Zest Finance has developed a new credit scoring platform called ZAML that provides a technology solution for alternative credit underwriting; similar to other emerging alternative credit models, the technology uses machine learning software to analyze alternative credit reporting information and arrive at a lending decision; the firm has worked with Baidu to test its credit underwriting, which helped the firm approve 150% more borrowers with no increased losses. 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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In an article from American Banker, the pros and cons of AI-based credit scores are outlined; pros include more precise scores through more nuanced evaluations of data and the ability to consider consumers that linear models would reject; the cons are the risk that regulators will consider an AI-based score a "black box" and being able to provide one clear reason for credit denial; perspectives from Elevate, ID Analytics, Experian and FICO on AI credit scoring are presented in the article. Source
China has developed a new Chinese village called Yuhuang Shannan which it has designed for the hedge fund community; a quiet village an hour from Shanghai offers a newly designed community tailored to the hedge fund industry with local office space, an elementary and an after work club for financiers; the number of hedge funds has been increasing in China and 1,000 hedge funds and private equity funds are registered in the village with assets under management of approximately 580 billion yuan ($84 billion); it's likely that hedge funds could become more prevalent in China and the village is receiving ongoing support from the government which currently includes a 30% tax bill subsidy. Source
Lending Club released its fourth quarter and full year earnings results on Tuesday, February 14; Lend Academy provides details of the earnings release in their article; the lender originated $8.6 billion in loans for 2016; net operating revenue for the year was $495.5 million, up from $426.7 million in 2015; net income fell to -$146 million from -$5 million in 2015; banks increasingly returned to the platform in the fourth quarter of 2016 funding 31% of loans, an increase from 18% in the third quarter. Source
Jefferies has renewed their loan purchase agreement with small business lender Bond Street; deal expands loan purchases to as much as $300 million building on a $100 million commitment from mid-2015; Bond Street has also expanded their term product and now will make loans from $10,000 to $1 million; previous loans were between $50,000 to $500,000; investors in the company include Spark Capital, Homebrew as well as the co-founder of Airbnb and David Chang, chef and owner of momofoku. Source
Credit Suisse plans to reduce its workforce by 6,500 jobs; the Zurich-based lender has reported significant losses primarily the result of a $2 billion provision for a settlement with the US Department of Justice over mortgage portfolios; the firm has already cut 7,250 jobs in 2016 and is focused on a new strategy under CEO Tidjane Thiam who was appointed in 2015. Source
Daimler Financial Services plans to invest 'double-digit' millions of euros in AutoGravity's vehicle financing platform; the investment will support Daimler's digital services financing portfolio; in January AutoGravity's app was launched in 46 states and it has now reported over 150,000 app downloads; it currently provides consumers with four auto financing offers. Source
Researchers from the Urban Institute's Housing Finance Policy Center have released data showing only 33% of lower credit quality applicants applying for a mortgage loan in comparison to 62% in 2006; standards for mortgage lending have increased since the 2008 financial crisis which researchers believe to be a factor causing fewer mortgage applications from the lower credit quality borrowers; the Urban Institute also cites other factors for fewer mortgage applications from the category including not having enough money for a down payment and less interest in homeownership. Source
Since 2008 home equity has rebounded as the economy has recovered; since 2012 housing equity has increased by $7 trillion; despite the borrowing opportunity, home equity lending has yet to return to its pre-crisis levels; data from the New York Federal Reserve outlines current borrowing trends and factors that are now influencing home equity borrowing. Source
The LendIt Insurtech Forum was a lively discussion featuring Lemonade CEO Daniel Schreiber and Adam Kerns of the American Insurance Association, moderated by Thalia Smith of Deloitte; the discussion centered around insurance innovation, the effect of insurtech on traditional insurers and the current regulatory environment; panelists also answered audience questions and discussed a range of technological advancements that incumbents and insurtech startups are using to improve the customer experience; to download the recording of this interesting discussion please click here.