The UK has launched their borrower referral scheme which came about as a government initiative; businesses who apply for loans at the nine largest UK banks and are rejected will be referred to aggregator platforms Funding Xchange, Business Finance Compared and Funding Options; the aggregators will pass information to alternative finance providers who will be able to provide quotes to the business. Source
The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance’s new report Entrenching Innovation showed that the UK online alternative finance market grew 46 percent in 2016; investors surveyed by the report said that online platforms offering debt based products were on equal footing to that of typical fixed income assets but more transparent; industry veterans say this points to the long term chances of the market and its wider acceptance in broader financial services. Source.
Politicians in Lithuania are expressing concern about the expertise at their country’s central bank after Revolut secured their banking license...
The new lender called Nexo will launch Monday and recently raised $50 million; the team behind the firm run a...
The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) does the most in depth research on alternative finance across the globe; their...
Digital bank Aion has launched in Belgium and it is taking a different approach to most; it does away with...
ClearBank has received its license for digital banking services in the UK; firm is run by Nick Ogden who also has payment services experience with WorldPay and CashFlows; the UK currently leads the challenger bank market with approximately 42 digital only banks. Source
A new fintech named Twig has launched in the UK with the aim to allow customers to turn their unwanted possessions into instant cash.
The European Commission is developing new legislation that will help fintech companies, in particular crowdfunding sites and online lenders, operate and scale across single market member states; the idea is meant to create a digital single market, removing what some countries add on within their jurisdiction; this move could help propel funding for fintech companies and increase their ability to compete with companies in the US and Asia. Source.
The Luxembourg House of Financial Technology recently opened a new innovation hub; the innovation hub will provide support for Europe fintech businesses and could potentially lure more fintech businesses away from London; in comments regarding the new innovation hub, Nasir Zubairi, CEO of the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology, said: "Over the coming months we will be delivering a number of exciting projects with the community; education programs, hackathons, developer sandboxes as well as the Fintech Awards. We will work with the community to build up a soft-landing platform to make it as easy possible for fintech firms to set up in Luxembourg and we will promote all of Luxembourg's strengths internationally to put Luxembourg first in the considerations of fintech firms looking for an EU hub." Source