Linked Finance, an Irish P2P SME lender, has received new funding from Eiffel Investment Group; under the deal Eiffel Investment Group has agreed to provide up to 20% of funding for new loans on Linked Finance's platform; Eiffel has been around the space since 2011 and manages 200 million euros ($213.43 million) for institutional investors across other platforms including Lendix and Funding Circle; Linked Finance has originated 700 loans since launching in 2013 and plans to lend 350 million euros ($373.50 million) by 2020. Source
One of the last actions of the Obama administration this week was to release a policy framework for fintech. This was a follow up from the White House Fintech Summit in June 2016 where many of the leading fintech companies gathered in Washington for a day of presentations and roundtable discussions. The paper provides a framework with ten principles that policymakers and regulators can use to think about and engage with the fintech ecosystem. Given today is the inauguration day for a new administration we won't know if these principles will be carried through but we do hope the Trump White House will make fintech innovation a priority. Source
LendIt has announced the finalists for its first annual industry awards; the award winners will be announced at the LendIt USA 2017 Awards Ceremony on March 7 at 6:30 PM EST; the industry awards include finalists in 17 categories with an additional award for the best LendIt USA 2017 exhibitor. Source
Recently, local governments in China have launched pilot programs for foreign investments; Qualified Domestic Limited Partner (QDLP) was launched in 2013 in Shanghai which has since expanded to other cities; the Qualified Domestic Investment Enterprises (QDIE) launched in Shenzhen; both require a formation of an onshore fund in one of the pilot cities; Mondaq outlines more details of these programs including differences of the programs and other requirements in their recent article. Source
Sandler O'Neill clients will soon get access to Orchard's suite of data analytics products thanks to a new partnership between the two firms; Lend Academy talked with Orchard to provide more insight on the partnership; clients of Sandler O'Neill include community banks, thrifts and specialty finance institutions; Orchard's Chief Commercial Officer Bill Ullman says the data partnership will provide expertise to help them evaluate investment opportunities in the online lending market. Source
Assetz Capital has originated over 200 million British pounds ($247.02 million) in loans since its inception with 108 million British pounds ($133.39 million) originated in 2016; firm is primarily focused on secured lending for small businesses and property developers; monthly originations have been reaching 26 million British pounds ($32.11 million) and in the fourth quarter total lending for the platform was 45 million British pounds ($55.58 million). Source
Funding Circle has replaced German Managing Director Matthias Knecht who joined Funding Circle with the acquisition of Zencap and then left the firm in June of 2016; Thorsten Seeger will take the role of managing director; the firm has also hired Belkacem Krimi as chief risk officer for continental Europe; Funding Circle will also be closing its lending business in Spain which it acquired with the purchase of Zencap. Source
Anthony Scaramucci has agreed to sell SkyBridge Capital to China's HNA Capital and RON Transatlantic; speculators believe the deal could help the Chinese businesses gain favor with the US government as Scaramucci takes a new role as presidential advisor; SkyBridge will continue to be led by its current management teams; its SALT Conference will become a new entity owned by SkyBridge executives. Source
Estimated return for December 2016 production is 6.45%; PMI7, Prosper's underwriting model, was put in place late December, 2016; models are updated every 12 to 18 months; average FICO was higher than lows in 2015 and 2016 but is expected to decrease with an increase in lower grade loans as a result of the new credit risk model; prepayment rates increased and delinquency rates were lower; cumulative gross charge offs have increased but are expected to trend lower. Source
Fintech industry companies have joined together to form a new industry group, the Consumer Financial Data Rights group; the group will support unrestricted consumer access to consumer data facilitating innovative financial products and services. Source