Marketplace Lending News Roundup – August 22, 2015

News

During the week I share the latest marketplace lending 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.

Online Lender Social Finance’s Latest Fundraising Implies $4 Billion Valuation from The Wall Street Journal – Wow! SoFi has raised $1B in new funding at a roughly $4B valuation according to The Wall Street Journal.

Peer-to-peer lenders widen access for investors from Financial Times – In the UK RateSetter is teaming up with FNZ Group to offer p2p lending to financial advisors.

MarketInvoice, The U.K. Invoice Finance Platform, Raises Further $10M from TechCrunch – Congrats to MarketInvoice for closing their £6M funding round.

Lessons From An Advertising Past from TechCrunch – What lies ahead for the future of marketplace lending asks Dan Ciporin of Canaan Partners.

Is Marketplace Lending Really a New Asset Class? (And Why This Matters) from AltFi News – Holistic view of marketplace lending and its status as a true asset class.

Zopa Hits £1 Billion in P2P Lending with £2 Billion Goal by End of 2016 from Finance Magnates – Congrats to Zopa on crossing £1 billion in total loans issued.

Public Input on Expanding Access to Credit Through Online Marketplace Lending from Federal Register – The comment period for the Treasury’s RFI on marketplace lending has been extended to Sept 30.

Lending Club has been getting crushed, and the Supreme Court is now its only hope from Business Insider – It looks like the Madden vs Midland case is going all the way to the Supreme Court.

This peer-to-peer lender is going after the heart of Australia’s banking industry, offering secured personal loans from Business Insider – In Australia RateSetter is going to offer secured loans focused on the car market.

Grouplend Announces $10.2m Financing to Expand on Technology-Driven Online Lending from MarketWatch – In Canada Grouplend has closed a new funding round bringing total to $10.2M since launching 10 month ago.

The Next Moody’s? Orchard Platform Is A Guide To The Exploding Peer-To-Peer Lending Industry from Forbes – Great profile of Orchard and co-founders Matt Burton and Angela Ceresnie in Forbes.

How Marketplace Lenders Will Save Financial Services from American Banker – Mike Cagney, CEO of SoFi, is right on the money here on why marketplace lending is good for finance.

CFPB Takes Action Against Springstone Financial for Deceptive Health-Care Credit Enrollment Tactics from CFPB – The CFPB has ordered a division of LendingClub, Springstone Financial, to pay $700K fine.

Big banks are betting on online lender Avant from Fortune – Avant has raised another $339M in debt financing from some big banks.

Lending Club CEO Buys 50,000 Shares (SEC Filing) – Renaud Laplanche, the CEO of Lending Club, bought 50,000 shares of his company this week.

Behind the Scenes of Prosper’s SF Headquarters from the Prosper Blog – Some photos of Prosper’s shiny new headquarters in downtown San Francisco.

Interview with Laimonas Noreika, CEO of Finbee from P2P-Banking – New p2p lending platform Finbee has launched in Lithuania and is open to international investors.

The State-of-the-Art for P2P Lending: Regulations, ETFs, and Bitcoin from Money’s Edge – Ryan talks with Money’s Edge about regulation, closed end funds, retail investors and more.

Q&A with Bond Street: the future of online lending from Treasury Insider – Interesting Q&A with David Haber, the CEO of Bond Street, by Treasury Insider on marketplace lending regulation and more.

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.

A Well Written Article on P2P Lending Risks – Investors discuss an article written about risks in p2p lending.

What does your “Understanding Your Returns” page look like? Here’s mine – Forum members share their Lending Club results.

A C2 Note Paying 6%? – A reminder that loans for military are subject to a max of 6% once the borrower is deployed.

Lending Club Launches Open Integration (LCOI) – Forum members discuss Lending Club’s most recent announcement of Lending Club Open Integration.

Rate Export & Risk Retention – The Madden vs Midland case is discussed on the forum.

 

 

  • Peter Renton

    Peter Renton is the chairman and co-founder of Fintech Nexus, the world’s largest digital media 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.