SoFi was among Super Bowl advertisers with another commercial this year; this year's commercial reflected their expanding services by advertising the firm's support for owning a home, starting a family and seeing the world; with the firm's recent acquisition of online bank, Zenbanx, customers will now be able to use SoFi for a comprehensive suite of banking services, expanding beyond just the firm's core student loan offering. Source
Aspire Financial Technologies has released new analytics and forecasting features on its Aspire Gateway Platform; the new tools will provide enhanced analytical capabilities for the originators, investors and banks utilizing the platform; clients will now be able to develop complex loan model portfolios with data from Aspire's data partners: Lending Club, Marlette Funding, Prosper and Progressa. Source
In a recent interview, SoFi CEO Mike Cagney stated, "We feel very confident that in 2017 you'll be able to have a SoFi bank account with a debit and/or credit card."; further details are not known on how SoFi plans to offer deposit accounts; Cagney stated the company is working on two or three initiatives; back in July Cagney told investors that getting a traditional bank license was not a viable solution; the company may be able to leverage the OCC's recently announced nonbank fintech charter. Source
LandlordInvest has launched the UK's first secured property P2P lending innovative finance individual savings account (IFISA); the firm offers 5% to 12% returns on its loans and investors can now invest tax free with the IFISA; platform investments include bridge loans and term loans for buy-to-rent landlords; most of the firm's loans are for amounts ranging from 30,000 British pounds ($37,895) to 750,000 British pounds ($947,363) with a payoff term of five years; process for offering the IFISA took less than two months with approval obtained by HM Revenue and Customs shortly after the firm's Financial Conduct Authority approval in December. Source
This week's PeerIQ industry update mentions SoFi's securitization deal, solar lender Mosaic's signal to the market of their first ABS deal and a detailed explanation about trigger breaches; SoFi has announced plans to issue a $477 million unsecured consumer loan securitization; the market was very happy to hear news from Mosaic as this is the first solar deal since early 2016, though the size of the deal has yet to be determined; the trigger breaches seen in MPL ABS deals have hurt the securitization market and caused the cost of capital to rise among lenders; PeerIQ breaks down the current deals that have breached and what it means for the overall MPL ABS market. Source
Prosper tightened its credit underwriting in July resulting in a shift toward lower risk loans; the changes caused a total portfolio coupon decrease of 45 basis points and a return estimate decrease of 26 basis points; reported lower charge-off levels from 2016H2 loans and higher delinquencies from loans issued in 2016 and 2017; C-rated loans accounted for the greatest portion of the total portfolio at 31.54%; estimated weighted average return for the month was 7.75%. 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
Funding Circle has announced a new $100 million multi-year investment agreement with Community Investment Management including provisions for additional investment; the $100 million investment will focus on small businesses in the US; the investment supports continued growth for Funding Circle which has reported monthly lending of over 100 million British pounds ($122.92 million) since November. Source
The business lending P2P platform will offer innovative finance individual savings accounts (IFISA) with three year fixed rate terms on A+ rated secured residential property loans targeting returns of 7%; the IFISA announcement follows the firm's February authorization from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority; the firm will offer the eighth UK IFISA and according to HMRC 30 firms have now received authorization for IFISAs. Source
Fox Fintech, an affiliate of Sohu.com, was able to obtain the first micro-credit license by the Ningbo City Government in China; Alex Ho, Fox Fintech Group's founder and CEO, commented, "We are applying advanced technologies in big data, facial recognition, machine learning and self-developed algorithms to bring efficient, convenient and inclusive credit service to China."; the internet micro-credit license allows for Fox Fintech to lend across the country, traditional micro-credit licenses are limited to the city where they are approved. Source