Euronext has invested $10 million in Algomi, a London fintech startup with a bond trading platform; the investment builds on a joint venture which includes plans for expanding bond trading capabilities in North America and Asia; Euronext has primarily been focused on stock and derivatives trading in Europe. 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
Credibly discusses the evolution of the fintech market and the firm's current market position in their featured blog post; central to their discussion is the integration of data science into all aspects of finance and the intersection of data science and bank partnerships; in what Credibly calls Generation 3.0 of fintech, online lenders are developing lending business models which also include software as a service (SaaS) products that are an extension of their proprietary technology; Credibly discusses the benefits of SaaS technology and the strengths banks present in partnering with fintech innovators; together the user experience is only expected to improve as more partnerships are formed throughout the industry. Sponsored Blog Post
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has opened a comment period for information on alternative credit data. The CFPB issued the request for information (RFI) on February 16 and the comment period is open until May 19. Responses to the RFI can be found here.
The CFPB, established by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act and led by Director Richard Cordray, is interested in obtaining information on the currently available sources of alternative credit data in the market and alternative credit data underwriting models being used by fintech innovators.
The CFPB's RFI follows an increasingly emerging financial inclusion trend in fintech. The market has seen a number of new companies seeking to make credit more accessible for thin file borrowers. Meanwhile, innovation around alternative credit data is also surfacing. The CFPB seems to be taking an active role in this emerging trend and will likely publish a comprehensive report on its findings and perspective following the comment period. Source
Lend Academy summarizes the activity of past LendIt PitchIt finalists in their article; a LendIt competition for startup businesses, PitchIt provides finalists the opportunity to present their business in front of a panel of judges and an audience of investors with the goal of receiving new venture capital funding for business growth; since 2015, PitchIt has helped support the success of the many finalists detailed in the Lend Academy article. Source
OnDeck is one of the market's leading small business online lenders and they have taken an active role in industry self-regulation specifically around improved transparency for business borrowers; in their featured blog post they discuss the market's landscape and their lending technology partnership integration efforts; they also provide details on their involvement in developing industry best practices through development of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity and the Innovation Lending Platform Association; this involvement has resulted in the creation of the SMART Box which they also detail in their blog post. Sponsored Blog Post
Crowdfund Insider provides a roundup of news occurring in China's alternative finance market; the China Banking Regulatory Commission has released more details on its guidance for online lending partnerships with custody banks; also noteworthy is the potential initial public offering in the US by China Rapid Finance. Source
UBS has broadly launched its robo advisor service SmartWealth after a limited launch in October; the solution presents another robo advisory service offering by an incumbent financial services provider; portfolio fees range from 1% to 2% with an investment threshold of 15,000 British pounds ($18,500); according to data from Business Insider, Vanguard's Personal Advisor Services leads the robo advisor market with assets under management of $41 billion followed by Schwab with $10 billion and Betterment with $6.2 billion. Source
Jim Cramer of Mad Money talks with Mike Cagney of SoFi to discuss the unique business model of the privately managed business which has originated over $16 billion in loans and recently closed a $500 million fundraising round; Cagney provides details on the student loan refinancing business and the company's unique focus on supporting customers in many different aspects of their personal and financial lives; notes SoFi's return on equity advantages over banks and the market opportunity it is targeting as it builds out its business. Source
Upstart's Dave Girourad talks with TechCrunch about the company's new fundraising round which is adding new capital of $32.5 million; the new capital brings total funding to $85 million and this round's investors included Rakuten, Third Point Ventures, Khosla Ventures and First Round Capital; the fundraising will help the firm launch a new software as a service product called Powered by Upstart, an extension of its proprietary credit underwriting platform which utilizes machine learning and modern data science; Upstart will be releasing the new product at LendIt USA 2017. Source