There has been a lot of bad news for fintech firms when it comes to diversity in the workplace and now a new census from Australia shows that this issue is worldwide; 75 percent of fintech employees are male according to the EY; while speaking at a fintech event Lynda Coker, Founder of CreateCultivate, pointed to some key ideas which could help increase hiring of women and diversify the workplace. 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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Landbay will add Positive Lending to its distribution network; Landbay has a comprehensive suite of services for its intermediaries and is also supporting them in advance of the UK's September PRA portfolio landlord changes; Landbay is a UK specialist buy to let mortgage lender authorized by the FCA and involved with the P2PFA as one of its members. Source
Landbay's most recent fundraising brings total funding to GBP7 million ($8.98 million) which the company has obtained from crowdfunding; the company's business is focused on funding buy to let mortgages and it has received authorization from the FCA; it plans to use the new funds to expand its operations and launch new products. Source
Landbay has received its individual savings account approval from HM Revenue and Customs; follows the firm's full Financial Conduct Authority authorization in December; plans to launch its innovative finance individual savings account (IFISA) in February; the IFISA will allow tax-efficient investing in the firm’s residential property loans. Source
UK marketplace lender Landbay has been granted full authorization by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA); the platform primarily lends to borrowers seeking rental property mortgage loans; with the FCA authorization the Landbay platform can now seek to offer innovative finance individual savings accounts to its investors. Source
UK marketplace lender Landbay has lowered its borrowing rates and fees in an effort to refresh its offerings for buy-to-rent property borrowers; rates for a two-year fixed term loan will now start at 3.39% and rates on a five-year fixed term loan will start at 3.59%; arrangement fees have also been reduced to 1.5% from 1.75%; the firm has also made some changes to its approval criteria; Paul Brett, managing director of intermediaries at Landbay had the following comments: "We are constantly listening to our intermediary partners and to the requirements of the market. Our rates have been reduced across the board to ensure we remain competitive whilst our criteria enables us to serve a wide range of specialist borrowers seeking a fast decision." Source
LandlordInvest has launched the UK's first secured property P2P lending innovative finance individual savings account (IFISA); the firm offers 5% to 12% returns on its loans and investors can now invest tax free with the IFISA; platform investments include bridge loans and term loans for buy-to-rent landlords; most of the firm's loans are for amounts ranging from 30,000 British pounds ($37,895) to 750,000 British pounds ($947,363) with a payoff term of five years; process for offering the IFISA took less than two months with approval obtained by HM Revenue and Customs shortly after the firm's Financial Conduct Authority approval in December. Source
Lantern Credit has acquired the Abstract Regression Classification (ARC) Machine Learning Library to enhance its proprietary machine learning solution, Beam AI; the firm expects the acquisition and machine learning enhancements to improve its credit advice, credit offers and support for financial institutions; according to Chad Swensen, CEO of Lantern Credit, "Leveraging the ARC software to advance the Beam AI technology produces the most advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning application in the consumer credit management space." Source
Lantern Credit has appointed John Mack as its new chairman of its board of advisors; the company works to provide credit solutions for inefficiencies through its technology platform; Mack brings experience from roles as chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley, co-CEO of Credit Suisse Group, CEO of Credit Suisse First Boston and various other roles on corporate boards including Lending Club. Source
Insurance and insurtech companies are seeking synergies in the industry as technology is evolving; at the Intelligent InsurTech Europe conference this week in London, industry participants discussed the many ways companies are partnering and developing new services; the industry conference revealed many large companies are investing in insurtech through incubators and direct investment; in-house innovation labs are also a prevalent trend occurring with large insurance companies; most large insurance companies are finding it important to partner and invest with insurtech companies in order to stay current with the industry’s evolving landscape. Source