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.
How peer-to-peer lending turned middle-class Chinese dreamers into angry protesters from Quartz – Interesting piece from the weekend on the problems in the Chinese p2p lending industry right now and the impact it is having on many investors.
China proposes 10 measures to fight against rising P2P risks – Xinhua from Reuters – Another piece on China and 10 measures being rolled out by Chinese authorities to combat the risks of p2p lending.
Highest CPI since 2008, Strong FinTech Earnings, PeerIQ’s Valuation Methodology from PeerIQ – This week’s PeerIQ newsletter brings us the latest industry news and takes a deep dive into loan valuation with the top 5 questions to ask.
How 80-year-old UOB uses AI to anticipate customer behavior from Tearsheet – A look inside the expansion strategies of one of the largest banks in Asia. Great piece by Zack Miller on Singapore’s UOB.
Fintech Crowd Dives Into Subprime Credit-Card Lending from The Wall Street Journal – I think there is more innovation happening in the subprime credit space than many other areas of fintech. There are more responsible options today for these consumers than ever before.
‘Fintechs’ Sound Cautious Note on Offer of U.S. Bank Charter from The New York Times – No companies have applied for the OCC fintech charter yet as most people are taking a wait and see approach.
Overhaul Boosts Credit Scores of Millions of U.S. Consumers from The Wall Street Journal – Many consumers have seen their credit scores rise as delinquencies from things like gym memberships, library fines and traffic tickets are removed from credit histories.
Lower Interest Rates on Mintos – How do Investors React? from P2P-Banking – Interesting survey of investors in European p2p lending platforms on the impact of lower interest rates.
The New Physics of Financial Services – How artificial intelligence is transforming the financial ecosystem from World Economic Forum – New report out from the World Economic Forum on how artificial intelligence is transforming financial services.
Inside SoFi’s 22-person in-house creative agency from Digiday – Interesting look at the SoFi creative team and their decision to bring all of its creative work in house.
German open-banking start-up raises $100m from Financial Times – Germany’s fintech scene continues to flourish as demonstrated by this new $100m financing round by open banking startup Deposit Solutions.
Breaking: Starling starts lending with personal loan product from AltFi – In the UK digital banking challenger Starling Bank has launched a personal loan product developed in house funded by deposits.
Walmart And Others Offer Workers Payday Loan Alternative from NPR – I really like the work that PayActiv is doing in helping corporations offer responsible short term loans to their employees. Great feature on NPR this week.
Monzo poised to join ranks of Europe’s fintech ‘unicorns’ from the FT – UK digital bank Monzo about to become the latest fintech unicorn as they are raising money at a $1.5 billion valuation.
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.
Looking to buy Historic Folio data – The forum discusses the state of the secondary market and the availability of data related to listings and transactions.
Notes Incorrectly being disaplyed as “Processing payment” – It’s important to understand LendingClub’s definition of processing payments.
Lots of stories re China P2P lending problems – A forum member shares links to various articles about the issues going on in the Chinese p2p lending space.
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.