Small business P2P lender Lendix has announced expansion to Italy; based in Paris the Italy expansion follows expansion to Spain in 2016; Lendix has hired Sergio Zocchi who will be the CEO for the new Italy business based in Milan; as of December 31, 2016 Lendix had originated 57 million euros ($61.01 million) in loans; it is also rumored that the firm plans to continue its expansion across Europe in 2017 with a new office potentially opening in the UK. Source
Chirag Shah, CEO of Nucleus Commercial Finance, believes poor underwriting standards by UK P2P platforms will begin manifesting itself in 2017 and more platforms will begin to fail; in an interview with Business Insider he says: "Everyone's done the easy part of building the loan books. Now let's see who can get the money back."; Shah also points out that the big platforms in the UK own most of the quality loan volume, second and third tier platforms are underwriting borrowers who were rejected by banks or the large platforms; Conrad Ford of Funding Options thinks Shah makes good points though he doesn't think there is a systemic underwriting problem across the market. Source
The Coalition for Responsible Business Finance (CRBF) has announced it will join the Innovative Lending Platform Association (ILPA) in efforts to more broadly support lending for small businesses; the ILPA's network is primarily led by existing members, OnDeck, Kabbage and CAN Capital; with the merger of the two organizations, the ILPA will gain representation from the National Federation of Independent Business, the National Small Business Association, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, the US Chamber of Commerce and the Association for Enterprise Opportunity; the expanded ILPA will provide even greater resources for advancing online small business lending education, advocacy and best practices; the ILPA is most well known for its work on introducing the SMART Box™ comparison tool for small business lenders; with the merger of the two organizations, the ILPA has also developed an updated industry code of ethics, leveraging the work previously done by the CRBF. Source
Marketplace lending analytics platform dv01 has announced the launch of a new securitization portal called Securitization Explorer; the new product will provide data, analytics and visualization tools for marketplace lending securitizations; in comments regarding the announcement, Perry Rahbar, founder and CEO of dv01, said, "With Securitization Explorer, we are extending the reach of our already robust tools to meet the specific needs of investors in these deals." Source
Marketplace crowdfunding platform Lenderwize is reporting success as the first online lending and project financing platform for telecommunications businesses; the firm offers invoice financing, project financing and equity financing with rates of return averaging 6% to 14% annually; they recently surveyed telcos in the industry finding among other statistics a cash flow market opportunity of $22 billion; the platform now has $7.3 million in borrower requests and $10 million committed from institutional investors and six equity investors; it is also expecting new capital from business development presentations at TechFluence's Fintech Meets Telecom in Frankfurt and the Fintech Circle and AngelDen's Pitch in London. Source
loanDepot has been steadily becoming one of the US's top mortgage lenders, rivaling both online businesses and traditional institutions; Anthony Hsieh talked with Forbes at LendIt USA about the growth of the business; the company has funded over $100 billion in mortgage loans and is building out a fintech ecosystem that will empower future market growth and product expansion; loanDepot is the third online mortgage company founded by Anthony Hsieh and the company is in its eighth year of operations; Hsieh says the firm is potentially considering an IPO. Source
Leading digital transaction management firm eOriginal has been selected to manage electronic documentation processes for Fannie Mae; as a government sponsored enterprise (GSE) Fannie Mae works with lenders nationwide; the eOriginal services will help improve all of the GSE's associated mortgage loan transactions providing support for lenders and loan portfolio services for Fannie Mae; in comments on the partnership, Cindy McKissock, vice president of customer digital experience at Fannie Mae said: "We continually look for ways to help lenders who want to deliver an end-to-end digital mortgage experience. In addition to investing in new eVault infrastructure, we are also simplifying eMortgage adoption by transitioning to the MISMO SMART Doc™ Version 3.0 format in 2017. This will reduce complexity and allow lenders and technology solution providers to adopt eMortgage with greater ease." Source
Daily Fintech reports that Tradeplus24 has received CHF100 million ($100.61 million) from a capital fundraising; the Swiss fintech market has been growing over the last two years and the CHF100 million is a sign of that; Tradeplus24 is a Switzerland-based balance sheet marketplace lender; the capital was raised through debt and the firm will use the fundraising for SME lending. Source
Online multi-lender, Bizfi, has announced a new partnership with Internex Capital; Bizfi will add Internex to its network of lenders on the platform; Internex will offer asset-based revolving lines of credit from $250,000 to $5 million for small to mid-sized businesses in manufacturing, wholesale, trucking, business and consulting services; through its online lending platform Bizfi originates loans and also matches borrowers with its network of over 45 lenders. Source
Individual investors have now invested $100 million of the company's $1 billion funded; the investments have been growing at a fast pace with the platform launching in January 2016 and doubling its $50 million investment level from mid-October of 2016; LendingHome markets returns of 8.75% and requires a $50,000 opening balance with a minimum investment of $5,000; at the LendIt USA 2017 event the firm received the 2017 Top Real Estate Platform award. Source