SoFi is advertising job openings in Australia and appears to be planning international expansion of its mortgage lending business; firm has been expanding its mortgage lending in the US, now offering mortgage loans in 27 states; the expansion to Australia would be the first international effort for the P2P lender and one of the first marketplace loan offerings for mortgages in the country. Source
New York-based hedge fund Marathon Partners Equity Management LLC is actively pushing OnDeck Capital to reduce costs and reach profitability more aggressively than it has already outlined; the firm owns approximately 1.75% of the company's outstanding shares; Mario Cibelli is the primary spokesperson for Marathon Partners and says he contacted members of the board in March to urge for deeper cost reductions and analysis on a potential sale; it is likely that Marathon Partners could gain a board nomination from the discussions; OnDeck Capital could also see more involvement from hedge fund shareholder EJF Capital LLC which has said in public filings that it may also reach out to the company to discuss its future strategy. Source
Lend Academy recently highlighted the trends in interest rates at Lending Club in their recent article; Lending Club has changed interest rates five times since late 2015; the recent trend of increasing rates can be seen in the below chart taken from Lending Club's statistics page which tracks average interest rates across loan grades since 2008; higher risk loans have seen the most impact from recent changes in interest rates. Source
SoFi is becoming one of the US's largest and most comprehensive marketplace lenders. Since launching in 2011 they have originated over $15 billion in loans. They market themselves as a new kind of finance company and recently acquired Zenbanx, expanding their products to deposit accounts. SoFi also offers student loan refinancing, mortgage loans, personal loans, wealth management and life insurance.
In Lend Academy's recent podcast with SoFi, CEO Mike Cagney provides some insight on how the company might be valued on a per customer basis. Mike Cagney says larger banks are valued at approximately $10,000 to $100,000 per customer. SoFi currently expects to have 500,000 customers by the end of 2017 and 2 million customers in the next two to three years; at a value of $50,000 per SoFi customer, this would imply a $100 billion valuation. Source
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has released new rules for banking business lenders regarding APR transparency and pricing; the CMA has confirmed that P2P lenders will be exempt from its new banking rules; despite the exemption, it is likely that the new rules will cause more P2P lenders to provide greater APR transparency in order to maintain market competitiveness. Source
VeriComply provides automated loan verification services for the marketplace lending secondary market; the firm has hired former Lending Club executive Roger Dickerson as its new president; Dickerson brings experience in investor operations and marketplace loan securitizations; he will be leading VeriComply's efforts to support marketplace loan sales and securitizations through its automated loan verification services. Source
As of January 2017 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fully authorized ten peer-to-peer lenders, according to AltFi, while the remainder of the industry operates with interim approvals; AltFi speculates on some of the characteristics of the authorized and interim lenders; of the authorized firms, Folk2Folk is the largest with originations of approximately 100 million British pounds ($120.44 million); the UK's largest platforms including Zopa, RateSetter and Funding Circle still have not been approved; loans from these lenders are primarily unsecured; characteristics identified by AltFi as issues for the FCA include: pre-funding, collective investment, auto-investing and institutional investment. Source
AltFi Data has raised new capital and formed an advisory board; the new initiatives will help AltFi Data launch new products, increasing analytical tools and market transparency; the board’s advisors bring experience in market data and investing. Source
TechCrunch analyzes rates at marketplace lending platforms, identifying a trend towards increased delinquencies and borrowing rates for lower credit quality borrowers; platforms have been increasing rates for lower credit quality consumers to potentially offset some of the higher risk of defaults; analysts have speculated that the changes occurring in the lower credit quality categories could be a sign of recession however other economic factors appear to be stable; TechCrunch identifies a significant change occurring in the labor market that could be influential for borrowers over the long term; the automation of jobs is affecting the labor market and the result could disrupt a number of historically stable industries while also changing the tech industry substantially. Source
Online mortgage broker Trussle is currently in the early stages of talks with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to potentially overhaul the mortgage application process; the plan that Trussle is pitching to the FCA is to help standardize documents needed in a format that they are needed in; Mr. Mahli told FTAdviser: "There's an unnecessary inefficiency in the way mortgage applications are packaged and submitted, which varies wildly from lender to lender. Uncertainty is the last thing a buyer wants when making what's often the biggest financial decision of their life."; currently the FCA will not comment on talks that are in such a nascent stage. Source