DirectMoney completed the wholesale lending deal with 255 Finance where $50 million worth of originated loan assets will be purchased; the deal will also include an equity stake and options for 255 Finance, with the plan to increase loan buying in the future; DirectMoney Executive Chairman Mr. John Nantes said: "We are very excited to complete this agreement with a company with the capability of 255 Finance as we target the fintech opportunities in the $100 billion consumer finance market in Australia. After engaging with many potential wholesale funders and varying structures over recent months, this deal was always our preferred outcome, and we're delighted to announce it today." 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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StreetShares has announced a $10.3 million fundraising; the US marketplace lender specializes in funding business loans to companies managed by veterans; the platform has a range of product offerings with loans issued for $2,000 to $100,000. Source
GreenSky is the third most valuable fintech company in America; managed by David Zalik it provides a unique lending service with a business model scalable to diverse industries; currently focused on home remodeling contractors it offers fast approvals for borrowers with support by phone, website or mobile app; Forbes provides more details on David Zalik, the evolution of the business and its future aspirations. Source
Rachel Schneider discusses a new way of thinking about the financial lives of Americans; suggests that many of the models are out of date; Schneider worked with a research project called US Financial Diaries which worked with 235 families to learn about every dollar that they spent, borrowed, saved, earned, and more; through the research they understood these families on a much deeper level to understand the 'why' behind financial decisions; Schneider shares many interesting data points including income and spending spikes in the lives of Americans; highlights the opportunities for fintech companies in the US. Source
Andrew Ng, former artificial intelligence chief of Baidu and founder of Google Brain, is launching a new online course for deep learning; the course will be available through the online education site he co-founded, Coursera, and will include content from his popular machine learning course at Stanford where he is currently a professor. Source
Scott Sanborn talks with Bloomberg about LendingClub's recovery and Q217 results; says the firm has focused on internal controls and investors; highlights that 44% of loan funding in Q2 came from banks; also discusses competition with credit cards and the consumer credit market. Source
Better Mortgage is now offering mortgage loans in thirteen states with the expansion to Florida; the lender offers a number of advantages for borrowers including a 100% digital experience and a verified pre-approval letter for qualified borrowers within 24 hours; with the licensing in Florida, Better Mortgage gains access to lending in Tampa and Jacksonville, recently reported as two of the healthiest housing markets in the country. Source
Blog post outlines platform performance and improving delinquency rates across most grades and terms; provides perspective on the economic backdrop and interest rates; the company has updated their loss forecasts; projected returns are similar to last quarter with small increases for grades F and G. Source
In a LinkedIn post, Sukhwinder Shoker provides insight into MarketInvoice's loan book which the company shares publicly; analysis includes data on originations and advance rates, invoice terms, risk-price grade, gross discount rates, diversification and net returns; according to Shoker's analysis, the average monthly net return achieved since January 2012 by investors before fees and tax is 50 basis points. Source
The UK based digital banking firm 11:FS has hired fintech expert Sam Maule to help head up their expansion into North America; "Having made a great impact in the first 15 months of 11:FS' life, we now feel we can have a similar impact with Sam at the helm in North America and Canada, helping organizations really understand what digital transformation within their banks and insurers truly means," CEO David Brear explained; 11:FS is also looking to open a New York office and named entrepreneur and investor Lisa Gansky as non-executive director. Source