Ripple has announced the appointment of a new CEO; Brad Garlinghouse, previously president and chief operating officer, will take over the role as of January 1, 2017; Garlinghouse will replace Chris Larsen who will become Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors; the fintech blockchain payments company has been significantly expanding in 2016 with its network now including 15 of the top 50 global banks; much of the company's growth has been attributed to Larsen who will now take more of a strategic adviser role. Source
Zhengyuan Lu, OnDeck's Senior Vice President of Capital Markets, will soon move to investment firm, Victory Park Capital; his last day is Tuesday; Victory Park invests in and provides credit facilities to online lenders, including Avant Inc. and Square Inc.; the last year has been a challenge for OnDeck as investors have not been buying loans at the same pace and this has forced the lender to hold more loans on its balance sheet. Source
Bank holding company, CRB Group Inc., has received venture capital investment of $28 million from Battery Ventures LP, Andreessen Horowitz and Ribbit Capital; the large investment in a bank is unusual for venture capitalists which have mainly been known for early stage financing in new fintech startups; CRB Group however has been considerably growing its digital banking capabilities making the investment attractive for fintech venture capitalists; New Jersey-chartered, Cross River Bank, was founded in 2008 and has since partnered with numerous fintech startups to offer industry leading services for lending and payments; the bank is expected to use the investment to continue building on its industry leading fintech services; because the bank is FDIC regulated the VC investors will be limited in some of their investment activities. Source
Wealth Migrate is claiming to be the first real estate online investing platform that has incorporated blockchain technology; the company focuses on cross-border real estate investing; blockchain is being applied to defining and recording smart contracts and a decentralized, unalterable record of investment transactions. Source
Square's CEO, Jack Dorsey, explained on this week's earnings call why he puts its subsidiary, Caviar, on a silver platter; Square's payment-handling service is used by many restaurants, while Caviar's food delivery-enabling platform allows those restaurants to reach a customer base eating at home; the key for Dorsey is cross-selling services that grow their customers' businesses, even if the synergies aren't apparent at first bite; on CNBC's Squawk Box the day after the earnings call, CTO Sarah Friar said that Square has been "executing on all cylinders." Source
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) ended its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday and released an afternoon announcement reporting no change to the central bank borrowing rate which will remain at 0.25% to 0.50%; as expected the FOMC's statement did indicate that a rate hike in December was likely with new language saying the 2% inflation objective is near and that the Fed only needs "some further evidence" of economic progress for a rate increase; globally the US is one of few central banks tightening monetary policy; many are easing with negative rates; Japan's central bank borrowing rate is -0.10% and the ECB central bank borrowing rate is at 0% for the Eurozone; the Bank of England will be meeting on Thursday and is expected to keep its rate unchanged with further easing in 2017. Source
Morgan Stanley has upgraded Lending Club's stock to overweight; the stock closed at $4.81 on Tuesday, November 2; analyst, James Faucette, notes the company's new executive leadership and positive capital growth potential for 2017; says the stock could increase to $17; company reports earnings on Monday. Source
SoFi has partnered with Fannie Mae to help its customers pay down student loan debt using home equity; already focused on student loans, SoFi's new Student Loan Payoff ReFi will allow homeowners to refinance their home and simultaneously pay student loan debt; with home equity, borrowers can combine their mortgage and student loans to make one loan payment on their debt. Source
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its October jobs report; data showed an increase of 161,000 jobs in October with the unemployment rate decreasing to 4.9%; continues positive momentum in the labor market after an increase of 191,000 jobs in September. Source
On November 3rd, On Deck Capital, the largest online small business lender in the US, reported its third quarter earnings; Lend Academy provides details of the earnings report in their article; company reported a loss of $16.6 million; it had reported a profit for the same period in 2015; the adjusted loss came to -$0.18 per share, versus Wall Street expectations of -$0.15 per share; originations increased from $590 million in the second quarter to $613 million for the third quarter; company expects full-year revenue of $280 million to $290 million; shares closed at $4.52, down from $9.46 a year ago; last week, it was publicized that Zhengyuan Lu, an executive for investor loan sales, is leaving the firm to join Victory Park Capital. Source