Fifth Third Bank will expand its partnership with Accion US Network which provides access to a network of small businesses; the initiative will focus on increased lending for underserved small businesses in Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio; the effort is also an extension of the bank's five-year, $30 billion Community Commitment and will utilize $10 billion allocated to small business lending, product innovation and enhanced underwriting and fulfillment for this alternative lending channel. Source
China Rapid Finance has filed for an IPO in the US; it will be the fifth online lender to trade on a public US exchange and the second Chinese online lender to list in the US; Lend Academy provides more details on China Rapid Finance and the IPO in their article; the firm is hoping to raise $100 million from the IPO; it is a peer-to-peer lender matching borrowers with investors and does not lend from its balance sheet; the platform targets underserved consumers and uses thousands of data points from alternative data sources including information on work history, payments, e-commerce, telco, search and social data for its credit underwriting. Source
Renaud Laplanche launched his new online lending firm at the beginning of April; Upgrade raised $60 million for its launch and is reportedly valued at $168 million; the company will compete directly with many unsecured consumer lenders offering loans from $2,000 to $50,000; a key part of the offering will be a mobile app to help borrowers manage their finances which has yet to be released. Source
Survey provides insights on investors preferences for investing in real estate and demand for technology; the report shows only 2% of participants are very familiar with real estate crowdfunding providing opportunity for greater awareness of real estate investment platforms; additional highlights include statistics on investment performance perception, interest in real estate technology and thoughts on house flipping investments. Source
Ocwen Financial is currently managing enforcement orders from 22 state regulators regarding abuse of mortgage servicing; factors involved with the proceedings include illegal foreclosures, deceptive fees and mishandled customer home loan payments; shares of the publicly traded company have fallen approximately 50%; the enforcement orders prohibit the acquisition of new mortgage servicing rights and the origination of mortgage loans. Source
Unison offers a unique solution to help homebuyers purchase their home; company provides up to half of the down payment to purchase a home and stands to benefit if the home value increases; product is available in 13 states with 8 lenders and the company is close to one thousand deals completed with an anticipated three thousand additional deals in 2017; chairman and co-CEO Thomas Sponholtz answers other questions about the platform from Crowdfund Insider. Source
SoFi has developed a new marketplace lending fund primarily targeting family offices; a regulatory filing shows the fund as SoFi Prime Income Fund with 33 investors each investing a minimum of $500,000; total fund investment is $105 million; the Fund will focus on investing in SoFi's unsecured student and personal loans. Source
Robo adviser Wealthfront has announced in a blog post that it will expand its product offering to include loans; the firm is one of the premier robo advisers in the US; through a partnership with RBC Capital Markets, Wealthfront has uniquely designed a lending product for its current clients with at least $100,000; loans can be issued for approximately 30% of a client's account value. Source
eOriginal has appointed Brian Madocks as the firm's new CEO; co-founder Stephen Bisbee will become president of the firm working directly with Madocks on eOriginal's digital documentation offerings and the company's growth; Madocks brings 25 years of business technology and application software experience with work in executive roles at Rivitas Inc., Vitalyst Inc. and SunGard Higher Education. Source
MoneyLion's senior vice president of marketing and product Tim Hong talks about the firm's marketing efforts and customer focus; says the firm was founded on advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence that help it to broaden credit access for customers; also reports that its balance sheet lending helps it to better align with customers; the firm provides a range of credit services for its customers that goes beyond loans; its offerings include credit monitoring services and programs that educate customers while also building a relationship with them that can facilitate credit issuance in the future. Source