Infinity Eclipse provides a new loan management solution for lenders; it features a user friendly interface for both lenders and customer service representatives; it streamlines data for performance reporting, customer service and accounting; the platform is highly secure and customizable; it's also built for a range of technical integrations and includes digital technology for documentation. Source
OnDeck has partnered with institutional data consultant, Orchard, to provide data reporting for institutional investors on its platform; OnDeck is a small business lender with significant investment from institutional investors; through the partnership Orchard will manage the loan reporting for OnDeck's institutional investors and provide investors with access to investor dashboards, portfolio benchmarking, automated daily holdings reports and a variety of customized reporting options held within the Orchard for Originators data system. Source
MoneyLion talks about the evolution of the fintech industry and the rebundling of financial services in their featured blog post; the first wave of fintech was known for its unbundling of traditional financial services by fintech companies; as these companies have achieved success from focused product development, they are now looking to expand services for new verticals and cohesive cross selling; banks are also more broadly diversifying to meet customer needs; MoneyLion also notes API development as a key factor supporting the rebundling of services; the firm has brought together a range of online services that help customers improve their financial health and it sees rebundling as an important trend that will help to support more comprehensive fintech services for clients. Sponsored Blog Post
Renaud Laplanche's new consumer lending platform, Upgrade, has announced a new executive hire; John Dye will be joining the executive team as general counsel; John brings experience from Western Union and has also worked at Freddie Mac, Citigroup and Salomon Smith Barney; John Dye will support the firm's legal, compliance and regulatory operations; he is joined by Louis Shansky who has also been hired as deputy counsel. Source
Online lending alternative credit data solutions provider Clarity Services has announced the release of Temporary Account Record, a solution for mitigating loan stacking; primarily focused on providing alternative credit data for the online lending market, the firm also began developing Temporary Account Record in 2013 to address the issue of loan stacking fraud; Temporary Account Record will complement the firm's data services by providing increased transparency on current loans and pending loan transactions. Source
Peter gives a recap of activity in 2016 which included issues across most all of the largest firms and reported many small firm closings with the launch of Marcus by Goldman Sachs changing market competition; compared to 2016, 2017 appears much better with equity investments already surpassing 2016 totals and many new startups launching lending platforms; overall, Peter says the industry is recovering but not recovered and notes that returns are dropping. Source
Cloud Lending Solutions provides digital technology platform services for origination, underwriting, servicing and collections; in their featured blog post they provide insights on the use of regtech for online lending platforms; utilizing regtech solutions can significantly help internal controls, business processes and cost structures for online lenders while also helping to improve the overall borrower experience. Sponsored Blog Post
PayPal's fourth quarter earnings release revealed a number of interesting developments for the company; the firm has been steadily growing its partnerships with e-commerce businesses which has helped increase the number of payment transactions per customer; in the fourth quarter PayPal reported 31.1 transactions per active customer which was an increase from 30.2 in the previous quarter and 27.5 in the comparable quarter; PayPal's CEO Dan Schulman has also discussed a new partnership with Amazon that would allow Amazon customers to pay for purchases with PayPal which would further support increases in its customer account activity. Source
The Wall Street Journal reports on publicly listed funds that will purchase marketplace lending loans; the new funds are setup as interval funds and will open access to investors who might not otherwise consider investing in loans made by marketplace lenders; article highlights fees and minimums of offerings by RiverNorth and Stone Ridge. Source
The LendIt Forum replay for Investor Opportunities in Non-Prime Lending is now available; the webinar discussed the non-prime investment space including details on the profile of non-prime investors and the returns investors can expect from this category; speakers included James Zhang from NerdWallet, Aaron Peck from Monroe Capital and Tim Ranney from Clarity Services. Source