In its most recent podcast, ReBank talked with Rob Moffat of Balderton Capital; the podcast provides a venture capitalist's view on European fintech; Moffat talks about the market opportunities for investment and the firm's investment portfolio; LendIt will also be featuring Rob Moffat as a PitchIt judge at this year's LendIt Europe event in October. Source
Rebuildingsociety is planning to partner with more local councils this year, after securing a funding agreement with Basildon Borough Council last month. The Essex-based council is providing the peer-to-peer lending platform with up to £10,000 for each suitable loan that supports small- and medium-sized businesses in the region that meet its green agenda, while earning
2019 was a hard year for the small business lender; Funding Circle fell out of the FTSE 250 after their...
Last week the Paris Fintech Forum took place and Bloomberg’s recap had one major takeaway from the conference: crypto fever...
AltFi reports on recent developments affecting the marketplace lending industry; discusses challenges at RateSetter and platform changes at Zopa and Funding Circle; also notes that UK regulators may be seeking increased transparency through new regulations; argues against criticism that platforms are struggling for borrowers and shows origination volume growth since 2005. Source
At Innovate Finance's Fintech for Good Forum, Visa highlighted the opportunity of recommerce in the creation of a circular economy.
Qonto announced it has raised €486 million in Series D funding, bringing Qonto’s valuation to €4.4 billion.
UK-based Redwood Bank has launched digital banking services after obtaining a banking license for business in the UK; Redwood Bank is the first bank with a 100% cloud-based infrastructure and will offer SME mortgages for business owners and professional landlords as well as a 35-day business savings account; Redwood Bank is wholly-owned by Redwood Financial Partners Ltd. which is controlled primarily by Warrington Borough Council with a 33% ownership stake; the newly launched bank is covered by the UK's Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) which protects customers' eligible deposits of up to a total of GBP85,000 ($109,846). Source
Zopa launched a pilot with provide Uber drivers with low credit scores car loans; however the partnership didn’t attract the amount of customers it had hoped; Zopa stated in the FT article, “The pilot was interesting, but demonstrated that the potential opportunity was limited for us, and we had other priorities.”; Bryan Zhang, co-founder of the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance discusses one of the problems in the industry today, attracting borrowers . Source
In Europe, slowing venture capital investment in fintech has caused increased reliance from the industry on traditional banks; as Brexit concerns have affected the fintech industry, traditional banks have increased their investment with more corporate and strategic participation in venture capital deals in Europe for the third quarter of 2016; over the last five quarters significant large bank investors in fintech have included Citigroup Inc., Banco Santander SA and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.; as the European market evolves with a number of regional factors continuing to affect both fintech companies and banks it is likely that more banking partnerships and fintech acquisitions will occur. Source