The CEO and Co-Founder of Groundfloor, a real estate crowdfunding platform, discusses their focus on fix and flip properties and why non-accredited investors have been their prime focus. Source
PeerIQ's weekly update covers the recent partnership by Acorns and PayPal, household debt in the US and a new Bain survey that shows people are more willing to try fintech products; LendingClub filed its latest securitization deal for $330mn and Kroll upgraded all three classes of the Earnest EARN 2016-B deal; they also took a deep dive on TransUnions recently released fintech study. Source.
Peter Renton shares returns from his marketplace lending portfolio as of Q3 2017; overall returns for Renton’s portfolio was 6.64%; declining performance in the portfolio is primarily due to LendingClub loans; new additions to his portfolio for the quarter include AlphaFlow, Money360 and YieldStreet. Source
Some fintech companies have stated that banks are not following through on the data sharing guidance set forth by the CFPB; banks on the other hand have said they are following through and sharing data with fintechs; the biggest complaint thus far is that banks are being selective and not granting access widely; banks have more complicated systems and multiple levels of compliance which could end a relationship before it begins; some ideas for better cooperation are for banks to design a set of standards as banks in the UK have done. Source.
A consortium of banks that include JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse and Citi trialed a distributed ledger platform that proceeded equity swaps from beginning to end; the AxCore platform by Axoni would allow for payments to process instantly and reduce potential disputes; Greg Schvey, CEO of Axoni, said in a statement reported by CoinDesk, “Equity swap data is infamously complex and difficult to manage, making it a terrific fit for distributed ledger technology.” Source.
Nav Athwal was a founder and CEO of RealtyShares; the company has raised over $500 million for real estate deals and is one of the leaders in the real estate crowdfunding space; Crowdfund Insider spoke to Athwal who stated, “RealtyShares is in the strongest position it’s ever been in. The company is moving from the build phase to the scale phase of its lifecycle. To best position RealtyShares for the future, I made the decision to transition out of my role as CEO to a new role on the Board of Directors. I asked Ed Forst to take on the role of interim CEO, while we look for a permanent CEO who will fit the culture and profile we’re seeking. I am still very much a part of RealtyShares and will be actively involved in strategic decision-making. I am looking forward to supporting the company in this new capacity and getting back into principal real estate investing and agribusiness. As I begin to work on additional projects, I will be sure to let you know.” Source
The Chairman and CEO of ConnectOne Bank, a community bank provides his perspective on small businesses and banks embracing technology in all aspects of their business; ConnectOne is a forward thinking community bank which recently moved lending operations to the cloud; they look to meet the needs of their clients however they want to interact, even if that means coming to a bank branch. Source
After considerable outcry the Cleveland Fed has removed their study about online lending; “In light of the comments received, the authors are currently revising their paper to further clarify the data sample they used in the study,” Cleveland Fed spokesman Tim Dewald said in an email to American Banker; they plan to post a new version of the paper after completing significant revisions. Lend Academy also covered the removal of the report after posting about the release last week. Source.
PayPal is connecting with Acorns, an automated savings/investing platform; users will be able to contribute and manage their account from the PayPal app; the first users will get access today which will expand access to all US users by early 2018; PayPal previously has invested in Acorns, leading a $30 million round. Source
Intrinio CEO Rachel Carpenter said the mission of her company is to make raw data fields available; they recently partnered with Nasdaq to include their real-time data feeds within the marketplace; they offer over 150 different data APIs and have built the company to bring Warren Buffet’s investment ideas to life in software; individuals can access the data for $75 a month and companies pay a custom rate. Source.