P2P Global Investments' shares fell 20.7% on the London Stock Exchange in 2016; the fund's portfolio manager Simon Champ provides some insight on the fund's performance; the underlying assets reported a lower than expected 4.1% return due to increased delinquencies from loans at the midpoint of their duration; hedging costs have also been a factor with approximately 60% of US loans in the portfolio; as the investable market expands the fund is likely to increase its investment in European loans to help diversify away from currency risks. Source
News Roundup
This page contains an archive of the Global Newsletter summaries and the weekly fintech news roundups.
Every day the Fintech Nexus news team scours the globe for the most important stories of the day to include in our daily newsletter.
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Dow Jones has released its European Venture Capital Report for the fourth quarter; shows venture capital investment in Europe increasing from the third quarter of 2016 and also from the comparable quarter in 2015; European companies raised approximately 2.93 billion euros ($3.11 billion) from 539 deals in the 4th quarter, a 35% increase from the previous quarter; the number of deals also increased by 9% from the third quarter; the UK was a market leader for investment with 122 deals totaling 754 million euros ($799.35 million). Source
According to a report from Reuters, more large businesses in China are increasing their internal mergers and acquisitions teams and relying less on investment banks for intermediary deal support; Fosun, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. are examples, with all three reportedly expanding their in-house mergers and acquisitions teams. Source
The Prime Minister of India has announced a ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes in India in an effort to fight corruption; P2P platform i2iFunding says the ban will help P2P lenders by reducing cash-based lending in the country and requiring citizens to utilize digital finance solutions; earlier in 2016 the Reserve Bank of India said it would be issuing guidelines for P2P lenders; i2iFunding says the focus on cash-based corruption will now be the central bank's focus; in October, leading P2P lenders formed the Alternate Finance and P2P Lenders Association; founding members Monexo, Lend-Box, LoanMeet, i-lend and Faircent have been the most active. Source
The Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has announced the formation of an advisory committee focused on fintech; development of the advisory committee follows the demonetization of the country's currency and lack of regulation instituted by federal government officials in regards to the P2P lending industry and fintech in general; the advisory committee will include representatives from across the entire fintech sector; a key initiative for the committee will be to mobilize household savings from India's consumers through new risk capital and debt investments. Source
India will be utilizing the world's largest biometrics database, Aadhaar, to implement smart health cards for its senior citizens; senior citizens will be receiving an Aadhaar-based smart card; the cards will include information on their health, healthcare and healthcare history; the Aadhaar smart cards will also have payment processing capabilities; the government will test the use of the Aadhaar smart cards in 15 districts during the 2017-2018 fiscal year. Source
It has been a rough time for fintech in China as funding...
Indian venture capitalist Unicorn India Ventures has invested in online lender SmartCoin; SmartCoin has developed a mobile lending app targeting Indian consumers with limited credit history; the platform offers unsecured loans of up to 50,000 rupees ($775). Source
India company, Bharat Financial Inclusion, has reported financial performance that is demonstrating success with a rural-focused audience, operational cost controls and reduction in cost of funds; this strategy compares with other micro-lenders in India that are seeking rapid loan volume growth in urban centers, but with limited or negative profitability; Bharat announced net income growth of 87.3% to Rs146 crore (US $22 million) in the second quarter ended September 30; the marginal cost for borrowing to fund micro-loans has declined to 9.5% in Q2, and its average interest rate to borrowers stands at 19.75%. Source
Online lending platform, Capital Float, received the Fintech Startup of the Year award at the India Fintech Awards 2016, demonstrating its kirana loan app which it says gives instant approval with no paperwork; the award provides Capital Float with INR 500,000 along with many event partner benefits; within the industry the company has also been focusing on the country's demonetization which has been helping business growth for fintech firms. Source