Rachel Schneider discusses a new way of thinking about the financial lives of Americans; suggests that many of the models are out of date; Schneider worked with a research project called US Financial Diaries which worked with 235 families to learn about every dollar that they spent, borrowed, saved, earned, and more; through the research they understood these families on a much deeper level to understand the 'why' behind financial decisions; Schneider shares many interesting data points including income and spending spikes in the lives of Americans; highlights the opportunities for fintech companies in the US. Source
Scott Sanborn talks with Bloomberg about LendingClub's recovery and Q217 results; says the firm has focused on internal controls and investors; highlights that 44% of loan funding in Q2 came from banks; also discusses competition with credit cards and the consumer credit market. Source
Blog post outlines platform performance and improving delinquency rates across most grades and terms; provides perspective on the economic backdrop and interest rates; the company has updated their loss forecasts; projected returns are similar to last quarter with small increases for grades F and G. Source
The UK based digital banking firm 11:FS has hired fintech expert Sam Maule to help head up their expansion into North America; "Having made a great impact in the first 15 months of 11:FS' life, we now feel we can have a similar impact with Sam at the helm in North America and Canada, helping organizations really understand what digital transformation within their banks and insurers truly means," CEO David Brear explained; 11:FS is also looking to open a New York office and named entrepreneur and investor Lisa Gansky as non-executive director. Source
UK online lender WiseAlpha has added corporate bonds to its investment offerings on the platform; previously the firm primarily focused on offering corporate loan investments; the corporate bonds will expand the platform's institutional debt offerings and the firm will also allow for trading on its secondary market. Source
Andrew Ng, former artificial intelligence chief of Baidu and founder of Google Brain, is launching a new online course for deep learning; the course will be available through the online education site he co-founded, Coursera, and will include content from his popular machine learning course at Stanford where he is currently a professor. Source
Better Mortgage is now offering mortgage loans in thirteen states with the expansion to Florida; the lender offers a number of advantages for borrowers including a 100% digital experience and a verified pre-approval letter for qualified borrowers within 24 hours; with the licensing in Florida, Better Mortgage gains access to lending in Tampa and Jacksonville, recently reported as two of the healthiest housing markets in the country. Source
In a LinkedIn post, Sukhwinder Shoker provides insight into MarketInvoice's loan book which the company shares publicly; analysis includes data on originations and advance rates, invoice terms, risk-price grade, gross discount rates, diversification and net returns; according to Shoker's analysis, the average monthly net return achieved since January 2012 by investors before fees and tax is 50 basis points. Source
LendIt has announced the judges for its annual PitchIt @ LendIt Europe competition to be held on October 9 and 10; judges include Rob Moffat of Balderton Capital, Reshma Sohoni of Seedcamp, Dan Cobley of Blenheim Chalcot and Patrick Meisberger of CommerzVentures; in comments regarding the competition and its judges, Jason Jones, co-founder and chief executive of LendIt, said: "The high caliber of judges we've had over the years is a testament to how the competition has evolved, and it's inspiring to see another strong panel taking to the stage for the competition. I'm confident that their diverse professional backgrounds will see one of the most exciting PitchIt competitions yet." Source
Old Mutual has been decreasing its position in the Fund throughout the year and has now reduced it even further; in March 2017 Old Mutual reduced its stake to below 6% and following its most recent move its stake is now less than 4.99%; according to AltFi, the VPC Specialty Lending Fund is the second largest online lending and alternative credit fund with approximately GBP351 million ($456 million); the Fund has been experiencing losses in recent months and the managers have been enacting a share buyback strategy while also shifting its positioning to greater allocation in balance sheet investments. Source