Online consumer lender Upstart has reportedly set out to raise $100mn in their latest fundraising round; the round would put the valuation north of $500mn and upwards of $1bn; the company did not confirm the American Banker report but did say they anticipate completing a finals round in the next year; the company reach profitability last year and the value of loan transactions increased threefold according to a spokeswoman. Source.
News Roundup
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According to the WSJ, Credit Karma isn’t receiving any proceeds or issuing new shares as part of the deal; Silver Lake will instead be purchasing shares from early investors and employees in a secondary sale; the investment values the company around $4 billion; Credit Karma generated $500 million in revenue in 2016 and according to CEO Kenneth Lin they have been growing at a double-digit pace since; Credit Karma last raised money in 2015. Source
- PeerIQ Q1 Online Lending Report: A Specter is Haunting Financial Services – the Specter of Amazon
- Dianrong and Sino Guarantee Announce Lenders Protection Plan
- Enacomm and VOX Network Solutions Team Up to Provide Financial Institutions with Data-Driven Phone and Digital Assistant Banking
- Q&A: How Kalpesh Kapadia and Deserve.com Are Helping the “Credit Invisibles”
- Digital signature giant DocuSign files for IPO, seeks $100M in tech industry’s latest public offering
- One Infinite Loop: Apple App Store Said to be Blocking Chinese Peer to Peer Lenders from Updating Apps Due to Regulatory Disconnect
- BBVA Compass, Opportunity Finance Network announce the 27 dedicated CDFI leaders who will be their 2018 Opportunity Fellows
- FDIC fines N.J. bank, affiliate over debt settlement loans
Citi recently announced an upgrade to their mobile app to help add features and streamline the app offering; the new app features more financial management tools, you can open an account on your device and pay bills; they also added a 360 Financial View tool to give the customer a full understanding and view into all their accounts, Citi and non Citi accounts; the app is part of a broader digital strategy the bank has been pushing in recent weeks. Source.
Kabbage's study shows the increased usage of mobile devices for loan applications. Source
Online mortgage lender Lenda has plans to make the mortgage process last 30 minutes from start to finish; right now the company takes about 2 weeks to complete the process and has made more than $200mn worth or mortgages to date; Jason van den Brand, its co-founder and CEO, tells American Banker, "The big banks are working on technology that was built in the '70s. We cater to the customer who lives on their phone, laptop and tablet and shops online and compares online."; the biggest impediment is the appraisal process as that is still human intensive; the company has also been testing digital signatures by connecting via video chat with a notary. Source.
Betterment is looking to cater to their wealthier clients as they make portfolios more personalized; they launched the Betterment Flexible Portfolio which allows customers to shoes how assets weights are allocated; the typical Betterment client uses the asset weights set by the robo advisor, but this feature is meant to personalize the wealth clients portfolio; the move will try to help the company to position themselves as a full service firm that can cater to different levels of clientele, not just the younger investor. Source.
Southeast Asia’s largest bank, DBS Bank, has been one of the most innovative and profitable; while presenting at a Credit Suisse investment conference DBS CFO Chng Sok Hui said they could raise the return on equity to 14.5 percent; the digital customers are three times as valuable to the bottom line of the bank; DBS has implemented chatbots and other innovative technologies to improve the digital experience for a customer who is increasingly using their phones to bank. Source.
BBVA Compass says there is plenty of room in the market for the bank to wade into online unsecured consumer loans; Shayan Khwaja, BBVA Compass' executive director of consumer lending, told American Banker, “We’ve seen the asset class grow, and fintech has shined a light on how we can take this value proposition to the consumers. The general population is fairly savvy with digital products. They’re not just used to it, but they’re demanding it.”; the move follows Barclays and PNC who have recently launched into the same market; analysts are not as bullish on the moving citing fraud concerns and the recent spike in personal loan losses.
The former Treasury Secretary is being replaced by Stanford Economics Professor Susan Athley. Source