British Business Bank (BBB) is a government-owned entity designed to support small businesses in the UK through a fund with 1 billion British pounds ($1.27 billion); it currently has 85 million British pounds ($108 million) invested in the P2P lending industry; the Financial Conduct Authority's release of an update on the crowdfunding market last week noting a number of factors for further investigation has caused taxpayers to question the large allocation to the P2P lending sector; specifically John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, has said, "This is extremely concerning and taxpayers will want to know how this can be good use of their money."; according to a Freedom of Information request reported on by Business Insider, the allocations from BBB include 60 million British pounds ($76 million) invested with Funding Circle, 15 million British pounds ($19 million) invested with MarketInvoice and 10 million British pounds ($13 million) invested with RateSetter. Source
RateSetter was the last of the “big three” p2p lenders to be authorized after a two year wait; both Zopa and Funding Circle were authorized in May, 2017; RateSetter will now be able to launch their Innovative Finance ISA; Founder and CEO Rhydian Lewis stated, “Authorisation has been a long but positive journey during which we have learnt a lot, improved our infrastructure and implemented important changes, notably making the business more transparent. Transparency is vital to our business because our customers need to understand what we do to appreciate the risk of lending on RateSetter.” Source
InvestCloud is helping automated investment platforms with ISA offerings through their newest product, Emerald; Nutmeg partnered with InvestCloud for its Lifetime ISA; InvestCloud now has over 670 clients using the Emerald technology. Source
Crowdlending platform Lend raised CHF3.5 million ($3.47 million) from Polytech Ecosystem Ventures and other angel investors; the round will help the platform to continue building out their brand, upgrading their automation and increasing their marketing spend for Switzerland; Lend launched in January of 2016 and has thus far funded 300 loans; in addition to the funding Lend was also able to secure two new team members, Dr. Stefan Jaecklin, former head of Oliver Wyman Switzerland, and Dr. Luzius Anderegg, senior software developer at software company Ergon Informatik. Source
Loot has launched version two of its app which provides for cash deposits and personal finance management; in its newest launch the app has accepted 25,000 new customers; the app helps customers track their spending and provides discounts from affiliated merchants; the version two launch of the app follows a $3.13 million funding round in November. Source
Former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair writes in the FT that in light of the recent hack to Equifax should regulators be providing more entry points to customer data; she goes on to explain past bank hacks are typically done using a third party who has gained access to a customer’s data; other key points include can these service providers cover potential losses and are regulators forcing service providers into the most secure process. Source.
According to The Times, sources say Funding Circle is in no hurry to do an IPO, but if the markets continue to be favorable they may go public in the second half of the year; article also shares the potential in their US business where they have much less brand awareness compared to the UK; there are some concerns from clients and investors that the company has not yet been through a recession as they look at an IPO; Funding Circle currently has 850 employees and last raised £82 million at a £990 million valuation. Source