The Wall Street Journal reports on publicly listed funds that will purchase marketplace lending loans; the new funds are setup as interval funds and will open access to investors who might not otherwise consider investing in loans made by marketplace lenders; article highlights fees and minimums of offerings by RiverNorth and Stone Ridge. Source
After 18 months of secret development with Apple and Goldman Sachs Mastercard plans to bring to digital first features of...
Amazon has plans to offer financial services to their customers but so far has focused on providing credit to small...
Citigroup’s new robo-advisor will be free for customers who have at least $50,000 in deposits or investments; this is the...
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon told a group of 200 Marcus employees that the company is not getting the credit...
Fiserv partnered with TransUnion to use their CreditVision Link software to help asses risk in their auto loan origination system; Fiserv is specifically looking to identify higher risk borrowers as they look to reach more of the underbanked; Steve Chaouki, executive vice-president and head of TransUnion’s financial services business unit, says the integration “enables lenders to score approximately 95% of the US adult population” as reported by Banking Technology. 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
BBVA and digital business account provider Azlo struck a partnership that focuses on freelancers; with the freelance worker trend increasing the bank is looking to position themselves to better serve the market; BBVA invested in and helped incubate the company through their New Digital Businesses unit; this is part of a wider trend at the bank to help innovation, both inside and outside the bank itself. Source.
Online lender Avant was one company greatly affected by the industry's challenges in 2016; in May it laid off 60 workers with further reductions in July; it also paused its plans to expand into Australia and offer new auto loans and credit cards; a new partnership with Regions Bank has helped revive the company's growth and it also plans to announce another partnership in February; the new business activity has helped it to begin hiring again and it's currently looking for 25 technologists and some additional customer service support; in 2017 Avant's President, Adam Hughes, says the firm will focus on three main initiatives: growing Avant's core lending product, partnering with more brick-and-mortar banks and launching the credit card product; it also has plans to continue its previous initiatives including Australia expansion and auto loans. Source
In this week’s PeerIQ Weekly Industry Update they cover the cover a small rise in retail sales from Q4 to Q1; banks have had a strong earnings season, boosted in part by the cut in the corporate tax rate; Frank Rotman of QED provides insight on the path for the evolution of banking with his paper:The Copernican Revolution in Banking; they also provide highlights from their recent securitization tracker. Source.