Volkswagen is preparing an application for a UK banking license so they can continue car financing after the UK leaves the EU; the move will help the company be prepared as negotiations for Brexit continue; they currently are able to offer loans by passporting their license in Germany to the UK, but with Brexit occurring those rules might change; their loan book in the UK is $19.6bn and if they were to open a retail bank they anticipate about 10 percent of funding to be customer deposits. Source.
The Royal Bank of Scotland is closing 158 branches in the UK in an effort to reduce costs; it has continued to struggle since the financial crisis reporting nine consecutive years of losses; the firm has been increasingly integrating automation to cut costs and says it will make a decision on its robo advisory service for mortgage lending by the third quarter; the robo advisory service offers customers advice and insight that helps them decide on a mortgage loan product, also giving them an option to connect with a human advisor at any time during the process. Source
Estonia-based marketplace lender, Bondora, has announced plans for a new business model and system design that will change the way the company services its borrowers and investors; the changes will involve a new system design for borrowers and investors; according to Bondora, splitting the business into two separate parts will allow for greater pricing efficiency and better reporting and analytics. Source
Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple (GAFA) have significant market share and a massive influence; given the needs and demands of consumers it seems likely their services will more broadly integrate fintech offerings in the near future; all four companies have taken some steps to offer financial services and industry analysts are watching them closely for new announcements. Source
Lend Academy recently highlighted the trends in interest rates at Lending Club in their recent article; Lending Club has changed interest rates five times since late 2015; the recent trend of increasing rates can be seen in the below chart taken from Lending Club's statistics page which tracks average interest rates across loan grades since 2008; higher risk loans have seen the most impact from recent changes in interest rates. Source


Fintech companies raised $2.7 billion from 226 deals in the first quarter of 2017; 22 fintech unicorns in the first quarter with a total value of $77 billion; top funding rounds included Atom and Funding Circle with $100 million each; fintech venture capital funding in Europe increased to $700 million from $200 million in the fourth quarter and is expected to increase from 2016 while the US is expected to report a decrease. Source
This week's PeerIQ industry update mentions SoFi's securitization deal, solar lender Mosaic's signal to the market of their first ABS deal and a detailed explanation about trigger breaches; SoFi has announced plans to issue a $477 million unsecured consumer loan securitization; the market was very happy to hear news from Mosaic as this is the first solar deal since early 2016, though the size of the deal has yet to be determined; the trigger breaches seen in MPL ABS deals have hurt the securitization market and caused the cost of capital to rise among lenders; PeerIQ breaks down the current deals that have breached and what it means for the overall MPL ABS market. Source
LoanHero has appointed three new executives: Zalman Vitenson, Olaf Janke and Michael Sides; Vitenson will take the CEO role, Janke will be the firm's new CFO and Michael Sides has been hired as the firm's vice president of sales; LoanHero provides an innovative technology loan origination platform for point of sale lending. Source
deBanked reports that Bond Street has stopped making new loans; seven months ago Bond Street announced a $300 million loan purchase agreement with Jefferies; the WSJ outlines that engineers, product developers, and risk and marketing specialists will join Goldman’s consumer bank; Square is allegedly also in talks with some Bond Street employees. Source
