During the week I share the latest marketplace lending and fintech 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.
A List Of Fintech Firms Providing Free Technology During The Coronavirus Crisis by Forbes – In his regular Monday column Ron Shevlin has compiled a list of fintech companies which are extending free, discounted or accelerated deployment offers to financial institutions.
Rakuten withdraws ILC application, plans to refile by American Banker – Last week we saw the FDIC approve both Square and Nelnet’s ILC applications but that has not seemed to encourage Rakuten. This week we learned they have decided to withdraw theirs and refile “in the coming months”.
Investors advise startups as ‘new realities are sinking in, saying goodbye to great employees’ by SF Business Times – Interesting commentary by Ron Suber and Ryan Gilbert on the changing world for fintech leaders and how they are advising their portfolio companies today.
Banks’ Playbook For Getting Through The Coronavirus Crisis by Forbes – Another great piece by Ron Shevlin with a playlist for banks to get through the crisis. It is not enough to provide a few tactical responses, instead “banks need to recast their strategy and budgets in response to the crisis”.
Letter to Congress by OnDeck – Getting potentially millions of loans to small business owners is going to be a logistical challenge to say the least. Many fintech lenders stand ready to help as demonstrated by this letter to Congress.
BankThink Fed’s new TALF has a major gap by American Banker – Completely agree with Todd Baker in his American Banker op-ed. The Fed revived the 2008 Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (known as TALF) but did not update it to include a huge new vertical: personal loans. Big mistake.
$2 Trillion Senate Relief Bill to Pass Vote, Includes Small Business Funds by deBanked – Interesting comments from Stephen Denis of the Small Business Finance Association on how the stimulus bill came together in the Senate to help small businesses.
SoFi sees record account openings, investing activity on fintech platform during coronavirus outbreak by CNBC (video) – Interesting interview by Jim Cramer with Anthony Noto, CEO of SoFi, who said that his company has seen record account openings in recent days and lots of investing activity.
BankThink Let fintechs make SBA loans by American Banker – In this op-ed Sam Taussig of Kabbage makes the case that fintech lenders should be allowed to make SBA loans. I would argue that the ONLY way the PPP money gets into the hands of small business owners quickly is if fintech lenders play a large role.
Banks Urged to Issue More Small-Dollar Loans in Response to Outbreak by The Wall Street Journal – The FDIC and other regulators announced in a joint statement this week that banks should re-enter the business of making short term, small dollar loans to consumers.
