eOriginal surveyed participants at the LendIt USA 2017 conference to gain insight on drivers of industry growth and market challenges; according to the survey report 90% of participants expect an increase in partnerships between traditional banks and marketplace lenders in 2017; when asked about challenges for the industry overall, 47% reported regulation as the top challenge followed by access to capital at 25%; respondents also reported a number of challenges in end-to-end digital transaction management solutions including: full adoption by partners, lack of infrastructure, security and privacy concerns, and cost. Source
A group of House Republicans has sent a letter to Comptroller Thomas Curry requesting his agency slowdown its plans for a fintech charter; the letter was signed by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling and 33 other House Republicans; it primarily suggests that stakeholders are not receiving an appropriate amount of time to comment on the full details of the fintech charter and that there is potential for the fintech charter to be overturned by Congress. Source
ProducePay was previously a LendIt PitchIt finalist; the company provides an online financing platform for farmers of perishable goods; they recently announced a $77 million debt and equity funding round that will help it expand its business financing. Source
Carvana is working with Wells Fargo and Bank of America on plans for a US initial public offering (IPO); the company is one of a few specialist providers selling used cars and offering auto financing through the internet with automated towers storing vehicles in cities such as Austin, Dallas and Nashville; Reuters reports the company has a valuation of $2 billion and is planning for its IPO in the first half of 2017. Source
Avant has joined the Global Debt Registry (GDR) network; through the network partnership Avant's investors will have enhanced access to loan due diligence services; in comments regarding the partnership, Kevin Friedrich, senior director of treasury at Avant said, "We are delighted to partner with GDR to provide our investors with this independent loan data integrity service and help drive new transparency for the lending industry." Source
Lend Academy provides more details on defaults triggering a breach in a SoFi securitization portfolio; the portfolio reporting the defaults was SoFi's first securitization of unsecured consumer loans, the SoFi Consumer Loan Program 2015-1 LLC; given the terms of the deal and the overall characteristics, the breach does not seem to have broad market indications; the deal arrangers set the trigger level at 3% which is a relatively low rate and the cumulative net loss is only reported to be marginally above the trigger; a chart from PeerIQ also provides more details on the cumulative net loss rates for SoFi. Source
Scott Sanborn provided the opening keynote presentation at LendIt USA 2017; the appointment of Sanborn has been a critical success factor for Lending Club and the marketplace lending industry; in his presentation he discusses the challenges of 2016 and the significant growth opportunity that still remains ahead; compares the market's potential to the growth of Amazon; provides insight on important factors for growth over the next ten years.
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) has released data for its February Small Business Optimism Index; the Index shows a decrease to 105.3 from 105.9; the NFIB says that the reading is still one of the highest in 43 years; the lower report for February is primarily due to uncertainty around President Trump's deregulation plans, new healthcare law and tax reform. Source
According to Bloomberg, defaults have triggered a breach in a 2015 SoFi bond deal; Bloomberg provides some details on the breach, reporting that the SoFi loans backing the bonds averaged more than $35,000, were unsecured and were from prime credit borrowers with annual salaries averaging around $130,000; the SoFi breach adds to worries about rising defaults overall which have been a factor for bond deals and troubled lenders in the marketplace lending industry. Source
Olaf Carlson-Wee recently launched a fund with $15 million in assets under management and backing by Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures; Laura Shin sat down with Olaf on her Unchained podcast to discuss the fund and how he discovered bitcoin back in 2011; the podcast covers how Polychain Capital invests exclusively in digital assets, not companies, and how Olaf Carlson-Wee views cryptocurrencies; they also cover Olaf being the first employee at Coinbase and how he put what he called at the time his meager life savings into bitcoin. Source