News of CFPB Director Cordray’s departure could see regulations on payday lenders lessened; one of Director Corday’s main missions was to crack down on predatory lenders; Director Cordray plans to leave at the end of the months and no long term successor has been chosen yet. Source.
The report will be released on a quarterly basis going forward and will look to cover credit performance trends; highlights of the report include continued credit re-normalization across all major lending groups and consumer installment lenders are not anticipating an increase in loss rates; they also cover the shift in the competitive landscape where more banks are investing heavily in tech and that the US consumer is quite healthy right now. Source.
Jianpu listed on the NYSE on November 16th under code JT; it is the fourth fintech company to IPO in the US in the second half of 2017; others included Quidian, Hexindai and PPDAI; Jianpu is a subsidiary of Rong360 and has an active user base of 95.8 million; the platform has provided 170,000 financial products in more than 350 cities. Source
Innovate Finance published their annual list of women in fintech and while progress has been made, more work is needed; Innovate Finance CEO Charlotte Crosswell said "We’ve still got work to be done. When you look at statistics of women in fintech — it’s not there yet.”; other leaders like Anne Boden of Starling Bank said we all need to try harder; studies also show that the more diverse a team the better they perform. Source.
Coinbase built the platform, Coinbase Custody, to serve investors like hedge funds and family offices; "We are designing Coinbase Custody to meet the needs of institutional clients," Armstrong said in a Medium post as reported by Business Insider; the features include account representatives and support, multi-user accounts and insurance in some cases. Source.
Spanish banks have been focusing on going digital to help keep ahead of competition; banks like Santander and BBVA have improved their mobile app access and started innovation teams to invest or partner with fintech companies; they have also changed their culture to better resemble a startup and have started talent competitions; while the banks have had their share of issues the digital focus can help to drive down costs and keep the banks ahead of the curve. Source.
Lend Academy looks at the shift of returns and interest rates at LendingClub; the company recently brought F & G loans in house and there is a noticeable shift in loan grades offered by the platform. Source
Kabbage now has debt funding capacity of $750 million; the additional facility will allow the company to offer higher lines of credit with longer terms; Deepesh Jain stated, “The new, DBRS-rated facility, provided by Credit Suisse, speaks to Kabbage’s maturity in the financial markets and gives us diverse funding options to serve our small business customers. To earn an investment-grade rating requires a rigorous evaluation of not only our lending models, automated risk analysis, and successful history of reducing bad debt to an industry-low, but also our operational processes – from exceptional customer service to unmatched technology development.” Source
The first head of the CFPB has decided to step down at the end of the month without giving a formal reason; the bureau was established in the wake of the financial crisis in 2011; Mr. Cordray sent an email to all CFPB staff saying he thought the agency made a lasting difference to improve people’s lives and that new leadership will preserve what they have done; he is rumored to be interested in running for Governor of Ohio in 2018. Source.