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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SmartBiz has been ranked the number one provider for non-Express, SBA 7(a) loans under $350,000 and fifth among providers for traditional SBA 7(a) and Express 7(a) loans under $350,000; SmartBiz is the first SBA marketplace and bank-enabling technology platform; it facilitates small business lending from banks; in the government's 2016 fiscal year, SmartBiz generated $200 million in funded SBA 7(a) loans. Source
Report from the Federal Reserve explores blockchain for payments, clearing and settlement; paper includes information obtained from interviews with approximately 30 industry stakeholders; says distributed ledger technology could improve processes for payments, clearing and settlement however implementation and adoption of the new technology present challenges. Source
Betterment has increased its assets under management (AUM) by approximately $1 billion in eight months; AUM is currently $6.2 billion; diversification to new client segments has significantly helped the firm to grow; beginning as a consumer focused platform, it now has a Betterment for Business platform with approximately 300 customers; the early expansion to businesses primarily underserved by legacy providers is likely to be an advantage for the firm as robo advisor offerings increase. Source
In a report on the structured finance market, Fitch Ratings provides an outlook for 2017; says losses from auto loan asset-backed securities could increase with rising defaults; also notes increased risk from marketplace lenders and industry securitizations which have been reporting higher delinquency and loss rates; says the best performance is likely to be from residential mortgage and commercial mortgage securitizations. Source
Harvard Business School has released a comprehensive report on the state of small business lending and its current landscape; Lend Academy provides more details in their article with insight from author, Brayden McCarthy of Fundera; paper includes details on the evolution of online lending within the small business lending market; goals of the paper include laying a foundation for regulatory reform and exploring how online small business lenders can partner with banks. Source
Deutsche Bank has hired Elly Hardwick as head of innovation and Philip Milne as chief technology officer for innovation; both will help to improve internal and external communication and integration of new technologies for the bank; Hardwick will lead the bank's innovation activities and manage the Deutsche Bank Labs; Milne will facilitate communication between the Deutsche Bank Labs and the bank's internal technology organization. Source
Folk2Folk is the most recent marketplace lender in the UK to receive full FCA authorization; largest P2P lender to receive the authorization with origination volume of over 125 million British pounds since 2013; allows it to seek HMRC approval for offering clients the option to invest through an innovative finance individual savings account; minimum investment for platform investors is currently 25,000 British pounds; platform provides secured loans to small businesses with property or land as collateral. Source
Wellesley has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs; firm is seeking to raise 1.5 million British pounds; plans to use the funds for business expansion, marketing, human resources and technology development; in 2016, firm has raised 80 million British pounds primarily from multi-unit real estate property development loans; sources have also reported that the company has received a First Gazette notice for late accounts. Source
RealtyShares closed investment for its Diversified Marketplace Equity Fund on Monday; the platform offers a range of crowdfunded investments including both debt and equity; the Diversified Marketplace Equity Fund offers investors exposure to middle market equity real estate investments in a diversified portfolio with 10 to 20 property investments. Source
Anthony Hsieh of loanDepot shared his insights on the marketplace lending industry at the Marketplace Lending and Alternative Financing Summit; said technology would be the industry's main barrier to entry, an even greater factor than regulation; according to Hsieh, tech-enabled platforms with scale in the market will have an advantage as the outlook for new capital is uncertain. Source
