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
Data from Financial Technology Partners reports over 1,500 funding deals from over 1,700 investors in 2016; these deals accounted for $36 billion in fintech financing; data by fintech category can be seen in the chart below with banking and lending companies accounting for 29% of the year's total deals; payments, loyalty and ecommerce accounted for 22%; securities, capital markets and wealth management also reported substantial interest from investors with 19% of the deals funded. Source
According to data from the Bank of England, unsecured consumer credit in the UK increased to 1.9 billion British pounds ($2.34 billion) in November and reported its highest level since March 2005; experts believe UK consumers have been increasing debt to take advantage of the market's low interest rates; P2P lenders have benefited from the increased demand for debt, reporting the highest growth rate in unsecured lending over the past five years, according to a November 2016 PwC survey; in the corporate market, businesses reported lower demand for credit with bank lending to non-financial businesses down 767 billion British pounds ($945 billion) in November. Source
In December 2016 real estate P2P lender Wellesley began a fundraising campaign on Seedrs and also received a First Gazette notice for late accounts; a recent report from the Financial Times says the company is dependent on raising new capital in order to stay in business; its Seedrs campaign is targeting 1.5 million British pounds ($1.85 million) and has raised 195,000 British pounds ($240,280). Source
Lend Academy provides insight on online lending performance trends in their article; details interest rate changes and trends from 2010 to present; from 2010 to 2014 returns were relatively stable; in 2015, Lending Club interest rates increased with the Fed's first rate increase in many years however the rate increases were primarily focused on the higher risk loans; capital market investors began slowing investment in 2015 and reduced investments even further after the resignation of Lending Club CEO Renaud Laplanche in May 2016; interest rates at Lending Club have been gradually rising since late 2015, specifically in the higher risk loans; rate increases were put in place to help to offset some degradation in performance; Lend Academy will explore recent vintage performance in part two. Source
Crowdfund Insider talks with Ron Suber about Prosper and marketplace lending in 2016; in 2016 the firm reported decreased investment and transaction fee revenue which led to a number of new initiatives and changes; in his comments Ron Suber cited the importance of being adaptable to change; he also talked about the investment opportunity from institutional investors and the importance of securitization and a secondary market; for 2017 he expects rapid changes for the industry to continue and hopes that as the industry evolves it will result in more opportunities for borrowers, online lending platforms and the ecosystem. Source
British Business Bank will be increasing its investment through P2P lenders by adding another 40 million British pound ($49.71 million) investment at Funding Circle; the investment follows some skepticism from UK taxpayers about the Bank's investment management of government funds; following the release of the Financial Conduct Authority's interim update on crowdfunding, it was reported that the British Business Bank had 85 million British pounds ($105.64 million) invested in the P2P lending industry with 60 million British pounds ($74.57 million) invested at Funding Circle; in a statement on the new investment, Funding Circle says over 5 million British pounds ($6.21 million) in interest has been earned by Funding Circle on behalf of the UK taxpayer since March 2013. Source
Indonesia's Financial Services Authority has issued regulations for alternative lenders; the regulations are slightly less strict than expected; they require fintech companies to have capital of 1 billion rupiah ($74,239) when registering their business and capital of 2.5 billion rupiah ($187,210) when applying for a business license; the regulations do not set any limits on interest rates. Source
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has fined TransUnion and Equifax over $23.2 million for deceptively advertising services; the agencies reportedly advertised credit services costing customers over $200 as free and misled customers about the use of credit reports they obtained; according to the CFPB, TransUnion will pay $13.93 million to consumers and a $3 million fine while Equifax will pay $3.8 million to consumers and a $2.5 million fine. Source