"Rocket Mortgage has forever changed the way people think about getting a mortgage," said Jay Farner, CEO of Quicken Loans; for 2016 Quicken Loans has reported record originations of $96 billion with $7 billion contributed by Rocket Mortgage which has been originating loans for 11 months; consumers have reported high demand for the Rocket Mortgage product which provides a much simpler process for homeowners by digitally verifying income, credit, assets and property valuations. Source
Kabbage has announced the pricing of its first securitization of the year; the portfolio was valued at $525 million and includes small business loans; it is structured in four classes and has received ratings from Kroll Bond Rating Agency with the majority of the portfolio rated A; the deal is expected to close around March 20. Source
The Sift app was designed to increase transparency in credit card spending and provide credit card users with detailed information on fees and alternatives; the app has the capability to analyze 90% of all issued credit cards in the US for hidden benefits, price adjustment refunds, extended warranties, return protection and more; the firm has announced a $1.5 million fundraising round with the launch of the app and has plans to increase its users and expand the app's offerings. Source
Credit bureaus in the US have become integrated with fintech companies in different ways; Forbes talks with Alex Lintner about Experian's business initiatives and the solutions the company is providing for the fintech industry; Alex says the company is focused on digital technology solutions for credit data that help improve the loan application for consumers; Lintner also notes the availability of full file reporting which can meet the growing demand for alternative credit underwriting and the company's development of APIs for startup businesses. Source
The primary focus in the online real estate market has been on consumer and residential products however a significant opportunity appears to exist in commercial real estate with the size of the market valued at approximately $3.5 trillion; HousingWire provides a recap of LendIt's commercial real estate panel featuring the three primary companies active in the space including: Cadre, Money360 and Plum Lending; panelists discussed the success of the their businesses and the main challenges for new entrants including the complexities of data sets and the lack of technology solutions for commercial market services. Source
At LendIt USA, Antony Jenkins from 10x Future Technologies discussed the challenges for incumbent banks in implementing transformative technology; Jenkins says transformation for incumbent banks is very difficult primarily because of the cultural change; Jenkins' 10x Future Technologies is developing software and API technology for banking products including current accounts, credit cards, mortgages and loans. Source
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) denied the approval of a rule change proposal that would have allowed for the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF to be traded on the Bats BZX Exchange, also operated by the Winklevoss brothers; approval would have created the US's first publicly traded bitcoin investment fund; the SEC cited two main factors in their disapproval of the investment: 1) the Exchange lacks surveillance-sharing agreements with significant markets for trading the underlying bitcoin commodity and 2) the markets involved in bitcoin trading are not sufficiently regulated. Source
The market has reported the first securitization of Lending Club prime loans, the Arcadia Receivables Credit Trust (ARCT 2017-1); the portfolio has been priced by Jefferies and is backed by $220 million of Lending Club prime loans as collateral; the loans come from Cirrix Capital's marketplace lending fund which is overseen by Arcadia; the securitization has two tranches which have both received a rating from Kroll Bond Rating Agency; tranche A includes the majority of the loans with $176.9 million in collateral and a BBB rating; tranche B includes $36.75 million in loans with a BB- rating; PeerIQ provides further analysis on the portfolio and how it compares to other similar securitization deals. Source
Social Finance Inc. has filed as a sponsor for a securitization portfolio of private student loans; SoFi Lending Corporation, will act as the securitizer for the SoFi Professional Loan Program LLC 2017-B (SOFI 2017-B) portfolio. Source