The LendIt Forum replay for Investor Opportunities in Non-Prime Lending is now available; the webinar discussed the non-prime investment space including details on the profile of non-prime investors and the returns investors can expect from this category; speakers included James Zhang from NerdWallet, Aaron Peck from Monroe Capital and Tim Ranney from Clarity Services. Source
Finbee currently offers consumer loans and has announced expansion into business loans for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); the expansion follows a new law enacted by the government to support online lending and a license obtained by Finbee for the service; the SME loans will be sourced from a separate website; Finbee will offer SME loans for up to 15,000 euros ($15,911) with a 12 month duration; different from the consumer loans, Finbee will not be covering defaults from SME loans with its compensation fund. Source
VeriComply provides automated loan verification services for the marketplace lending secondary market; the firm has hired former Lending Club executive Roger Dickerson as its new president; Dickerson brings experience in investor operations and marketplace loan securitizations; he will be leading VeriComply's efforts to support marketplace loan sales and securitizations through its automated loan verification services. Source
Marketplace lending analytics platform dv01 has announced the launch of a new securitization portal called Securitization Explorer; the new product will provide data, analytics and visualization tools for marketplace lending securitizations; in comments regarding the announcement, Perry Rahbar, founder and CEO of dv01, said, "With Securitization Explorer, we are extending the reach of our already robust tools to meet the specific needs of investors in these deals." Source
Peter Renton from Lend Academy provides his quarterly report on marketplace lending investments; the portfolio return continued to trend lower in the fourth quarter of 2016 however the overall decrease was lower than previous quarters; trailing twelve month returns in Q4 2016 was 8.07% compared to 8.21% in Q3 2016; defaults were a significant factor during the quarter, reaching a new high; an analysis of performance across the following companies is included: Lending Club, Prosper, Direct Lending Income Fund, Lend Academy P2P Fund, P2Binvestor and PeerStreet. Source
UK bank lending and mortgage approvals increased in January as rates remained low for borrowers; according to data from the British Bankers Association, consumer borrowing doubled from December to an increase of 538 million British pounds ($673 million) with loan growth in personal loans and overdrafts reporting an eight month high of 422 million British pounds ($527.9 million); bank lending to businesses also reported its highest increase since January 2015 at 3.4 billion British pounds ($4.25 billion); mortgage approvals were also significantly higher at 44,657 with total mortgage borrowing at 13.8 billion British pounds ($17.26 billion) and refinancing approvals up 15.7% from January 2016. Source
Afterpay and Touchcorp are merging to form NewCo which will provide an advanced solution for merchant network installment payments; Afterpay has steadily grown its merchant network which pays a 4% fee for the installment service; Touchcorp will help provide advancements in payments technology for Afterpay and the integrated services will allow for broader expansion. Source
Business Insider shares data on total funds raised by UK-based digital only banks; Atom Bank leads in total funding and is reportedly in process of closing another 100 million British pounds ($124 million) in equity which would bring their total raised to 235 million British pounds ($294.6 million); other players include Tandem Bank, Starling Bank, Monzo, N26 and Monese; Monzo is also in the process of raising money with a Series C funding round. Source
In a Q & A with Forbes, Matt Burton, CEO of Orchard discusses the early days of marketplace lending and how Orchard came to be; the company has raised $45 million and has institutional investors across the globe who utilize the platform; Burton also talks about their focus on the secondary market and what upcoming startups he thinks are interesting. Source
The replay for Wednesday's LendIt Forum: Investor Opportunities in Non-Prime Lending is now available; the webinar discussed the non-prime investment space including details on the profile of non-prime investors and the returns investors can expect from this category; speakers included James Zhang from NerdWallet, Aaron Peck from Monroe Capital and Tim Ranney from Clarity Services.