UK based Lendable raised $400mn to continue lending to UK consumers amid concerns over growing household debt; the capital infusion comes from Castle Trust who is backed by the US private equity shop JC Flowers; this is the second big deal for Lendable in 2017 as they were able to secure over $130mn from Waterfall Asset management in March. Source.
JoinedNov. 30, 2016
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Todd is the host of PitchIt: the fintech startups podcast, a weekly interview show featuring emerging fintech founders and leading venture capitalists. He is responsible for leading the content team which covers fintech through daily & weekly email newsletters, editorial, virtual events, and in-person conferences. He has been covering fintech, banking, and venture capital for more than 15 years, including speaking regularly at industry events.
While relaxing over the Thanksgiving weekend you might have noticed a new trend occurring in television while watching the games:...
As former director Cordray left the CFPB last week he named an acting director to minimize operational disruption in his words; the White House on the other hand thinks he meant to provoke a response from the administration; the agency now is broiled in confusion over who is the true interim leader as the White House appointed their own interim leader; Mr. Cordray is working off of language in the Dodd-Frank Act to appoint a successor, while the White House is acting on the Federal Vacancies Reform Act that gives the President authority to appoint interim leaders; each leader will have a different mandate and the confusion will need to be cleared up soon. Source.
As the date for open banking nears Banks and their digital only challengers are bracing for a new era of banking in Europe; writing an opinion piece in AltFi Lewis Hill of Instinctif Partners explains how digital only banks will need to explain their value proposition to the consumer to take advantage of the new rules; banks are still struggling with legacy technology and poor consumer ratings; the time is now for challengers to truly disrupt the incumbent players. Source.
Innovative Finance Individual Savings Accounts or IFISAs has the potential to see millions pour into UK P2P lenders from retail investors; Samir Desai, CEO of Funding Circle, tells the FT, “We have done lots of surveys and a huge proportion of the base told us they would like to put all of the money they invest with us through the ISA.”; the IFISAs were approved in April 2016 but the big P2P lenders in the UK have just started to offer them. Source.
New apps allow workers of Uber, McDonalds and Bloomin Brands to spend the money they have earned in close to real time; the Instant Financial App for example notifies users each morning is they want to deposit about half of their previous days earnings on a debit card; workers use the app for free while businesses are charged a fee; the app has seen benefits and drawbacks, accessing earnings quickly has increased productivity but it also has the potential to reduce the chances of saving money. Source.
PeerIQ's weekly update covers the recent partnership by Acorns and PayPal, household debt in the US and a new Bain survey that shows people are more willing to try fintech products; LendingClub filed its latest securitization deal for $330mn and Kroll upgraded all three classes of the Earnest EARN 2016-B deal; they also took a deep dive on TransUnions recently released fintech study. Source.
Some fintech companies have stated that banks are not following through on the data sharing guidance set forth by the CFPB; banks on the other hand have said they are following through and sharing data with fintechs; the biggest complaint thus far is that banks are being selective and not granting access widely; banks have more complicated systems and multiple levels of compliance which could end a relationship before it begins; some ideas for better cooperation are for banks to design a set of standards as banks in the UK have done. Source.
A consortium of banks that include JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse and Citi trialed a distributed ledger platform that proceeded equity swaps from beginning to end; the AxCore platform by Axoni would allow for payments to process instantly and reduce potential disputes; Greg Schvey, CEO of Axoni, said in a statement reported by CoinDesk, “Equity swap data is infamously complex and difficult to manage, making it a terrific fit for distributed ledger technology.” Source.
China CITIC Bank and Baidu announced the creation of AiBank as they look to take advantage of the innovating China fintech market; the bank will provide lending services to consumer and SMBs, be comprised of 60 percent tech workers and leverage big data and AI; “AiBank is the future of intelligent finance … It is an institution that understands customers best and understands finance best,” noted Baidu’s COO, Qi Lu. Source.