Thomas Curry spoke on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's fintech charter at LendIt USA; Curry primarily refuted arguments against the OCC's authority for establishing a fintech charter; Curry sited the National Bank Act stating, "To be clear, the National Bank Act does give the OCC the legal authority to grant national bank charters to companies engaged in the business of banking."; the banking charter would encompass all fintech companies engaging in banking activities regardless of whether or not they take banking deposits; the OCC is still evaluating the provisions of the fintech charter following its December 2016 white paper and comment period which ended in January 2017. Source
StreetShares provides loans for veteran-owned small businesses; following the California bizWin™ and VetBizWin™ initiatives, StreetShares has partnered with the Northern California Financial Development Corporation (Nor-Cal FDC) which will expand its business lending solutions with contract financing; Nor-Cal FDC is a licensed Financial Development Corporation and supports small business capital solutions for more than 3.6 million small businesses throughout California including a focus on companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley. Source
StackSource has launched an online lending platform for commercial real estate; the company provides a marketplace for connecting owners and developers with banks and non-bank lenders for credit financing; the multi-lending platform connects borrowers with lenders through the StackSource proprietary lender database; StackSource was developed from the TechStar accelerator program and was founded by Tim Milazzo. Source
Loan stacking has reportedly been influencing an increase in default rates for marketplace lenders; TransUnion has reported data on delinquency rates and online fraud; firm announced an expansion of its Fraud Prevention Exchange at LendIt USA to help mitigate online lending fraud and specifically loan stacking. Source
AlphaFlow has announced the launch of AlphaFlow Managed Portfolios; created by Ray Sturm, co-founder of RealtyShares, AlphaFlow has been managing real estate investments that allow investors to invest in loans across multiple real estate crowdfunding platforms since its launch in 2015; the introduction of the AlphaFlow Managed Portfolios is an effort to better meet the needs and demands of the firm’s investors; the new platform will provide investors with a real estate portfolio of 75 to 100 real estate loans; the portfolio will be driven by AlphaFlow Advanced Analytics and targets returns of 8% to 10% with a 1% fee on assets under management. Source
LendIt USA 2017 featured keynote speakers discussing all aspects of the online lending industry and new developments in fintech overall; videos on the keynote presentations from the event are now available; a list of the event’s keynote speakers can also be found here. Source
Experian is the most recent company to join the Marketplace Lending Association; credit reporting agency Experian has become actively integrated in the marketplace lending ecosystem and is committed to supporting transparent and responsible financial innovation for the marketplace lending industry; Experian's expertise in data and analytics will greatly support the goals of the Marketplace Lending Association. Source
Featured keynote speaker Richard Cordray from the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) discussed the Bureau's fintech initiatives at LendIt USA; a video of the presentation can be found here; in prepared remarks Cordray discussed the Bureau's focus on both providers and consumers with three areas of special interest including: consumer-friendly innovations, consumers' control over their personal financial data and the use of alternative sources of data for underwriting loans; recent fintech innovation activity from the CFPB has primarily been centered around its Project Catalyst; on February 16 the CFPB also issued a request for information on the uses of alternative credit data with an open comment period until May 19. Source
Data aggregators of all types are gaining more traction and investment; Finicity is one example with investment from Experian; Nick Thomas of Finicity characterizes the credit-decisioning space as a new frontier for data aggregation; with this new frontier available for investment, the industry is likely to see success in integrating new sources of data and faster technology solutions for credit modeling and approvals. Source
Atom Bank has raised $102 million in new capital from Spanish bank BBVA who also led a previous funding round in 2015; the company plans to use the funding for business and product development including lending services; the digital bank's current products include: Fixed Saver accounts, mortgages, and secured loans for small and medium-sized businesses; the company is also reportedly working on another funding round and is currently valued at approximately $320 million. Source