In its annual Autumn Statement, the UK Treasury reported investment of 2.4 billion British pounds for research and development in financial innovation; 2 billion British pounds will be allocated to an innovation fund and 400 million British pounds will go to a venture capital investment fund managed by British Business Bank; in comments regarding the Autumn Statement, Chancellor of the Exchequer Phillip Hammond said the investment was to help the UK continue "leading the world in disruptive technology." Source
Capify is a small business lender serving the UK and Australian markets; the company makes online merchant cash advances as...
Cumulative lending for the Association's members is now GBP8.5 billion; the Association's nine platforms originated GBP1.004 billion ($1.29 billion) in the first quarter with originations led by Funding Circle with GBP328.1 million ($421.6 million); business lending originations totaled GBP636.2 million ($817.5 million) and reported an increase of 17% from the previous quarter and 43% from the first quarter of 2016; overall, Zopa leads cumulative originations with GBP2.17 billion ($2.79 billion) and Funding Circle is following at a close second with GBP2.16 billion ($2.78 billion). Source
Originations for Assetz Capital reached a new high in November; for the month, the platform originated 26 million British pounds bringing its total originations to 100 million British pounds for 2016; according to the firm, it is now the third largest business and property P2P lender in the UK. Source
The UK's Department for Media, Culture and Sport has published a digital strategy report outlining its plans for the tech sector post-Brexit; the government plans to invest 17.3 million British pounds ($21.27 million) into artificial intelligence and robotics research and also reported a 1 billion British pound ($1.23 billion) program to improve internet connectivity across the UK; it will also create five international tech hubs, host a competition for fintech products and create a forum for communicating with the tech community; all of its efforts are geared towards helping the UK remain competitive in the tech industry. Source
RateSetter has created a new committee to monitor and report on expected losses providing increased transparency for the firm; the committee will include RateSetter's CEO, CFO and various other directors of consumer and commercial credit risk; the committee will provide quarterly reporting on expected losses for the board of directors and also plans to publicly disclose data on its website; additionally the firm plans to enhance its performance reporting with more details on materialized and expected losses; overall, new initiatives around risk monitoring are an effort to more accurately analyze and manage risk following higher than expected losses from loans in 2014 and 2015. Source
The updated guidance document makes an explicit reference to crypto assets, crypto exchange providers, and custodian wallet providers.
The Victory Park Capital Specialty Lending Fund reported a net total return of -1.47% for the fourth quarter of 2016 with its marketplace loan investments dragging on total return; while reporting a loss for the fourth quarter, the fund says "…there has been further progress in the reallocation of capital to balance sheet investments"; the fund increased its balance sheet investments to 51% of the fund's net asset value in the fourth quarter, up from 22% at the beginning of the year; firm continues to reallocate its fund and is also buying back shares. Source
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Europe awoke this morning to find that the second largest economy in Europe no longer wants to be part of...
Stress testing from Funding Circle has reported its loan platform would still provide investors with a net return of 6.4% given a worst case market scenario; while effects from Brexit continue to be debated, market skeptics are not as optimistic as the UK platforms; they foresee stagflation in the UK characterized by higher unemployment and slowing GDP growth; they are also concerned about a lack of skin in the game which has prompted parliament member, Chris Philp, to request from the Financial Conduct Authority that a portion of each firm's loans include balance sheet capital; while marketplace lending executives are against this approach, policy makers are considering it. Source