As we continue to hear more from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) about their new fintech charter, the question comes to mind: is the regulator taking the right approach?; fintech companies are beginning to disrupt many different facets of the financial system, coming up with a singular charter could be limiting and hurt innovation; the OCC has stated that this new charter from their point of view is just one of many options a firm can choose when looking at regulation; having regulators at every level think outside the box will help innovation overall and this also can help to discover an approach not yet seen. Source
Julieann Thurlow of Reading Cooperative Bank saw the SoFi Super Bowl ad last year and decided to try out the lender as she watched the ad, she received a loan in a few minutes; her reaction set off a chain of events where she is now looking to accelerate her own bank's innovation to keep up with online lenders like SoFi; her reasoning is that these new entrants will begin to eat into their customers unless their technology is on a comparable scale; they now have a mobile experience where you can open new accounts and she is looking to have a mobile mortgage application live in the next year; she now attends innovation events and is looking to help their customers move into the digital age with the bank. Source
Hardeep Walia spoke about the lack of transparency that exists in investing today with many investors investing in a black box as he demonstrates on stage; in turn, investors may be supporting companies who may not have the same values; sustainability is a trend and consumers are increasingly willing to pay more for sustainability but investors need to vote not just with consumption dollars, but also investment dollars; to that end Motif has launched a new digital wealth product called Motif Impact that allows investors to build an investment strategy around their values such as a sustainable planet, fair labor and good corporate behavior. Source
Lending Club and Prosper allow for tax efficient investing on their platforms through an IRA; Lend Academy provides details on opening an IRA with Lending Club or Prosper and explains why investing in P2P lending is best done through an IRA. Source
Company is offering 7.7 million shares at $12 - $14 per share and may raise up to $124 million; Elevate will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange with ticker ELVT; UBS is leading the IPO with participation from Credit Suisse and Jefferies; according to Elevate CEO Ken Rees: "When we began our IPO process over a year ago, we told you we would grow revenue and profits throughout 2016, while continuing to provide the most responsible credit products in our space. In fact, we improved the company in almost every way." Source
This week's industry update from PeerIQ focuses on some good fundraising news for the market; OnDeck extended their credit facility with Deutsche Bank to 2019 and increased the borrowing capacity to $214 million; SoFi is looking to launch a risk retention fund soon and their most recent securitization deal worth $461 million deal was rated by S&P, Moody's and DBRS; Marlette closed on their third securitization deal, MFT-2017 1, which was their largest transaction; the deal was originally set for $257 million but was oversubscribed and priced at $333 million on Friday; PeerIQ listed a few other interesting items of note on the deal; the deal pricing of this transaction is tighter than past Marlette securitizations and they are using a step function for cumulative net loss triggers. Source
Lend Academy talks with Andrea Jung of Grameen America in their podcast; Grameen America is a non-profit lender with a concept founded by Muhammad Yunus who has won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts; it provides small business loans to female entrepreneurs; Andrea talks about her career experience and the Grameen America business model, explaining how it has evolved from the original Grameen started by Muhammad Yunus; Grameen currently boasts a default rate of just 0.3% on $620 million of lending. Source
The House Financial Services Committee has scheduled a hearing for March 28 with a panel of banking executives to gain greater insight into how Dodd-Frank has affected lending in the banking industry; the House Financial Services Committee works within the House of Representatives and is the main group governing regulation of the financial services industry; the hearing will help to gain insight into the effects on bank lending from Dodd-Frank which will help in directing Trump administration reform; the House Financial Services Committee is led by Jeb Hensarling who has previously reported the Financial CHOICE Act which is presented as a replacement for Dodd-Frank. Source
Scott first looks back at 2016, how Lending Club was able to overcome adversity and highlights some of the leading lenders in the space like SoFi and OnDeck; he makes the comparison that online lending is a lot like online retail and there are many lessons to be learned; just like customers in retail the customers in banking do not want to go to the local branch to get a loan, they want to have a seamless digital experience like they already have with the likes of Amazon; Scott offers three ideas to define the next decade for a stronger industry, evolve the customer experience, unleash the platform's potential and amplify the core innovations that serve customers; he finishes up with a few questions from audience members. Source
CommonBond has created a March Debtness bracket to look at the payoff rates of this year's March Madness basketball teams; the bracket identifies the time it takes for students to pay off their student loans; UCLA is CommonBond's current March Madness winner with the fastest payoff rate at 4.42 years. Source