P2Binvestor has raised $7.7 million in a Series A1 funding led by Rockies Venture Club, an angel investor network in Colorado, and Future Venture Capital Co., a Japanese venture capital firm; according to CEO and Co-Founder Krista Morgan, funds will be used to grow operations, sales and marketing departments; improvements to the platform will also be made; Morgan stated, "We're seeing more interest in our model as venture funding hits a two-year low and more entrepreneurs are looking for ways to grow their business while preserving their equity using good-quality, flexible debt." Source
Millenium Trust Company has hired Tom Daley to lead the Alternative Solutions Group; Millenium Trust is a leading provider of custody solutions in the marketplace lending industry; Mr. Daley will be focused on adviser and registered investment adviser business development, seeking to expand the firm's alternative assets under custody from fund managers and financial advisers. Source
Global Debt Registry has written a white paper on emerging risks in the marketplace lending industry; focuses on risks and recent regulatory communications by regulators; also includes details on some of the recent court cases pertaining to the marketplace lending industry; summarizes risks by ecosystem categories; presents solutions available through Global Debt Registry. Source
dv01, a company which specializes in reporting and analytics in the marketplace lending industry, has announced an integration with Intex Solutions; Intex is a provider of structured fixed income cash flow models; Intex and dv01 clients will now be able to run cash flows by importing pools of loans from dv01 into Intex's application; according to dv01 CEO Perry Rahbar, "Intex is the leader for cashflows in the structured credit markets, and the completion of this integration brings immediate value to our clients by simplifying and expediting their workflows." Source
PwC's new Vulcan Digital Asset service will include digital asset wallets, international payment processing, investment/trading services, and eventually point-of-sale and merchant services; platform is currently in pilot mode by an international banking group and a central bank; an airline and other multinational banks are assessing the platform; according to Robert Allen, PwC director and Vulcan lead, "Vulcan is a cloud-based platform that enables banks and corporates to offer a suite of new digital currency related products and services to individual, retail and institutional customers within a trusted, transparent and compliant ecosystem. It is the first of its kind globally and has been created to bring digital assets and currency to the mainstream." Source
The UK-based, wealth management company, raised £30 million to help expand their product offering across the UK; investors include Convoy, a Hong Kong-listed firm of independent financial advisers, as well as existing backers Schroders, Balderton Capital, Pentech, Armada Investment Group and Nigel Wray; the funding is subject to the approval of the Financial Conduct Authority. Source
Electronic document management is a key aspect of marketplace lending and eOriginal is one of the ecosystem's document management providers; Lend Academy interviews Steve Bisbee of eOriginal in their podcast; eOriginal has been in business since 1996, first focusing on original electronic documents for mortgages, then working with auto financing and expanding into many other areas of lending; in 2012 the company began exploring marketplace lending involvement after the suggestion from an investment bank; eOriginal's first marketplace lending customer was SoFi in 2013 and they have added many more since then; as a well established business, eOriginal also has a good perspective on the regulatory requirements involving data integrity which is also helping industry progression. Source
SunTrust Bank saw the writing on the wall a couple of years ago, their aged technology was not efficient and new startup lenders were able to provide loans a lot faster; it took 18 months to overhaul their systems but the bank is now ready to go live with a unified, faster operation they feel is ready to compete in this new fintech era; "When you think about what clients want, most of all they want their money quickly, and they go to fintechs because of the speed," said Pam Kilday, head of operations at SunTrust bank; Pam Kilday says, "We see speed as a competitive edge and we want to be at the forefront." Source
In Orchard's Weekly Online Lending Snapshot, the company introduces a new section on US marketplace lending funds and highlights the growing business also noting RiverNorth's November 17 webcast, "Incorporating Marketplace Lending into an Institutional Portfolio"; notable data points from the snapshot include monthly gains in publicly traded companies for Lending Club, Yirendai and Square; in UK listed funds, the Ranger Direct Lending Fund continues to lead returns with a monthly gain of 2.27%; the RiverNorth Marketplace Lending Fund also has a monthly gain, with a return of 0.84%; in securitization the snapshot has Lendmark Funding Trust as the most recent securitization with a pricing date of October 26. Source
The agreement was signed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the People's Bank of China, the intention of the deal is to strengthen regulatory cooperation and boost market access for fintech startups in both markets; the "Fintech Bridge" as it is being called will allow the countries to share information about financial services and help to spot emerging trends in each market. Source