Orchard has released a comprehensive report analyzing platform data attributes across the marketplace lending industry; the white paper is titled, "Making Loan Data Actionable"; provides insight on varying data management strategies across the industry and explores an accounting standard for alternative marketplace loans; Orchard has taken the lead on marketplace lending data standardization due to its association with the majority of the industry's lending network. Source
Acuity Market Intelligence has released the 2017 "Ten Top Trends for Biometrics and Digital Identity"; the market intelligence firm says 2017 will be an important year for biometrics and digital identity; topping the list of trends for the year is behavioral biometrics on smartphones and their associated privacy issues. Source
Coverager provides insight on the insurtech investment market with a list of 11 insurtech deals announced in January; Practo in India tops the list with a $55 million investment; firm provides a platform for patients to book appointments and also offers a software as a service solution for doctors. Source
Savings rates are low and markets have always been volatile, P2P platforms in the UK have consistently returned 4.5% to 6.5% according to the AltFi Data returns index and so the question remains why aren't financial advisors recommending the P2P asset class; there has been some movement on this front as firms like LendingWell and Octopus offer solutions to better help P2P firms become more attractive to financial advisors; obstacles remain as many financial advisors do not know much about P2P platforms and it will take time for this asset class to be more widely known to the broader advisor. Source
Hans Morris of Nyca Partners has launched a new venture capital fund; Morris is the founder of Nyca Partners and a former Lending Club chairman; Morris has raised new capital of $125 million for the fund which will invest in fintech startups. Source
LendingRobot has announced the launch of a new alternative lending hedge fund; Lend Academy provides details in their article; the new fund will add to the service offerings at LendingRobot which currently include aggregated marketplace lending investment accounts for both retail investors and financial advisors; the new LendingRobot Series fund will invest in online loan origination platforms and offer multiple strategies for investors with expected net returns ranging from 6.86% to 9.66%; the fund is only open to accredited investors and requires a minimum investment of $100,000; it has a 1% management fee with fund expenses of up to 0.59%. Source
LendingRobot is launching a new fund for accredited high net worth investors and using a basket of new technologies to automate management of the fund; LendingRobot plans to use automated portfolio algorithms and automated platform investing to manage the fund; it will also use blockchain for fund reporting and fund auditing; Kadhim Shubber of Financial Times shares information on recent Lending Club performance as well as thoughts from UK-based fund P2PGI. Source
Some of the industry's top fintech banking strategists are leaving the corporate world to support fintech startups; three of Deutsche Bank's top executives have left the bank for broadened fintech advisory roles; "Everything from M&A advisory to research to money transfer is being disrupted," says Kerim Derhalli, former Deutsche Bank executive who now leads fintech startup Invstr; as the industry evolves it's likely the market will see more corporate fintech experts involved with new fintech ventures in the private markets. Source
IBM has hired Jesse Lund from Wells Fargo to lead its blockchain market development and global financial services departments; Lund will join IBM at the onset of its global blockchain implementation launch; IBM is investing in global blockchain and according to recent comments from Jerry Cuomo, IBM vice president of blockchain technologies, the blockchain that IBM will offer will have special things like regulatory compliance and it will be interoperable with interoperability standards; a large part of IBM's blockchain development will take place through the Hyperledger Project which both Cuomo and Lund will be actively involved in. Source