The primary focus in the online real estate market has been on consumer and residential products however a significant opportunity appears to exist in commercial real estate with the size of the market valued at approximately $3.5 trillion; HousingWire provides a recap of LendIt's commercial real estate panel featuring the three primary companies active in the space including: Cadre, Money360 and Plum Lending; panelists discussed the success of the their businesses and the main challenges for new entrants including the complexities of data sets and the lack of technology solutions for commercial market services. Source
Credit bureaus in the US have become integrated with fintech companies in different ways; Forbes talks with Alex Lintner about Experian's business initiatives and the solutions the company is providing for the fintech industry; Alex says the company is focused on digital technology solutions for credit data that help improve the loan application for consumers; Lintner also notes the availability of full file reporting which can meet the growing demand for alternative credit underwriting and the company's development of APIs for startup businesses. Source
Marqeta has released an e-book titled, "Navigating the Paradigm Shift in Alternative Lending"; discusses how technology and innovation are changing the financial services industry; provides insight on how companies can build competitive advantages. Sponsored Blog Post
The Sift app was designed to increase transparency in credit card spending and provide credit card users with detailed information on fees and alternatives; the app has the capability to analyze 90% of all issued credit cards in the US for hidden benefits, price adjustment refunds, extended warranties, return protection and more; the firm has announced a $1.5 million fundraising round with the launch of the app and has plans to increase its users and expand the app's offerings. 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
Kabbage has announced the pricing of its first securitization of the year; the portfolio was valued at $525 million and includes small business loans; it is structured in four classes and has received ratings from Kroll Bond Rating Agency with the majority of the portfolio rated A; the deal is expected to close around March 20. Source
"Rocket Mortgage has forever changed the way people think about getting a mortgage," said Jay Farner, CEO of Quicken Loans; for 2016 Quicken Loans has reported record originations of $96 billion with $7 billion contributed by Rocket Mortgage which has been originating loans for 11 months; consumers have reported high demand for the Rocket Mortgage product which provides a much simpler process for homeowners by digitally verifying income, credit, assets and property valuations. Source
PitchIt@LendIt and the LendIt industry awards were two highlights of the two day LendIt USA conference; Nova Credit was the PitchIt winner, presenting its business plan for the world's first cross-border credit reporting agency; on Tuesday evening LendIt also announced award winners in 18 categories at its first LendIt Industry Awards Show. Source
Experienced fintech expert, John Sculley talked about investment opportunities he sees in the market at LendIt USA; former president of Pepsi and former CEO at Apple, Sculley says he is interested in transformative opportunities; in the fintech sector, Sculley recently joined the board of directors at Lantern Credit after becoming an investor; Lantern Credit is positioned to provide transformative technology with machine-learning services for financial institutions that allows for a broader assessment of a borrower's creditworthiness. Source