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.
The FTC vs LendingClub, Banking through the Post Office, Dueling Unicorns from PeerIQ – This week’s PeerIQ newsletter covers the important recent topics in fintech including the LendingClub FTC action, comparing TransferWise and Revolut, and more.
SoFi’s Former CEO Harnesses the Blockchain for Home Loan Startup from Bloomberg – We are learning more about Mike Cagney’s new startup, Figure. In Bloomberg Selina Wang reports that Cagney raised $50M in equity and will be using blockchain to originate and package their new home equity product.
Consumer lending is a big part of Goldman Sachs heir apparent’s plan to grow revenue from CNBC – At the Milken Institute Global conference Goldman Sachs president said that the firm’s push into consumer finance represents a big opportunity for the firm.
These Fintech Firms Are Succeeding By Making Finance More Accessible To Everyone from Forbes – One of the largest fintech investors of the past couple of years is CreditEase. Their fintech fund has made 25 investments many with a focus on financial inclusion.
CommonBond Survey Reveals the “Missing Benefit” in Financial Wellness from CommonBond – New study from CommonBond finds that student debt affects people of all ages and that help with student loan repayment is the most requested financial wellness benefit.
Ranger Direct Lending sacks manager and abandons P2P from Citywire – Ranger Direct Lending, the embattled UK listed fund company, is looking to change direction and move away from marketplace lending into asset-backed debt.
Shopify Capital Issued $60.4M in Merchant Cash Advances in Q1 from deBanked – E-commerce company Shopify is starting to ramp up its merchant cash advance business, doing $60M in Q1.
With OCC wavering on fintech charter, judge drops states’ lawsuit from American Banker – A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit brought by the Conference of State Board Supervisors challenging the legality of the OCC’s fintech charter.
Arrington-Backed Startup Launches Crypto-for-Cash Credit Platform from CoinDesk – There is a new lender focusing on the nascent cryptocurrency-backed lending space. Nexo has raised $50M to get started.
Senate should take up bill to help lenders see ‘credit invisibles’ from American Banker – In an op-ed in American Banker the CEO of Experian writes about the new The Credit Access and Inclusion Act of 2017 which will help the underserved by including payments on rent, utility and phone bills in their credit score.
iZettle to announce IPO plan early next week from Financial Times – Leading Swedish fintech company iZettle is said to be gearing up for an IPO, possibly next week. The FT reports that they could seek a valuation of $1.1B which would make this the largest ever European fintech IPO.
How Barclays is growing its brand ahead of its US bank expansion from Tearsheet – British giant Barclays is an interesting bank to watch as they expand their digital-only bank in the US.
Economic Justice from Insikt – Congrats to James Gutierrez and the Insikt team on their CDFI certification from the US Treasury for their Lendify Financial subsidiary.
Financial inclusion in the rich world from The Economist – Really interesting piece on how the unbanked in the UK and US are accessing credit from fintech platforms.
European Investment Fund and KfW invest in Funding Circle securitisation from AltFi – Funding Circle prices their second securitization, a £207m deal, with the spread significantly tighter than their first deal.
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.
FTC Files Complaint Against LC, Accuses of Deceptive Practices – Forum members continue to discuss the FTC complaint and their thoughts on LendingClub’s business.
LC First Quarter 2018 Earnings Release and Conference Call Tuesday 5/08/2018 – LendingClub will report their earnings for Q1 2018 next week.
Account Liquidation- How did you get the last of your notes to sell? – A forum member shares that LendingClub allows you to forfeit loans in order to completely divest of notes in an IRA.
