UK bank lending and mortgage approvals increased in January as rates remained low for borrowers; according to data from the British Bankers Association, consumer borrowing doubled from December to an increase of 538 million British pounds ($673 million) with loan growth in personal loans and overdrafts reporting an eight month high of 422 million British pounds ($527.9 million); bank lending to businesses also reported its highest increase since January 2015 at 3.4 billion British pounds ($4.25 billion); mortgage approvals were also significantly higher at 44,657 with total mortgage borrowing at 13.8 billion British pounds ($17.26 billion) and refinancing approvals up 15.7% from January 2016. Source
The UK Financial Conduct Authority and Ontario Securities Commission will now partner on fintech innovation; an agreement between the two agencies will help facilitate expansion for financial technology companies; both agencies will support cross-border business growth and will also share information on trends and regulatory proceedings. Source
Despite initial concerns over risks from Brexit, the UK's Funding Circle has been growing significantly; Funding Circle is one of four firms Bloomberg plans to follow throughout the Brexit process which will begin when Prime Minister Theresa May triggers Article 50 of the EU Treaty; for Funding Circle, results following the Brexit vote in June have been overwhelmingly positive; in the second half of 2016, originations increased 50% from 2015 to 530 million British pounds ($685 million) and in the fourth quarter of 2016 the firm's UK division reported its first net profit; while some funding challenges and employee visa risks still remain, the firm's business seems likely to continue its positive trajectory; low rates on fixed income investments in the UK and slowed bank lending to small businesses appear to continue as leading factors for the firm's growth. Source
Zopa, who specializes in unsecured consumer loans may be looking to expand into secured loans, specifically the auto segment; the company sees a healthy level of demand but a generally poor consumer experience; Zopa's Chief Marketing Officer Amy Miller stated, "People are getting poor deals in that area and end up paying significantly higher annual percentage rates than they would if they arranged their financing before going into a dealership."; the company is also reportedly considering other loan terms, such as 18 month loans as well as a balloon payment loan. Source
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has requested that P2P lenders not lend to each other through industry network lending; the request comes as the regulator continues to increase its oversight and understanding of the industry; in the FCA's report it says that the industry network lending could be in violation of rules that require deposits for such transactions. Source
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has granted full authorization to Proplend; the FCA continues to review authorization applications, primarily focusing on secured lending platforms; Proplend is a secured commercial real estate property P2P lender offering three tranches for investors; returns on the platform range from 5% to 12% with loans of 250,000 British pounds ($307,718) to 5,000,000 British pounds ($6,154,350); the platform has funded 11.5 million British pounds ($14.16 million) of loans since inception with zero defaults; it has plans to offer clients an innovative finance individual savings account however it will likely not be available until 2018. Source
Funding Circle has announced a new $100 million multi-year investment agreement with Community Investment Management including provisions for additional investment; the $100 million investment will focus on small businesses in the US; the investment supports continued growth for Funding Circle which has reported monthly lending of over 100 million British pounds ($122.92 million) since November. Source
The UK's Department for Media, Culture and Sport has published a digital strategy report outlining its plans for the tech sector post-Brexit; the government plans to invest 17.3 million British pounds ($21.27 million) into artificial intelligence and robotics research and also reported a 1 billion British pound ($1.23 billion) program to improve internet connectivity across the UK; it will also create five international tech hubs, host a competition for fintech products and create a forum for communicating with the tech community; all of its efforts are geared towards helping the UK remain competitive in the tech industry. Source
Online lender 4finance has reported its earnings for 2016 with an increase in revenue and net income; revenue increased 24% in 2016 to 393.2 million euros ($413.35 million); it reported another year of net profit with net income increasing to 63.2 million euros ($66.4 million), up from 58.2 million euros ($61.2 million) in 2015; in 2016 the company's net loan portfolio was 493.9 million euros ($519.21 million) and the average interest rate on its loans was 120%. Source
AltFi Data is the leading public provider of data for the marketplace lending industry; its data platform, AltFi Data Analytics, aggregates data from originators in the UK, Europe and the US; AltFi Data manages indices and publishes analytics reports with support from the data platform; the addition of data from Prosper will make the platform's reporting more robust for the industry. Source