The complaint stated that LendingClub violated federal laws which protect consumers from unfair and deceptive practices; LendingClub stock price dropped on the news which related to LendingClub’s promise of no hidden fees and a statement to applicants that “Investors Have Backed Your Loan” even though borrowers may not have been approved; some borrowers also experienced overdraft fees when LendingClub withdrew double payments according to the complaint. LendingClub responded to the complaint by issuing a press release. 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.
Then every Saturday we bring you our weekly news roundup of the top 10 fintech stories of the week with commentary from Peter Renton.
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There were many new regulations added in the wake of the financial crisis in an effort to prevent the next recession; with the new administration some of the regulations have been removed and now regulators are looking at lowering a key piece of regulation; the supplementary leverage ratio requires banks to maintain capital on their balance sheet as protection; bankers have pointed out that the regulation has been hurting their ability to lend and operate; some regulators agree but there are others still on from the previous administration who believe it should stay in place; there is a fear that too much deregulation will push banks to revert back to practices that contributed to the financial crisis, striking the right balance is where regulators are currently focused. Source.
Denmark based Saxo Bank announced a partnership with Microsoft to host the bank’s entire technology stack on the Microsoft Azure cloud; the bank said the partnership will allow them to ensure scalability, flexibility and security in the digital infrastructure; Kim Fournais, the bank’s founder and CEO, tells Banking Technology “Saxo Bank was a fintech long before the term was created, and it is a natural step for us to also pioneer cloud-based solutions in financial services.” Source.
A survey by FT Confidential Research shows the online lending industry in China continues to consolidate from new regulations; the days of significant growth and platform expansion have ended as the government looks to weed out the smaller players; since 2016 the government has capped borrowing limits, shut down secondary markets and forced platforms to file with local regulators. Source.
Credit Karma’s main feature has been allowing users to see their credit score; the company launched a identity monitoring tool last year and is now expanding the data it scans to include the dark web; the tool will now search through 13 billion data breaches, up from 4.5 billion. Source
RBS plans to launch a next generation mobile only bank by third quarter 2018; the project is expected to launch with more than one million users from the bank; reports also point to the bank pursuing a marketplace business model which values partnerships over lending as a revenue model; while it looks like it is rumors right now the bank is clearly moving more digital. Source.
Ernst & Young announced a new suite of blockchain audit technologies; EY Blockchain Analyzer looks to assist audit teams to gather transaction data from multiple blockchain ledgers; Paul Brody, EY Global Innovation Blockchain Leader, tells Crowdfund Insider, “Understanding exchanges and cryptocurrencies is the first step in our ability to develop tools to test various blockchain-based business contracts. EY Blockchain Analyzer will be utilized by the auditor to analyze transactions on a blockchain and help provide insight to the finance function.” Source.
According to Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, the company is open to becoming a cryptocurrency exchange; Friedman stated, "I believe that digital currencies will continue to persist it's just a matter of how long it will take for that space to mature. Once you look at it and say, 'do we want to provide a regulated market for this?' Certainly Nasdaq would consider it.”; Friedman was less bullish on the future of ICOs. Source
- OnDeck Announces $100 Million Revolving Credit Facility Closing
- Growth Street Celebrates Full FCA Authorization & New GrowthLine Lending Product: Need to Borrow £2M?
- Fintech firm Digit adds credit card debt payment to savings app
- Zopa sees £100m of Innovative Finance ISA inflows
- Inside Santander’s plans to digitize money
- Draft of US faster payments governance framework unveiled
A recent study by Harvard Business School looked into the contribution of marketplace lending on the overall lending market; while companies like Lending Club and Prosper have improved consumer access to affordable loans the study also discussed whether these types of platforms are too transparent; this transparency according to the study gives large investors who leverage the availability of data an advantage in buying loans resulting in an uneven playing field. Source