With controversy around ESG investing coming to a head, solar loans could offer respite, doing good and doing well as an asset class.
Earlier this week, the UK launched its bank referral scheme to help extend credit to small businesses not funded by nine of the UK's largest banks; it seems that UK banks outside of the UK consortium are also increasing their efforts to provide alternative options for business borrowers; this week NatWest announced it has added iwoca to its alternative lending panel, Capital Connections. Source
First Citizens Bank has acquired part of the failed SVB, announced the FDIC yesterday.
The UK has launched their borrower referral scheme which came about as a government initiative; businesses who apply for loans at the nine largest UK banks and are rejected will be referred to aggregator platforms Funding Xchange, Business Finance Compared and Funding Options; the aggregators will pass information to alternative finance providers who will be able to provide quotes to the business. Source
Jiedaibao, launched by JD Capital, would give people looking to engage in debt recovery all kinds of personal data belonging to overdue debtors, including phone numbers, addresses and even ID card numbers; releasing this kind of information would allow for any freelance debt collector to harass borrowers into paying their overdue amounts; this type of practice in China is not all that unusual as past debt collection efforts have discussed the release of nude photos if payments are missed; the agreement would give the "debt collector" 40% of the debt paid. Source
The Economist magazine's intelligence unit (EIU) has published a report on regulatory support for financial inclusion in developing countries and it is now gaining traction with press and analysts; the report scores countries on having an inclusiveness strategy and building governmental and private sector expertise, then provides in-depth details in areas including credit markets, non-regulated lenders, payments and insurance; Colombia ties Peru this year for the most progressive country; India has shown the most improvement; Latin America and East/South Asia are leaders regionally while Africa and the Middle East remain behind; the EIU performed the research in conjunction with the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion and the Multilateral Investment Fund at the Inter-American Development Bank. Source
A new report by NextGen Crowdfunding documents increasing use of Reg. A+ as the regulatory umbrella for real estate crowdfunding and other financial offerings; Reg. A+ was finalized in June 2015 as a means for non-accredited investors to access private offerings; companies can raise up to $50 million per year under Reg. A+; across all sectors, 131 companies to date have filed under Reg. A+, with 38% of these filings being by real estate and financial services platforms and many others being IT startups; roughly half of the filers are using "Tier 1" rules for Reg. A+, meaning they will continue to register in individual states as well as at the federal level, and half are filing "Tier 2", seeking national fundraising scope while avoiding the added prudence of vetting against state rules. Source
The World Bank predicted remittances would decline by almost 20 percent in 2020, the biggest drop in history; Remitly and...
Federico Baradello founded Finalis, the investment banking-as-a-service platform for dealmakers, after working in a sector he knew was long overdue for an upgrade.