During the week I share the latest marketplace lending news on Twitter as it happens. Then every Saturday I take the most interesting news items and blog posts from the past week and share them here.
AmEx Challenges Square, On Deck With Online Loan Marketplace from Bloomberg – American Express is launching a new online lending platform for small business with help from Karen Mills.
An Expert’s Opinion on China’s Interest in US Fintech from LendIt – My partner Jason Jones was interviewed recently by the Chinese media about the US market.
International P2P Lending Services – Loan Volumes June 2016 from P2P-Banking – The European p2p lending loan volumes are out for June with Zopa back on top once again.
Farewell, and Thank You, to Vouch from LinkedIn – Sue Korn is a class act. A co-founder of the recently defunct Vouch she shares her heartfelt story here.
Lending Club: A Cautionary Tale for Venture-Funded Lenders from Inc. – Some good points here – is venture capital the right way to fund online lending platforms? asks Ami Kassar.
VPC Speciality Lending hit with negative month, announces share buybacks from AltFi – Bad news for investors in Victory Park’s publicly traded UK fund – a down month.
Lending Works closes £3m Series A investment round from Tech City News – In the UK consumer p2p lending platform Lending Works has raised a £3M Series A.
New Growth Plan for Online Lenders: Layoffs from The Wall Street Journal – Today’s challenges in the marketplace lending industry have been well covered. Here is the latest from the Wall Street Journal.
Within a Decade, Retail Banks will be Dead from Medium – “The biggest banks in the world in 2025 will be technology companies” – the future of banking.
Full year 2016 UK Marketplace Lending Origination projection cut by 14% from AltFi – Excellent deep dive into the first six months of 2016 for UK p2p lending industry.
Online Small-Business Lender Kabbage Backs Away from Consumer Market from The Wall Street Journal – Looks like the consumer lending operation of Kabbage called Karrot is currently dormant.
Why This Lending Club Co-Founder Thinks the Market Is Wrong About Online Lenders from The Motley Fool – Good interview with John Donovan formerly of Lending Club now with CircleBack Lending.
Lending Marketplace Blackmoon Expands to U.S. Seeking Growth from Bloomberg – Russian fintech company Blackmoon is opening an office in New York.
FCA to probe peer-to-peer lending sector from Financial Times – The financial regulator in the UK, the FCA, is taking another close look at the p2p lending industry there.
Time to Align Incentives for Marketplace Lenders, Investors from American Banker – Some interesting ideas from Brendan Ross on realigning incentives for marketplace lending platforms.
Online Lending: High-Yield Investing for a Low-Yield World from Orchard – Loads of charts in this post by Orchard on the yield trends across multiple fixed income investments.
From the Lend Academy Forum
The Lend Academy forum is where investors go to discuss p2p lending. Below are some topics that were being discussed this week.
Liquidity of Funds? – An investor asks if p2p lending is a good place to park money for a short term.
Cashing Out – A couple of investors share their progress of liquidating their Lending Club portfolios.
WSJ Article – Lending Club Fund Loses Money? – The forum discusses the latest news on the LC Advisors fund.
Aren’t the sellers losing money by selling new loans at a discount? – As interest rates have increased it is important to realize that older notes may be worth less depending on when they were originated.
Interest Rate, Yield to Maturity (YTM) and Service Fees – A great thread for investors looking to better understand yield to maturity.
