Germany's central bank is testing the use of blockchain technology in securities settlement; the central bank has partnered with Deutsche Börse to build a prototype; the prototype system is expected to be able to transfer electronic securities and digital coins also performing functions for coupon payments and redemptions of securities. Source
MarketInvoice has reached a 1 billion British pound invoice funding milestone; in the past 14 months it has financed 500 million British pounds of invoices; just recently reaching the 1 billion British pounds funding milestone, it reported invoices funded of 958,029,836 British pounds as of October 31 with a total loan amount of 765,451,443 British pounds; the company has been in business since 2010 with a total of over 20,000 transactions; it currently offers loans of 10,000 British pounds to 3 million British pounds for company invoices. Sources
Nava Finance Ltd. has announced plans to launch a new marketplace lending platform in the UK in 2017; the platform will be called Nava and will focus on near-prime consumer credit loans with investment only from institutional investors; the founders believe their experience and credit underwriting models can provide competitively priced loans for borrowers and competitive market returns for investors. Source
Stockholm, Sweden has announced it will be opening a fintech hub; leading developers of the Stockholm Fintech Hub include Matthew Argent of BLC Advisors, KPMG, NFT Ventures and Invest Stockholm; the Stockholm Fintech Hub is currently seeking partners and will be led by a steering committee including the Fintech Hub's developers; motivation from the developers for a fintech hub was driven by an ecosystem of fintech startups and high growth companies in the country; according to lead developer, Matthew Argent, the Stockholm Fintech Hub will seek to maintain standards and evolve the support ecosystem that provides resources for fintech companies. Source
P2P lending platform, Growth Street, has received registration as an appointed representative by the Financial Conduct Authority and will partner with Resolution Compliance; the new registration and partnership allow it to expand its product offerings to individual investors; the expansion of investors helps the company to offer loans to even more small and medium enterprises; the company primarily lends to businesses through its GrowthLine business overdraft product. Source
Finexcap, an online invoice financing platform, has partnered with Sage to expand its customer base; through the partnership the two firms have created Sage Clic&Cash; Sage Clic&Cash will offer invoice financing to approximately 600,000 small business clients using the software product Sage or Ciel. Source
Folk2Folk is the most recent marketplace lender in the UK to receive full FCA authorization; largest P2P lender to receive the authorization with origination volume of over 125 million British pounds since 2013; allows it to seek HMRC approval for offering clients the option to invest through an innovative finance individual savings account; minimum investment for platform investors is currently 25,000 British pounds; platform provides secured loans to small businesses with property or land as collateral. Source
Wellesley has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs; firm is seeking to raise 1.5 million British pounds; plans to use the funds for business expansion, marketing, human resources and technology development; in 2016, firm has raised 80 million British pounds primarily from multi-unit real estate property development loans; sources have also reported that the company has received a First Gazette notice for late accounts. Source
The new head of Ant Financial's international operations, Douglas Feagin, helped ink a deal with 930,000 merchants across Europe to help Chinese travelers use Alipay; Doug Feagin explained to the Financial Times why the deal was done: "120 million Chinese travelers went abroad in 2015 and that's growing at 18% a year. The vast majority of whom use Alipay."; Alipay has now expanded into India, Europe and Southeast Asia; it is still looking to go public in the near future. Source
Atom Bank, a digital-only bank, has been growing significantly, now announcing a new mortgage offering; the company will offer residential mortgages through brokers; adds to its small business lending product; company recently announced it has 100 million British pounds in deposits; in the UK it is one of the region's most well-funded digital-only banks with over 135 million British pounds of capital raised from company investors. Source
