Consumer borrowing increased by $15.2 billion in February, according to a report from the Federal Reserve; credit card borrowing increased by $2.9 billion helping total credit card debt outstanding to increase to $1 trillion; auto loan and student loan borrowing also increased in February by $12.3 billion. Source
The Federal Reserve increased its federal funds rate by 0.25% following its March Federal Open Market Committee meeting; the rate is now at 0.75% to 1.00%; the Fed also alluded to plans for two more rate increases in 2017. Source
The Federal Open Market Committee raised its target for the federal funds rate to 0.50% to 0.75% at its December meeting; Fed officials also signaled a more aggressive approach for rate increases in 2017 with projections showing the potential for three more rate increases next year; improvements in the labor market, positive GDP growth and stable inflation were key market factors for the rate increase. Source
The Federal Reserve has announced it will hold an industry conference on financial innovation, titled, "Financial Innovation: Online Lending to Households and Small Businesses"; the event will take place on December 2 and will involve academics, industry participants and policymakers; discussions will focus on academic research and the evolving online lending industry. Source
Yesterday, two major reports were published on the p2p lending industry. First, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland put out...
Philadelphia Fed president, Patrick Harker, gave a speech titled, "Fintech: Revolution or Evolution?" at the University of Pennsylvania; the speech was part of a lecture series at the School of Engineering and Applied Science; Patrick Harker discussed fintech in the context of technology, business and government noting innovation in cryptocurrency, blockchain, banking and regulation. Source
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced on Wednesday that it would leave its federal funds rate unchanged; the Fed increased the rate to 0.50% to 0.75% at its last meeting in December and predictions have called for more aggressive increases in 2017 however it seems they may be later in the year; Janet Yellen speaks before Congress in February and the market is currently reporting an 18% probability of an increase in March at the FOMC's next meeting. Source
Report from the Federal Reserve explores blockchain for payments, clearing and settlement; paper includes information obtained from interviews with approximately 30 industry stakeholders; says distributed ledger technology could improve processes for payments, clearing and settlement however implementation and adoption of the new technology present challenges. Source
With improved labor market data and a better than expected third quarter GDP report on Friday, the Federal Reserve is expected to outline plans for a December rate hike at its November Federal Open Market Committee Meeting (FOMC) this week; economists are expecting verbiage similar to that used last October before the Fed's last rate increase, indicating the economy was on target to meet the FOMC's objectives. Source
This week Prosper released their June 2012 Investor Monthly Update. This is the second update in the series (the May...