Marketplace lender LendInvest has launched a new auction finance product to more rapidly service its customers; the firm offers short term property financing; the auction financing product will service brokers and their clients who are seeking funding for properties bought from a real estate auction; the auction product will offer one to 12 month term loans ranging from 75,000 British pounds ($92,775) to 7.5 million British pounds ($9.28 million); LendInvest has originated over 800 million British pounds ($990 million) in loans over the last three years and also recently introduced a development exit product in October. Source
News Roundup
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Sources have reported that Zhongan is no longer considering an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong or the US due to a shifting market perspective; international interest and competitive pressures are cited as the main factors for the change in the IPO strategy; the insurance company was planning for an IPO in Hong Kong or the US sometime in the first few months of 2017; the China listing will likely delay the offering and the firm has not disclosed its new timing. Source
RateSetter has sold non-performing debt to debt purchaser 1st Credit; source says the sale was for 2.1 million British pounds ($2.6 million) of non-performing loans originated between 2010 and 2015; the sale goes beyond the company's standard plans for default collection and coverage which include support from one of the industry's most well-known provision funds; the RateSetter Provision Fund promises to cover defaults for borrowers and is valued at approximately 22 million British pounds ($27.2 million); with expected losses of approximately 19 million British pounds ($23.5 million) it currently has a coverage ratio of 118%. Source
A new report by PitchBook details how $11.4 billion of private investment has flowed into digital wealth management companies since 2010; investment has occurred in more than 400 deals, with venture capital investment leading the way followed by private equity; the report explains some of the main reasons for this trend as active managers failed their clients while fees have continued to rise; clients are looking for a cheaper more predictable way to manage their wealth; one of the main questions going forward is will incumbents purchase, partner or build their own solutions. Source
Citizens Bank has entered into a partnership with Fundation to extend capital to small businesses; Citizens Bank will offer a digital solution so small businesses can apply and get a loan through one process; businesses who don't meet Citizens' credit profile will then be underwritten by Fundation; this is the second fintech partnership for Citizens Bank as they recently entered into a partnership with digital wealth management service SigFig. Source
JPMorgan asset-backed securities (ABS) analysts have highlighted marketplace lending securitizations, noting their growth and trending performance; cite marketplace lending ABS as one of the fastest growing securitization categories, increasing from $3.3 billion in 2013 to $9 billion in 2016; also say performance is better or similar to the broad market's ABS consumer loan securitizations overall with higher returns and lower default rates; additionally, the analysts report that credit characteristics on Avant's securitizations have improved. Source
Marketplace lender Argon Credit has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy; its loan underwriting was centered around machine learning algorithms which it marketed as decisioning as a service; offered subprime loans from $2,000 to $35,000 with APRs ranging from 4.99% to 149%; in May 2015 it secured a $75 million debt funding investment from credit hedge fund, Princeton Alternative Funding; prior to that it had raised $5.05 million. Source
Avant's new partnership with Regions bank is helping growth projections and business development plans for the firm in 2017; Avant says the Regions partnership which began in October is expected to generate 25% of the firm's loan volume in 2017; the partnership includes referrals from Regions for customers who are not approved for loans; the firm also has four other partnerships planned for 2017; it plans to hire 125 new employees and is targeting monthly loan volume for 2017 of $250 million; also says it's launching a credit card product in July; the credit card will be offered to customers not approved for loans on the platform. 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
An increasing number of employers are adding student loan services and contributions to their employee benefit programs; IonTuition.com is one provider for employer related student loan debt services; they have released a survey which reports that 87.7% of participants would consider a student loan contribution program from their employer to be an important benefit; 57.8% also said they were interested in online educational tools from their employer regarding student loan debt. Source