Zopa provides 2016 year end stats; in total they lent 680 million British pounds ($830 million); helped 20,000 people improve their home and 29,000 buy a car; the company also highlights several awards they won including Most Trusted Loan Provider by Moneywise for the seventh year in a row; the company struck many partnerships including offering phone finance with Unshackled, loans through personal finance app Pariti and a partnership with Airbnb; company also launched three new lending products for investors with varying risk and return profiles; in 2016 we also saw the first securitization of Zopa loans and learned of Zopa's plans to apply for a banking license. Source
DecisionHawk seeks to provide a service for advising and educating small businesses on market financing options; the firm is led by entrepreneurs experienced in business owner consulting; they have released DecisionHawk, a software solution offering problem solving, education and collaboration; driven by big data analytics DecisionHawk can be used for a range of business decisions including: debt capital financing, equity capital financing, business insurance and business referrals. Source
Aspire Financial Technologies has released new analytics and forecasting features on its Aspire Gateway Platform; the new tools will provide enhanced analytical capabilities for the originators, investors and banks utilizing the platform; clients will now be able to develop complex loan model portfolios with data from Aspire's data partners: Lending Club, Marlette Funding, Prosper and Progressa. Source
Fintech is helping to increase consumer spending in China as lenders provide increased access to capital; these lenders are becoming more integrated with merchants and providing point of sale credit options; Dumaio is one example of a fintech lender that has been successful by adapting to market demand; real estate fintech platforms are also emerging in the country with Shenzhen-based Touchouwang offering domestic real estate investment opportunities and Beijing-based Uoolu offering foreign real estate investments. Source
Prosper released its October 2016 performance report with the month's estimated return of 7.12% just below the estimate of 7.17% for the third quarter; in October, vintage prepayment rates continued to trend higher; delinquencies and loss patterns since 2013 are below levels in 2012; cumulative gross charge-offs appear to be a factor trending higher; average FICO of the portfolio was 714.1 in October. Source
Aspire Financial Technologies has announced a new asset-level disclosure data and analytics module; the module is targeted for securitization professionals; it provides free access to market participants seeking to analyze loan-level characteristics and performance data of US public securitizations; data is from SEC Edgar filings and is provided as a result of Reg AB II from the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act which requires certain public securitization issuers to post monthly asset level disclosures on public securitization trusts. Source
The Marketplace Lending Association has added eOriginal as its newest member; eOriginal was founded in 1996 and has been actively involved in the integration of electronic documentation throughout the financial services industry; it currently provides solutions for marketplace lenders and its expertise will significantly support the goals of the Marketplace Lending Association. Source
A report from P2P lender BondMason says wealth managers are becoming more aware of and comfortable with marketplace lending investments; over half of wealth managers would now recommend marketplace lending investments as an alternative to mainstream cash products; institutional investors are also increasingly allocating to marketplace loans with over half of the product's investments attributed to institutional investors. Source
AmEx has recently begun offering personal loans however its loans are only available to existing credit card customers; the firm says its new product is focused on its premium, high-credit quality card customers; overall, the firm appears to be taking a cautious customized approach to the lending product while also using the new initiative to help improve market share and struggling business growth. Source
Ram Ahluwalia from PeerIQ was a featured keynote speaker at LendIt USA 2017; Ram reports marketplace lending securitizations reached over $12 billion in issuance from over 75 transactions; in the third quarter of 2016 rated tranches reached a peak of nearly 25 and in the fourth quarter of 2016 rated tranches were approximately 18. Source
