Raisin is looking to expand on their deposit marketplace by offering a term deposit product to European SMEs; this will allow SMEs to earn money on their cash instead of dealing with negative interest rates that have been prevalent across Europe; currently Raisin has enlisted Banco BNI Europa from Portugal, Younited Credit from France and Greenhill Bank from Germany in the product. Source.
Target Global, based in Berlin has closed a new fund; the fund will focus on Seed and Series A rounds and expects to fund 20 companies primarily in Germany and Israel; Shmuel Chafets, General Partner at Target Global stated, “Target Global’s Early Stage Fund will serve as a bridge connecting Tel Aviv and Berlin. Germany in general and Berlin more specifically have been able to produce great companies, but if Berlin truly hopes to become a global tech hub it must open itself up to real innovations and groundbreaking technologies. On the other hand, If Israel wants to continue to be the “start up nation” , it has to create sustainable, long-term companies and efficient business processes. We already see some early signs of collaboration taking place, but we believe we can help expand it to other industries.” Source
Eugene Danilkis, CEO & Co-Founder of Mambu shares his perspective on how banks can continue to compete with fintech companies. Source
The UK’s financial watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority, issued a warning to investors regarding initial coin offerings (ICOs); in particular they warned of the “high risk, speculative” nature of the new capital raising method; financial regulators worldwide have begun cracking down on ICOs in recent months, China has banned them and the SEC in the US issued a similar warning as the UK. Source
Goldman Sachs is investing £100m ($132.6) in UK consumer lending platform Neyber; the financing will come in the form of debt and equity; the FT reports, “We are now in a place where we are confident in our model,” said Martin Ijaha, co-founder of Neyber. “The Goldman Sachs investment of £100m is really about expanding the amount we lend from the £70m we have done to date.” Source
The Fintech Delivery Panel (FDP) is a new industry group focused on helping promote the UK fintech in the wake of Brexit; members include TransferWise, Funding Circle, Onfido, Monzo, FreeAgent, MarketInvoice, Starling Bank, Barclays, HSBC, RBS and Santander; the group plans to meet four times a year and post meeting minutes on the website of TechCityUK. Source
The Times provides more detail on issues of transparency at RateSetter; reports that RateSetter made loans in partnership with Wellesley and Archover; according to The Times, RateSetter lent via these platforms, utilizing them as a source of borrowers; around GBP10 million ($13.05 million) in property development loans were lent in conjunction with Wellesley which were repaid in full in April 2016; GBP1 million ($1.31 million) in loans are still outstanding with Archover; a RateSetter spokesman reported that no new loans with these competitors are being issued. Source
The "Facebook Initiative" has helped increase lending at Irish credit unions and now 15% to 20% of loan inquiries come through the social networking site; the program initially started out as a pilot project and has moved into a key source of new leads; half of consumers that used this program never borrowed from a credit union before; the process involves a 30 second inquiry online, then lending officers call the borrowers to ensure they understand what they are borrowing; this is part of a broader move by the Credit Union Development Association (CUDA) in Ireland to spur innovation in finance. Source
The Fund is increasing its dividend for the first time in eighteen months; dividend will increase to 1.7 pence per share after five consecutive quarters at 1.5 pence per share; the Fund currently has GBP343 million ($447.12 million) in assets and has been increasing its allocation to balance sheet investments. Source
Abundance sold 72% of all Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) products in the last year; this represented 62% of investment into the new product overall; while the P2P lender is happy with their success they realize their market lead will diminish as they were one of a few platforms approved in the last year; a host of other platforms, including top lender Zopa, have been approved recently and the numbers are sure to be more widely spread out among a larger group of platforms; Bruce Davis, co-founder and joint managing director of Abundance, tells AltFi, "Abundance's success is very much the good news part of the Innovative Finance ISA story to date." Source