Patrick McHenry is one of the most active proponents for fintech in Congress; Lend Academy talks with McHenry at LendIt USA following his keynote presentation; in the podcast he talks about the role of the House Financial Services Committee, his perspective on fintech, current legislation and his outlook for financial innovation over the next four years. Source
India's CoinTribe has partnered with SMERA Ratings to incorporate a new rating system for its online business lending services; through the partnership CoinTribe will gain access to SMERA's ratings database for micro, small and medium size businesses; CoinTribe plans to integrate the ratings information with its current credit underwriting system for enhanced analytics on business credit loans. Source
Government officials recently created legislation for P2P lenders in Lithuania; FinBee, a small business lender is the first to have received the license and has officially launched using Madiston's software; according to FinBee CEO Laimonas Noreika: "We were delighted to be the first P2P platform to receive our license to help small businesses borrow to finance their growth. Our technology helped us to achieve this. When we first launched consumer lending, we chose Madiston's software because it was ready to go with what we needed but also gave us the ability to add functionality as we grow. The first step in our expansion plan was to add business lending and the technology was there for us, Madiston has been a supportive partner throughout." Source
The new partnership aims to increase access to financial services for individuals and small businesses; according to a Chinese press release translated by TechNode, the "credit factory" (in Chinese) model is a business model mainly used for credit certification of small and micro-sized enterprises as well as individuals; loans lent to such groups are small, but are lent at high frequency; the adoption of the "credit factory" mode, thanks to its high efficiency and economies of scale in handling petty loans, can help big financial firms gain some ground lost to the country's mushrooming small loan companies in the microfinance market; an upgrade to the traditional "credit factory", Dianrong-Quark Credit Factory utilizes such fintech means as big data, anti-fraud management systems and decision engine; it can help lenders reduce manual operations, save costs and cut operational risks through its powerful quantitative system when they handle credit certification for individuals or small and micro-sized businesses. Source
Fitch Ratings has upgraded its ratings for the Citi Held for Asset Issuance 2016-PM1 (CHAI 2016-PM1) portfolio which includes loans originated from the Prosper platform; the ratings agency upgraded the Class A, B and C tranches; it attributes the upgrades to growth in hard credit enhancement available to the notes. Source
The Asset provides details on recent decreases in China's P2P lending market; the chart above notes a significant decrease in transaction volume for P2P lenders in China since December 2016; the publication also reports on the number of Chinese P2P platforms and the number of problematic P2P platforms from January 2014 through February 2017. Source
Marketplace lending originations have been increasing significantly in the US and China however in 2016 both countries saw a number of challenges influencing the market and increasing risk; Moody's analyzes market similarities and differences in the two countries; reports on the variance in lending model structuring; notes that US marketplace lenders are more deeply integrated with partner-bank relationships; while structuring and partnerships vary considerably between the two countries, there are similarities, including reliance on big data, lack of credit cycle testing and ongoing development of regulatory standards. Source
Marketplace provides insight on Goldman Sachs' new online lending business discussing the culture and variance from the traditional aspects of the investment bank; one reason for the divergence in culture is the company's focus on building Marcus as a tech startup within the bank; the investment bank's venture has gained considerable industry attention and also attracted talent from leading technology companies including Facebook and Google; it appears to be well positioned in the market with numerous competitive advantages supported by the legacy bank's 147 year history. Source
Kabbage has reported it will open a new office in Ireland; the geographic expansion follows a 50 million euro ($54 million) investment from the Irish Strategic Investment Fund which is managed by the country's National Treasury Management Agency; the Kabbage lending platform is focused on lending to small businesses and the firm expects to help support the Irish small business sector while also creating many high-quality financial services jobs in Ireland. Source
Media site Bridging & Commercial filed a freedom of information request into the British Business Bank's investments in P2P platforms; since 2014 the British Business Bank has invested 135 million British pounds ($168 million); commitments are made via the Business Finance Partnership Tranche (BFP) and the Investment Programme (IP); the details are outlined in the above chart. Source