decade and launched into the UK in 2011 with the arrival of Nutmeg. Things started to get really interesting around 2016 and 2017 when a flurry of companies were founded to attack the space dominated by traditional wealth management, an industry looking after £1trn of investors’ assets.

OakNorth strengthening leadership team with appointment of Jackson Hull as CTO and COO (Fintech Finance), Rated: B

OakNorth has today announced the appointment of Jackson Hull as its Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Chief Operating Officer (COO). With over 15 year’s C-suite experience in London and San Francisco, Jackson is a leading expert in building high-volume eCommerce applications, global SaaS platforms, mobile and IoT platforms, as well as award-winning products and services in finance, fintech, travel, accommodation and retail.

China

Jiayin Closes Cases Against 12,000 Debtors Online (CapitalWatch), Rated: AAA

Jiayin Group Inc. (Nasdaq: JFIN), China’s online lending platform, announced it has solved more than 12,000 cases of overdue payments and attempts to escape debt as of May.

Shanghai-based Jiayin runs a peer-to-peer lending marketplace, known as Niwodai, which connects borrowers and investors. The company has established a tailored legal department for post-loan management to handle online arbitration. As it reported on its website, as of the end of May, it has closed more than 12,000 cases in more than 30 provinces in China.

European Union

Swedish fintech Klarna valued at $ 5.5 billion in funding round (Reuters), Rated: AAA

Online payments firm Klarna, which has attracted a growing following with its “buy now, pay later” service for shoppers, said on Tuesday it had raised $460 million in a funding round that makes it Europe’s most valuable fintech startup.

Investors led by San Francisco-based Dragoneer Investment Group put new money into the Swedish company, giving it a valuation of $5.5 billion and additional financial firepower to expand in the United States.

Video: What’s next for Klarna, the most valuable EU fintech (Yahoo! Finance), Rated: A

Yahoo Finance’s Adam Shapiro, Julie Hyman, Rick Newman, and Scott Gamm join Klarna Co-Founder and CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski.

Penta, the German business banking startup, raises €8M additional funding (TechCrunch), Rated: A

Penta, the business banking provider for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that was recently acquired by fintech company builder Finleap, has raised “over” €8 million in new funding.

The startup raised a €7 million Series A round in late 2018, and is thought to have had more than €18 million investment since being founded in 2016.

Two Issues Currently Evolving on P2P Lending Marketplaces (P2P-Banking), Rated: A

This week some investors on the p2p lending marketplaces Viventor, Grupeer and Mintos are affected by issues that hinder the normal procedures on these marketplaces.

aforti-viventor — (Screenshot from Viventor.com)

Update 14:02: Apparently Mintos has now suspended trading of Aforti loans on the secondary market.

EstateGuru, a Marketplace for Short-Term, Property Backed Loans, Launches in Portugal (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: A

EstateGuru, an online marketplace for secured, short term loans, has launched in Portugal, according to a note from the company. EstateGuru is now providing crowdfunding services in six different countries including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, and Spain. EstateGuru said by opening in the Portuguese market the company had achieved its next milestone in its long term strategy.

International

International P2P Lending Volumes July 2019 (P2P-Banking), Rated: AAA

Mintos leads ahead of Zopa and Ratesetter. The total volume for the reported marketplaces in the table adds up to 611 million Euro.

Ethereum’s Latest Milestone — 200,000 Smart Contracts (Crypto.IQ), Rated: A

DeFi protocols such as Compound, Dharma, and Uniswap are among the most advanced tools of Ethereum-based P2P lending solutions. Another interesting use case built on Ethereum is the decentralized prediction market platform Augur (REP).

Crowdfunding: alternative ways to find a community of impact investors (Specialist Banking), Rated: B

At the same time, there’s been a remarkable increase in the impact investment market — investments made with the intention to generate positive social and environmental impact alongside a financial return — with the Global Impact Investing Network valuing the global market at $502bn.

Australia/New Zealand

CommBank Invests US$ 100 Million In Fintech Klarna As Digital Transactions Continue To Grow (Which-50), Rated: AAA

Commonwealth Bank has invested in Klarna, a Swedish rival to Afterpay, and will bring the European buy now, pay later provider to Australia. The deal accompanies the bank’s continued investment in its digital capabilities.

CommBank invested US$100 million in the fintech’s US$460 million funding round, announced yesterday, which values the company at $5.5 billion. The bank will also become Klarna’s exclusive partner in Australia and New Zealand.

Prospa Establish NZ Warehouse Facility, Shares Rise on ASX (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: AAA

Online lender Prospa Group Limited (ASX: PGL) has established its first warehouse facility specifically to fund New Zealand small business loans. According to a note from Prospa, the 3-year facility has an initial capacity of NZ $45 million.

Judo bank breaks Aussie record with $ 400m round (Fintech Futures), Rated: A

Australian challenger, Judo Bank, has completed the biggest single funding round in the country’s history by raising $400 million, writes Jane Connolly.

StartupSmart reports that the finance – which is double Judo’s original target for the round – came from new institutional investors, including Bain Capital Credit and Tikehau Capital, along with existing investors.

India

India’s Indifi raises $ 21M to expand its online lending platform (TechCrunch), Rated: AAA

Indifi, a Gurgaon-based startup that offers loans to small and medium-sized businesses and also operates an online lending marketplace, has raised 1,450 million Indian rupees ($21 million) in a new financing round to expand its business in the country.

Indifi, which has raised about $34 million in venture capital to date, has also relied on debt to grow and finance loans on its platform. Currently, it’s in about $21 million in debt, Alok Mittal, co-founder and managing director of Indifi, told TechCrunch in an interview.

A typical loan processed by Indifi is of about $7,000 in size. Overall, the startup offers between $1,400 to $70,000 in capital to businesses.

Asia

65% of Singapore Customers Interested in Digital Banking (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: AAA

According to a recent survey, in Singapore digital banking has some pent up demand. JD Power has published a brief retail banking satisfaction study and, according to their numbers, 65% of consumers are interested in opening digital bank accounts. This is an increase from the year prior where 52% of surveyed individuals expressed similar digital banking interest.

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United States

Funding Circle debuts ABS platform for U.S. small-business loans (Asset Securitization Report), Rated: AAA