A recent report titled Three Myths About Peer-to-Peer Loans by the Federal Reserve of Cleveland makes some dubious claims about the marketplace lending sector; Lend Academy shares information from the report and questions the data provided. Source
The CFPB asked for more details on which companies consumers use to obtain a free credit score; the agency is looking to help consumers better understand their credit scores and how to potentially improve them; they also want to understand how behavior changes after seeing a free credit score; comments are due by February 12, 2018. Source.
With the price of bitcoin increasing as of late there have been increasing amount of people coming out stating that it is a bubble; conversely there are enthusiasts who claim that people simply don't understand the cryptocurrency; the WSJ reflects on recent bitcoin news and shares the wide variety of perspectives from their readers. Source
The Reality Shares Nasdaq Blockchain Economy Index looks to provide an ETF that tracks the growth and development of companies implementing blockchain solutions; they filed for the ETF with the SEC on November 2nd; “The collaboration between Nasdaq and Reality Shares represents a tangible way to track the growth of an industry that may revolutionize the way commerce is conducted, and yet is still in its infancy,” said Fredrik Voss, Vice President of Blockchain Innovation at Nasdaq. Source.
The new API by Fidelity Investments called Fidelity Access will give third parties access to customer data; the idea behind the program is for customers to give apps focused on tax prep, budgeting or portfolio advice access to their Fidelity data; Fidelity believes this will cut down on cyber crime as access will be more secure instead of a user passing along their credentials; they are following a number of other financial institutions who have started similar programs recently. Source.
Citigroup led the $20 million round and the company is now worth $200 million; Citigroup plans to use the startup’s technology which uses natural language processing to improve customer interactions; the software converts audio conversations into text and then uses sentient analysis algorithms to detect questions, and whether it was a positive or negative interaction; it also works to determine bearish and bullish markets for traders. Source
Chinese online consumer lender, LexinFintech, filed a $500mn IPO to list on the Nasdaq; LexinFintech provides installment loans for consumers to buy products; regulators have been looking closer at consumer lending in China with recent companies listing on US exchanges; the listing is being underwritten by Goldman Sachs, BofA Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank Securities and China Renaissance. Source.
Moody’s Investors Service had previously stated that companies like Ant needed to be more transparent about their asset-backed securities and their criteria for lending; Douglas Feagin, senior vice president of global business for Ant Financial stated, “The demand for these securities is very healthy and continuing to expand. That, at the end of the day, is the ultimate barometer of whether you're giving enough information to investors to invest. I think seeing that demand is evidence that we're sharing the right kind of information with them.”; article discusses the abs market broadly in China which has increased recently. Source
Prosper recently published their third quarter results; the company grew originations 6% from the previous quarter to $821 million; reported a net loss of $26.9 million largely due to non-cash charges related to warrants as part of the consortium deal announced this year. Source