Experian has partnered with Finicity to launch Digital Verification Solutions, a service that leverages Finicity's technology to connect with financial institutions for verifying income and assets; Experian is the first credit bureau to offer this type of solution; in addition to offering an enhanced service, the solution is also intended to help lenders broaden their credit underwriting for thin file borrowers; Finicity is also working with other lenders to help improve verification processes and shorten the end-to-end processing time for lending. Source
The New York Interactive Advertising Exchange has partnered with Nasdaq to create NYIAX, a blockchain trading platform for digital advertising contracts; Nasdaq has supported the system with its trading and blockchain technology; through the system publishers and advertisers can buy, sell and re-trade digital advertising as guaranteed contracts; NYIAX says it also plans to expand trading to other advertising markets including TV, print and radio. Source
"Orebits Corp. has created a new asset class, enabled by Symbiont's distributed ledger technology, which will change the precious metals financing marketplace forever," says Scott Mehlman, CEO of Orebits Corp.; through support from Symbiont's blockchain technology, Orebits will offer clients digitized "smart certificates" called "orebits" that are tied to gold reserves setting up a new form of gold trading; additionally the exchange for the new gold orebits will operate based on a peer-to-peer structure; Symbiont reports that the innovation has created a completely new trading alternative for investors to gain exposure to gold and Orebits says the exchange will operate without margins, storage and insurance, creating a considerable advantage over other current methods for investing in gold. Source
Money360 has reported another milestone in the nascent online lending commercial real estate market; the firm has originated $100 million in new commercial real estate loans in the past six months, doubling its total from August 2016; four recent loan closings for a total of $38 million helped the company reach its $200 million milestone; Money360 says it expects to exceed $500 million in loan transactions by the end of 2017. Source
Yirendai released its Q4 2016 earnings after the closing bell on March 15; the Chinese online lender issued a US initial public offering of its stock in December 2015; Lend Academy provides an analysis of the company's Q4 2016 results in their article; the firm has been growing online loan originations by over 100% per year since 2013; mobile has been a significant factor for the company with 98.8% of online volume generated through Yirendai's mobile application and 85% of investors using the mobile application for investment; as a well-established firm, Yirendai is also benefiting from China's P2P regulatory focus and a higher quality portfolio of borrowers and lenders; the firm is expanding its product lines and also offering a new platform as a service product, the Yirendai Enabling Platform; it expects a similar pace of growth in 2017 with minimum projected loan originations of RMB 33 billion ($4.753 billion) compared to RMB 20.28 billion ($2.9 billion) in 2016 and minimum revenue of RMB 4.4 billion ($634 million) compared to RMB 3.2 billion ($466.4 million) in 2016. Source
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has published details on its fintech charter in a 16-page supplement to its existing OCC licensing manual; the fintech charter supplement addresses capital requirements, liquidity, financial inclusion plans, consumer protection and the application process; Lend Academy provides an analysis in their article; the release of the fintech charter will now be followed by an open comment period which ends on April 14; also noteworthy is that Thomas Curry's term as comptroller ends on April 9 however he can serve until a replacement is confirmed. Source
Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) has provided ratings and released more details on Marlette Funding's Marlette Funding Trust 2017-1 (MFT 2017-1) securitization; the transaction is valued at $257.44 million and includes consumer loans from Marlette; the portfolio includes three tranches rated A to BB; the majority of the loans are contained in tranche A which accounts for 80%. Source
Marlette Funding has announced plans to cut one-fifth of its workforce as the company scraps plans for expansion to new verticals and remains focused on its online unsecured personal loans; the company has reported significant lending growth with over $3 billion in loans originated through its Best Egg brand in the first three years in business; the more conservative strategy follows some signs of increasing defaults, plans for new regulations and slowed capital investments. Source
The Federal Reserve increased its federal funds rate by 0.25% following its March Federal Open Market Committee meeting; the rate is now at 0.75% to 1.00%; the Fed also alluded to plans for two more rate increases in 2017. Source
LendingHome was founded in 2013 and is the second startup business founded by Matt Humphrey; the firm announced its new consumer loan mortgage product at LendIt USA 2017; since its initial launch, the business has originated over $1 billion in mortgage loans with a focus specifically on fix and flip property owners; the new product will expand the capabilities of the firm's technology by offering consumer mortgage loans to first time homebuyers; the product expansion is a natural extension of the business and talking with Forbes, Humphrey says it has been a part of the firm's plan since founding the company. Source