During the week I share the latest marketplace lending and fintech news on Twitter as it happens. Then every Saturday I take the most interesting news items and blog posts from the past week and share them here.
Lenders without border walls from American Banker – New immigrants are one of the most underserved populations when it comes to credit. Several new fintech companies are working hard to change this. Good analysis from Penny Crosman.
Raising Money in the Crypto World Has Gotten a Lot Harder from The Wall Street Journal – Year over year the ICO market was down over 98% in the first quarter, a staggering decrease that prompted the first line in this WSJ article “The ICO market is dead”.
Peter Thiel and Li Ka-shing Have a Banking App for America’s Generation Z from Bloomberg – One of the European digital banks intending to launch in the US this year is N26. See the rapid growth they have experienced in this interesting piece in Bloomberg.
Industry hits back as FCA warns on IFISA risk from Peer2Peer Finance News – Yesterday in the UK the FCA issued a warning to investors on the Innovative Finance ISA and today the fintech industry hit back.
Revolut whistleblower had concerns over CEO conduct and compliance from the BBC – Also in the UK more bad news for Revolut. The BBC has learned a whistleblower had gone to the FCA in 2016 with concerns on compliance and the conduct of the CEO.
Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Brendan Ross, Direct Lending Investments, and Others from deBanked – A class action lawsuit has been filed against Brendan Ross, Direct Lending Investments and others who may have been involved in the alleged fraud.
LendingClub’s Computers No Worse at Lending Than Humans, Study Finds from TheStreet – A new report out by the Philadelphia Fed compares the underwriting at LendingClub to that of the largest banks.
#fintech: Bonfire of the paperwork from Financial Times – Mastercard is working on a digital identity solution that it wants to roll out across the globe.
Scoop: Max Levchin’s Affirm raises $300 million from Axios – The big funding rounds keep coming and this latest round is the largest by a US fintech company this year. Axios is reporting that Affirm just closed a $300 million round at a $2.9 billion valuation.
Jamie Dimon’s Shareholder Letter Touts Digital Accomplishments, Eyes Fintech Competition, Warns about Socialism from Crowdfund Insider – Jamie Dimon’s annual shareholder letter has become a must read for everyone in finance. Every year it seems he pays more attention to fintech.
Zillow is now a mortgage lender, launches Zillow Home Loans from HousingWire – Five months ago Zillow acquired Mortgage Lenders of America. Now they are launching Zillow Home Loans to offer mortgages to their customers. I suspect they will do well.
Clearbanc plans to disrupt venture capital with ‘The 20-Min Term Sheet’ from TechCrunch – Interesting piece on Clearbanc and their revenue sharing small business lending model with a focus on e-commerce businesses.
Salesforce backs a start-up that uses selfies and A.I. to verify your identity online from CNBC – I like the innovations that Onfido has developed around digital identity. They now join the ranks of well funded fintech companies with this latest $50 million round.
Funding Circle investment trust to be wound up from The Financial Times – The Funding Circle SME Income Fund was launched in 2015 but due to lower than expected returns will start a formal wind down process and return money to investors.
From the Lend Academy Forum
The Lend Academy forum is where investors go to discuss p2p lending. Below are some topics that were being discussed this week.
Direct Lending Fund Sued for Allegedly Inflating Returns – Forum members discuss the Direct Lending Investments fund which has suspended investor redemptions and is now being investigated for inflating returns.
Do Fintech Lenders Penetrate Areas That Are Underserved by Traditional Banks? – The forum discusses a new report that was recently released by the Fed which included LendingClub data.
Is LC no longer interested in retail investors? – A forum member provides a visualization of fractional loan inventory at LendingClub.
Peter Renton is the chairman and co-founder of LendIt Fintech, the world’s first and largest digital media and events company focused on fintech. Peter has been writing about fintech since 2010 and he is the author and creator of the Fintech One-on-One Podcast, the first and longest-running fintech interview series. Peter has been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The New York Times, CNBC, CNN, Fortune, NPR, Fox Business News, the Financial Times, and dozens of other publications.