TechCrunch analyzes rates at marketplace lending platforms, identifying a trend towards increased delinquencies and borrowing rates for lower credit quality borrowers; platforms have been increasing rates for lower credit quality consumers to potentially offset some of the higher risk of defaults; analysts have speculated that the changes occurring in the lower credit quality categories could be a sign of recession however other economic factors appear to be stable; TechCrunch identifies a significant change occurring in the labor market that could be influential for borrowers over the long term; the automation of jobs is affecting the labor market and the result could disrupt a number of historically stable industries while also changing the tech industry substantially. Source
American Banker discusses the evolution of online lending fraud and the industry's vulnerabilities; the combination of synthetic identities and multiple loan inquiries known as loan stacking have increasingly become a threat in the industry; while a number of new systems have been implemented to mitigate fraud the nature of the business makes it more susceptible with fraud prevention solutions becoming more prevalent. Source
Yirendai is being sued by shareholders for inadequate transparency, regulatory activity and risk management regarding Chinese government regulations; the company has requested the court toss the case; the case is focused on worst case revenue predictions that the company says were never realized. Source
An open source movement helped propel technology in the 80s and 90s and industry professionals are speculating on the need for another open source movement in today's current environment; while open source is not favored because of its intellectual property disadvantages it does have significant advantages for innovation; Crowdfund Insider details some of the areas where it is being discussed including third party data sharing and loan stacking; it has also been a topic recently debated at LendIt USA 2017 and is in ongoing development and discussion with the Online Lending Policy Institute, ID Analytics, the Marketplace Lending Association and numerous other industry groups. Source
Online real estate lending platform PeerStreet has partnered with Wealthfront; PeerStreet will integrate with Wealthfront's Path offering; the integration has been facilitated by Quovo and will allow PeerStreet customers to view their PeerStreet investments holistically within their entire Wealthfront investment portfolio. Source
Clarity Services is a leading alternative credit data provider; the firm has published a new report titled, "2017 Subprime Lending Trends Insights into Consumers and the Industry" which analyzes alternative credit data from the firm's database of approximately 60 million unique consumer identities; provides details on consumer trends and the financial behavior of this market group. Source
John Battelle, founder of Newco, talks with SoFi's Mike Cagney about the firm and its business growth; Cagney talks about the firm's customer commitment and the support customers receive over traditional banks; also reports on the verticals it has expanded to since starting the business with student loans; additionally Cagney provides some metrics on the business including that the company has $1 billion in equity on its balance sheet, $6 billion of lending capacity, $9.5 billion in loans for 2017 and estimates $18 to $20 billion in loan originations for 2018. Source
Citing increasing demand Orca has launched a new standardized investment platform that will be focused to financial advisers and broader P2P investors; Iain Niblock, CEO of Orca, stated, "Although P2P investments offer stable, predictable risk-adjusted returns and great diversification for investors, there has been virtually no uptake since financial advisers were permitted to suggest their clients consider P2P products last year."; the platform will focus on interest rates, default rates, subprime rates and a proprietary Orca scoring methodology. Source
AlfFi reports on some of the factors keeping institutional investors from marketplace lending with insight from Gabriella Kindert, investment manager at NN Investment Partners; discusses transparency and comparability, scale, regulatory risks, trust and sustainability, liquidity, and alignment of interests; also notes the importance of standardized measures for comparing risk and reward across investment options and the track record of the investment category. Source
The China Banking Regulatory Authority has mandated that all P2P lenders work with a custodian; a month after the requirement was announced, the majority of industry platforms have still not partnered with a custodian; most Chinese custodian banks do not offer P2P custodian services so the partnerships require added deliberation and communication; a number of new regulations are affecting the industry and it appears Chinese custodian banks will have a significant impact on the future of the industry given the online lenders they choose to partner with for P2P custodian services. Source