London-based technology company Misys has plans for an IPO; the company had planned to offer its stock in 2016 but decided against its IPO and now says it could still be a possibility; the firm's CEO Nadeem Syed said it is currently focusing on its new machine learning and P2P lending products; earlier in January it announced a new P2P lending solution for banks, FusionBanking Crowdlending; currently it offers its clients a broad range of solutions through its FusionBanking products and its targeting existing clients with its new products. Source
The UK's Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) has the potential to significantly change banking for consumers with access to open APIs; the article notes that banks that have only done the minimum to comply with PSD2 may run into issues if we ever see a PSD3; fully embracing PSD2 may save headaches for banks down the road; the trend of open APIs and data sharing is likely to make its way to the US; Japan is also leading the way in this area having explored domestic ACH on blockchain. Source
Zopa, the industry's first P2P lender, has reached a new milestone, originating over 2 billion British pounds ($2.5 billion) in loans since 2005; according to Zopa the firm has originated 300,000 loans from 246,000 borrowers and has 75,000 investors; in the UK, Funding Circle is also close to reaching the 2 billion British pound mark with cumulative loan originations of 1.92 billion British pounds ($2.40 billion) since its launch in 2010. Source
Aegon has announced it will allocate 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) of its investment portfolio to Auxmoney P2P loans; the platform offers average returns of 5.5%; the investment represents one of the market's largest institutional endorsements in P2P loans; Aegon is also involved in a 15 million euro ($16.03 million) Series E funding round for Auxmoney. Source
Artificial intelligence firm Cleo has raised 550,000 British pounds ($626,300) from angel investors; investors included Niklas Zennström, Jason Goodman, Alex Chesterman, Siraj Khaliq, Errol Damelin, Simon Franks, Wendy White and Joe White; Cleo is an AI-powered service working in connection with AI robots like Amazon Alexa to offer consumers personal finance advice; firm plans to use the new capital to further develop its technology and increase its user base of clients which are primarily in the UK. Source
UK challenger bank Metro Bank sees the value in having branches along with the innovation they are doing; speaking at The Economist's Finance Disrupted conference, Metro Bank CEO Craig Donaldson explained that offering the right mix of both is the key for his firm; reliance on one solution or the other does not allow them to serve customers in the way they would like, though he did say that the market has room for the digital only bank. Source
A report from marketplace lender Funding Options says UK SMEs owe $3.25 billion in value added taxes (VAT); a leading factor affecting tax payments is late B2B payments creating an even greater opportunity for alternative financing in the region; Funding Options is promoting alternative solutions to help SMEs better manage their business taxes. Source
On Wednesday, the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, said that fintech could signal an end to the traditional bank model; this could also increase herding risks, adding "As those risks emerge, authorities can be expected to pursue a more intense focus on the regulatory perimeter, more dynamic settings of prudential requirements, a broader commitment to resolution regimes, and a more disciplined management of operational and cyber risks."; Mark Carney is also chairman of the Financial Stability Board which will report to the G20 in July on risks and rewards in fintech. Source
The UK's oldest and biggest online lender will be cutting rates by 0.2% across all accounts for the third time in the last five months; Chief Product Officer Andrew Lawson told investors via email that since competitors have been cutting rates they also needed to continue their rate cuts and they could also see this trend continuing; left with a choice of cutting rates or lending to a risky borrower, Zopa opted to cut rates and keep their lending practices static. Source
Funding Circle has revised its credit underwriting model for its secured property loans offered to SMEs; the new credit underwriting model has been adjusted based on three years of secured property loan data from the platform; the new secured property loan underwriting model will increase rates for certain secured property loans and also expand the firm's secured property loan risk bands beyond A+ and A. Source