FinLab aims to help fintech startups that are helping American consumers; it is funded through a five-year grant from JPMorgan; in total 26 companies have worked or are working with Finlab; TechCrunch profiles how the innovation lab works which includes programs to help startups understand how the banking industry works and meetings in Washington with regulators. Source
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An opinion piece in American Banker highlights the challenges the marketplace lending industry faced in 2016; Alenka Grealish, a senior analyst at Celent believes that we will see consolidation and more partnerships in the remainder of 2017 and into 2018; discusses the advantages and challenges both fintechs and banks have and what may happen in a downturn. Source
Carey Olsen discusses offshore corporate structures for fintech companies; these smaller jurisdictions offer many benefits including allowing regulators to be more agile and a broader toolbox of corporate vehicles; Carey Olsen has expertise in advising fintech businesses in the British Virgin Islands, Cayman, Guernsey and Jersey; shares the variations in regulation across these jurisdictions in their blog post. Source
The LendIt content team that created the agenda for our upcoming European event on October 9 & 10 share:
- The main trends that are happening in European fintech today.
- What is different and similar when it comes to fintech in Europe, USA and China.
- How LendIt Europe is going to work and what attendees can expect.
- The networking opportunities for attendees at LendIt Europe.
- How Brella, our 1-to-1 networking tool, works.
- Some of the highlighted sessions at the show.
- How attendees will be able to get the most out of their two days at LendIt Europe.
All P2P lenders will now be known as non-banking financial companies (NBFC-P2P); all p2p lenders will also have to receive a certificate of registration; companies will go through a 12 month period before getting final approval; under the rules a p2p firm can’t raise deposits or lend on its own; other details of the guidelines including loan caps for borrowers are outlined in the article. Source
A new bill has been introduced in Congress that would mandate the IRS to make their data available via API; the current process for lenders requires borrowers to fill out a form known as IRS 4506-T: Request for Transcript of Tax Return; Lend Academy provides additional information on the bill with thoughts from Congressman McHenry and Nat Hoopes, Executive Director of the Marketplace Lending Association. Source
Greg Carmichael is the CEO of Fifth Third Bancorp; in this in-depth interview he shares his perspective on the intersection of regulation and innovation in banking, Fifth Third’s fintech strategy, their partnership with QED Investors and more. Source
Roofstock provides a marketplace for buyers and sellers of rental properties; the company is up to 35 employees and has now raised their Series C led by Canvas Ventures; TechCrunch published a short Q&A with their CEO Gary Beasley; while the company doesn’t disclose actual number of properties, they have facilitated “hundreds of millions of dollars in value this year alone” and now operate in 15 markets across the US. Source
Renren, a publicly listed company in the US operates a social media platform in China but has also made several fintech investments; investments include LendingHome, Fundrise, Motif Investing as well as a significant stake in SoFi; a year ago Renren announced plans to spin off its minority venture stakes into a new subsidiary; under the plan retail investors would receive a cash payout, losing their exposure to SoFi; Ryan Roberts, director at MCM Partners stated in the Forbes article, “It certainly looks like Joe Chen is trying to strip the best assets from Renren, particularly SoFi. SoFi is basically the entire value of the company right now, the core business has really deteriorated.” Source
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios now boasts $24 billion assets under management and has hired Cynthia Loh, the ex-general manager of Betterment for Business; article reports on Schwab’s robo-advice platform growth, the cannibalization the firm saw with the offering, and what the new hire might mean for Schwab’s future plans. Source