India's fintech market is growing with a number of socioeconomic factors driving innovation; in 2016 over $1.6 billion was invested in India's fintech industry; the CEO and founder of India's Rubique highlights three ways the Indian lending space is being disrupted, including insight on blockchain, marketplace lending and robo advisory services. Source
Small business lender Kabbage is planning for a new equity fundraising, targeting a few hundred million dollars; sources say the lender is considering potential acquisitions including a buyout of OnDeck; Kabbage has reported a number of recent successes including a partnership with Banco Santander, expansion to Ireland and the industry's largest asset-backed securitization of small business loans. Source
The marketplace lender has extended the maturity of its credit facility with Deutsche Bank to March 2019; the revised terms also add an additional $52 million to the credit facility; in comments regarding the revised terms, Howard Katzenberg, chief financial officer of OnDeck said, "The closing of this transaction reflects a continued ability to execute our financing strategy for 2017, which includes extending debt maturities and creating additional funding capacity for future loan growth." Source
In November 2016 the New York Fed reported on an increase in subprime auto loan delinquencies putting the sector on watch; a report from Fitch Ratings is now showing continued deterioration in the sector during the second half of 2016 and Mizuho is reporting subprime auto loan loss rates increased to 9.1% in January 2017 from 7.9% in January 2016; Fitch reports that 60+ day subprime auto delinquencies increased to nearly 6% in the fourth quarter of 2016. Source
In partnership with Quovo, SoFi has integrated an API for wealth management customer authentication and data aggregation into its platform infrastructure; with the API integration, customers can now link with over 200 financial institutions; the new API allows customers to pull in data from existing accounts for various purposes on the platform. Source
Marketplace lending platforms have offered investors a viable alternative for fixed income market returns however their disclosures and reporting standards are continuing to evolve; while these disclosures can vary by platform, Rupert Taylor from AltFi says lenders should consistently ensure that there is alignment between investors and originators, also noting that, "Lenders should seek platforms that can demonstrate that their overriding motivation is to originate loans at an interest rate that adequately compensates for the risk of default."; appropriately assessing a platform's returns is important for investors and Rupert Taylor advocates for increased demand from investors for platform performance transparency. Source
Capital Float will partner with Amazon India to provide loans for e-sellers; Capital Float will provide the loans through a credit facility called Pay Later which it is already using with e-commerce clients PayTM, Snapdeal and Shopclues; with the Pay Later solution, Capital Float is well positioned to service a fast growing e-commerce market which is expected to grow revenues from $30 billion in 2016 to $120 billion in 2020. Source
Goji is marketing a P2P lending bond product, the Goji Diversified P2P Lending Bond, which is targeting annual returns of greater than 5%; the firm is based in London and offers a range of services for the P2P lending industry including tools and resources for investors and financial intermediaries, an investing platform, IFISA account servicing technology for platforms and now a new P2P lending bond; the Bond will invest in a minimum of 200 loans across all options available in the UK P2P lending sector. Source
Ron Suber discussed the challenges that online fraud can present to marketplace lenders in his keynote speech at the Fintech Fraud Summit last week in San Francisco; to mitigate fraud, companies must have a comprehensive risk and compliance system that protects it from attacks and fraudulent loans; Ron Suber outlined Prosper's risk and compliance approach in his presentation providing an example for marketplace lenders seeking solutions for mitigating and managing fraud. Source
New Zealand-based Xero provides cloud-based accounting software for small and medium size businesses; it has now announced new agreements to integrate its software with working capital financing platforms MarketInvoice, iwoca and DueCourse; the business integrations will help to better facilitate invoice finance lending and working capital credit for businesses using Xero. Source