Friday November 29 2019, Weekly News Digest

United States

Funding Circle US Launches Small Business Choice, Providing Interest Rate and Loan Term Options to Small Business Owners (BusinessWire), Rated: AAA

Funding Circle US today announced Small Business Choice. The newest feature of the Funding Circle US loan platform provides borrowers with three fully approved loan options with different terms and rates to give small business owners the flexibility to find the loan that best fits their needs.

Under Small Business Choice:

• Loan options are suggested after being completely underwritten by Funding Circle. Borrowers are fully approved for all three options.
• In line with Funding Circle’s global commitment to transparency, offers are presented in a straightforward way over the phone and in emails that directly outline the total loan amount, term, rate and monthly payment.
• The feature applies to all small business owner applicants, including existing borrowers, at Funding Circle US.

LendingPoint Closes $ 175.6 Million Direct-to-Consumer Loan Securitization and Inaugural, $ 61.7 Million Point-of-Sale Loan Securitization (BusinessWire), Rated: AAA

Data and technology platform LendingPoint today announced that it has closed two additional securitizations of loans originated on the LendingPoint platform: LendingPoint Receivables Trust 2019-2 (“LDPT 2019-2”) issued $175.65 million of KBRA-rated notes backed by a pool of direct-to-consumer loans and LP LMS 2019-1 Asset Securitization Trust (“LPMS 2019-1”) issued $61.7 million of unrated notes backed by a pool of point-of-sale loans. Guggenheim Securities was sole structuring advisor and sole manager of both transactions.

Cities Where Millennials Carry the Highest Credit Card Balances (Experian), Rated: AAA

Millennials accounted for about 20% of all credit card debt in Q2 2019, an increase of 2 percentage points year over year. Their generation was the only one to see a marked increase in overall credit card balances in Q2 2019. Since 2015, millennials have seen their average FICO Scores^*  increase 17 points and their average credit card balance increase by $1,390.

Cities With Highest Millennial Credit Card Balances in Each State

Schwab is the 800 lb Gorilla Now; Future of FinTech; Madden Fix (PeerIQ), Rated: AAA

Charles Schwab Corp. is in negotiation to acquire TD Ameritrade. The deal would combine two of the largest online brokerages with strong banking capabilities. Shares of both companies were up significantly in the news.

Full interview with Max Levchin, co-founder of Paypal (CNBC), Rated: A

PeerStreet Continues Rapid Growth With New Milestone: $ 3 Billion in Loan Transactions (BusinessWire), Rated: A

PeerStreet, a platform for investing in real estate backed loans, today announced that as of last month, more than $3 billion in loans have been transacted through the PeerStreet marketplace. This milestone comes on the heels of the company announcing the close of its $60 million Series C funding round coupled with $4.25 billion in new capital commitments.

Entera Raises $ 7.5M in Funding (FinSMEs), Rated: A

Entera, a San Francisco, New York and Houston-based real estate technology platform that enables investors to access, make data driven decisions and purchase residential real estate, raised $7.5m in funding.

Wolters Kluwer Launches Consumer Lending Online Applications Offering for Community Banks, Credit Unions (BusinessWire), Rated: A

Wolters Kluwer’s Compliance Solutions business has launched Online Applications for Consumer Lending (CLA), a digital offering that enhances the online loan origination capabilities of U.S. community banks and credit unions. CLA allows consumers to begin a loan application from any digital device, at any time. It integrates seamlessly with Wolters Kluwer’s ComplianceOne solution, an industry-leading loan documentation and processing system that helps lenders optimize their lending and document preparation processes in a secure, fast and cost-effective manner.

Why small businesses need regulators’ proposed ‘Madden’ fix (American Banker), Rated: A

Just recently, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. proposed an important clarification to the “valid when made” doctrine, which provides that if a loan’s interest rate is valid in the state of origination, that loan continues to be valid when transferred to a party in another state. That long-standing doctrine was overturned by the so-called Madden case in 2015.

MoneyLion : Names Samantha Roady Chief Operating Officer (MarketScreener), Rated: B

MoneyLion, the digital bank and financial membership platform, today announced the appointment of fintech and global finance industry veteran Samantha Roady as Chief Operating Officer, a new position within the company. She has served as a MoneyLion board member since September 2016.

United Kingdom

Zopa is running out of time in bid to become bank (Evening Standard), Rated: AAA

PEER-to-peer lending giant Zopa faces a race against time to raise up to £150 million and satisfy regulators it is financially strong enough to become a bank.

Zopa rival Funding Circle has seen its shares crash from 400p a year ago to 99p today.

Zopa nears crunch time as investor woes worsen (Financial News), Rated: A

One of the UK’s best-known and oldest fintech companies is running up against a tight deadline to secure funding needed to maintain its banking licence, as a major investor is sidetracked by a funding crunch of its own.

Marketplace lending expected to top £6bn this year, says report (AltFi), Rated: A

Marketplace lending is expected to top £6bn this year but lenders will face a significant test of their risk management procedures, loan servicing and recovery practices should the economy worsen, a new report warns.

The report says that gross marketplace lending is likely to grow 16 percent from £5.3bn to £6.2bn from 2018 to 2019.

Wonga‘s legacy of nearly 400,000 mis-sold loans (Wellston Journal), Rated: A

Administrators for the lender, which collapsed in August 2018, have revealed that 389,621 eligible claims have been made since Wonga‘s demise.

So far, the compensation bill is £460m, with the average claim £1,181.

The administrators said they had received 560,982 claims by the end of August.

Lisa Fiondella Joins Finastra as Chief Data Officer (Markets Insider), Rated: B

Finastra has hired Lisa Fiondella as Chief Data Officer to lead its comprehensive data strategy, including how data collected through the FusionFabric.cloud platform and various cloud-based solutions, can be best utilized. She will be responsible for developing a data product roadmap and manage the process of bringing new data products to market.

China

P2P: China’s once-booming lending industry must close within two years, government notice says (SCMP), Rated: AAA

Ping An to fold P2P lender Lufax into new consumer finance arm (Technode), Rated: AAA

Ping An Insurance has received approval from regulators to set up a consumer finance arm, a representative from its peer-to-peer (P2P) loan affiliate Lufax confirmed on Friday, in a move that is reportedly the beginning of its transition away from P2P lending amid increasingly stringent regulations.

Lufax Prepares for Life After P2P Lending (Caixin), Rated: A

European Union

Flender Makes BIG Mark in Ireland’s SME Lending Market (deBanked), Rated: AAA

The following month Flender would reveal remarkable news, a new €75 million funding line, bringing their total to €109 million raised since the company’s founding in 2015. The company is backed by Eiffel Investment Group, Enterprise Ireland, entrepreneur Mark Roden and former Ireland rugby player Jamie Heaslip.

Meawnwhile, CEO Kristjan Koik told the Irish Times that the top 3 banks in Ireland have 92 percent of the SME lending marketshare so there is still a ton of opportunity for non-banks like Flender to grab hold of.

Alternative Lending Marketplace October Reveals New $ 110 Million Commitment from European Investment Fund and Others to Finance European SMEs (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: A

A new €100 million (appr. $110 million) agreement was finalized by the EIF, CNP Assurances, Bpifrance, Zencap, and various other entities in order to fund European SMEs via marketplace lending platform October. These companies are part of the recent institutional fund launched last year.

Half of European P2P investors have more than 25pc of portfolio in P2P loans (P2P Finance News), Rated: A

MORE than half (52.3 per cent) of European peer-to-peer investors surveyed by Robo.cash have more than a quarter of their portfolio in P2P loans.

Irish Consumers Still Don’t Trust New Technology, Including Digital Challenger Banks (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: A

Three quarters, or 75%, of Ireland’s consumers, are only using a “high street” bank, which makes the country the most traditional in Europe.

Only around 10%, or one in ten, Irish consumers are banking only with a challenger bank. Around 11% of Millennials and 12% of Gen Z consumers in Ireland are using (only) challenger banks, the report revealed.

When looking five years ahead:

• 17% of Ireland’s consumers are expected to bank solely with a challenger bank (up from around 14% in 2019).
• 35% of Ireland’s citizens will be banking with some combination of challenger and traditional financial institutions (up from about 21% in 2019).
• 48% will be banking solely with a legacy bank (down significantly from 68% in 2019).

This, according to Fujitsu’s latest “From Demanding to Discerning: Tech and the New Banking Customer” report.

Investor confidence in P2P lending is growing in Europe (Wealth Adviser), Rated: A

According to a new survey by Robo.cash, 64.9 per cent of the European P2P investors have full confidence in P2P lending. Remarkably, 52.3 per cent of respondents mentioned that P2P loans take a considerable share of their investment portfolio – over 25 per cent.

Citadele Bank to invest in consumer loans through Fellow Finance P2P platform (Finextra), Rated: B

Citadele Bank is launching a partnership with Europe’s most advanced lending platform, Fellow Finance, which brings together individuals, businesses and investors.

International

Klarna partners with a new merchant every 8 minutes in 2019 (PR Newswire), Rated: AAA

During 2019, Klarna has once again seen stellar growth with 60,000 new merchants globally including River Island, Boohoo, Made.com, Michael Kors, Expedia, H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, Timberland, Marchesa, Agent Provocateur, Rue 21, TOMS, WayFair, Microsoft, and Shein. Now over 190,00 merchants partner with Klarna.

– Consumer growth and preference builds, adding 16 million new consumers globally.

OakNorth and N26 Have Received the Most Funding Out of All US and European Digital Banks (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: A

According to Crunchbase data, OakNorth ($1 billion) and N26 ($670 million) have received the most funding out of all other major US and European neobanks.

Regulators in Dubai and Luxembourg sign fintech pact (Finextra), Rated: B

The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) Luxembourg, entered into an agreement to cooperate in the development of FinTech.

Australia

Almost 50% of Australians Have Not Heard of Neobanks or Digital-Only Banks (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: AAA

The number of users that may consider changing their primary banking institution during the coming six-month period is currently 12% or 2.5 million Australian residents, which is reportedly 9% greater than the previous year.

The Nielsen surveys revealed that around 50% of Australia’s consumers noted that they had not heard of a neobank. Only a third, or about 33%, of the nation’s consumers said they’d be willing to use a neobank as one of their financial services providers, even after the benefits of using digital-only banks were explained to them.

A quarter, or 25%, of consumers who became aware of neobanks stated they would most likely use them as one of their primary financial services providers.

Asia

Indonesian P2P lender Amartha bags series B money from Line, others (Tech in Asia), Rated: AAA

Indonesian peer-to-peer lending startup Amartha has raised an undisclosed amount of series B funding in a round led by Line Ventures, the venture capital arm of global messaging app Line.

MENA

Dubai-based Fintech, Beehive, Releases State of the SME Ecosystem Report (PR Newswire), Rated: AAA

Beehive, MENA’s first regulated peer to peer lending platform, has released an insightful new report revealing the state of MENA’s SME ecosystem, the same week as the company celebrates its fifth birthday.

Key findings from the report include:

• Surveyed MENA SMEs have more women in senior positions than the global average.
• 28% of respondents see innovation as a priority for growth, yet only 2% of business owners are currently trying to access finance to fund it.
• SMEs offer young people a great opportunity for development. 48% of SMEs would hire someone under 25 with no experience.

See the full report here.

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