The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and Cyprus’s CySEC have issued warnings to retail traders on contracts for difference based on cryptocurrencies; CFD trading based on the digital currencies has started to become popular with the volatility in bitcoin; regulators are worried that retail investors will suffer significant losses and are looking to limit leverage as a result; this continues a worldwide trend by regulators as they get a handle on the growing crypto asset class. Source.
In PeerIQ’s weekly industry update they cover the IMF’s recent global growth forecast being raised and the recent securitization deals in online lending; while global growth is up the IMF also pointed out that a third of banks by assets might struggle to attain profitability; recent securitization deals from Marlette Funding and SoFi highlight a busy quarter in the sector; the newsletter also takes a deep dive into bank earnings for JP Morgan, Citi, Bank of America and Wells Fargo. Source.
AlphaFlow is an investment platform for real estate that allows investors to easily build a diversified portfolio; Sturm shares what platforms they are working with, their due diligence process, the types of loans they invest in, how they’re planning to work with offline hard money lenders and more. Source
Speaking on a panel at the annual meeting of the Institute of International Finance in Washington, CEO Jes Staley stated, “There are some tectonic shifts going on, driven by tech and the geopolitical environment…All the banks are very focused on the payments space. That may be where the battleground of finance is fought over the next 15 years.”; cybersecurity is also a top concern for financial firms and the co-head of Deutsche Bank AG’s corporate and investment bank expressed concerns on whether regulators are holding fintech firms to the same regulatory standards. Source
American Express is looking to use the same style data that has made PayPal and Square so successful in small business lending; Gina Taylor Cotter, senior vice president and general manager of global commercial financing at American Express. tells American Banker,“We have done some research on this and we are trusted providers, so this puts us neatly between banks that may have a longer application process and the online lenders who are fast, but maybe a bit more expensive." Source.
American Banker reports on the Small Business Administrations lending programs; loan volume for the 7(a) working capital program increased 5% in fiscal 2017 to $25.4 billion; the 7(a) program has increased by almost 70% since 2012; the 504 real estate program increased 6.3% over the prior year period; American Banker discusses the increase of loans to minorities, the biggest markets for SBA loans and the biggest banks in the space. Source
In an interview with Business Insider at LendIt Europe Revolut CEO Nikolay Storonsky discussed the company’s continued record growth and office culture; he explains, "Nowadays people are all international. Banks are not providing this service. The vision for us is alternative global banking. Anyone in the world can just download the Revolut app and set up a local bank account to access any services they need.”; the interview also touched on the drive of his employees and his kite surfing hobby. Source.
In an interview with Business Insider at LendIt Europe Zopa CEO Jaidev Janardana says even though new investors are on hold they are growing lending volumes by as much as 50 percent; the investor waiting list is over 15,000 and the current plan is to have them start investing by year end; the interview also touched on consumer credit and the overall economy in the UK. Source.
Genesis Capital is based in Los Angeles and provides capital to house flippers; they were founded in 2007 and lent $1 billion last year; the move shows Goldman’s continued interest in other areas outside their trading business; investor spending on the fix and flip market has grown recently, but still remains below pre-crisis levels. Source