Marketplace Lending News Roundup – December 12, 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.

“Positive investing: a growing market” from AltFi – We call it Impact Investing in the US but Positive Investing in the UK is a growing market.

Uber partners with SocietyOne to deliver car loans to its drivers from The Sydney Morning Herald – Following in the footsteps of Zopa in the UK SocietyOne is teaming up with Uber down under.

What Lending Club excludes from its loan info from Financial Times – Some Lend Academy forum members noticed an anomaly in Lending Club’s data and FT Alphaville picked up the story.

How Fintech Is Changing The Lending World from Orchard – The latest installment of the Orchard thought leadership series is about the impact of fintech on lending.

Prosper Said to Arrange Loan to San Bernardino Shooter from Bloomberg – It looks like the San Bernardino shooter took out a Prosper loan just weeks before the the shooting.

Money360 adds Barlow and Maute to board, completes Series A from Bankless Times – Eaglewood founder and marketplace lending pioneer Jon Barlow has joined the board of Money360.

The Fintech 50: The Complete List from Forbes – Lots of marketplace lending platforms on the latest Forbes Fintech 50 list.

China Rapid Finance Plans U.S. Listing from The Wall Street Journal – Another Chinese p2p lending platform is looking to do an IPO in the US early next year.

U.S. Congressional Panel Examines Loan to San Bernardino Shooter from Bloomberg – In a somewhat predictable move a congressional committee is looking into the Prosper loan made to Syed Farook.

Peer-to-Peer Site Kiva Is Finally Offering No-Interest Microloans in the US from Wired – After several years of testing in the US Kiva is rolling out its no-interest micro loans nationwide.

Interview with Vytautas Zabulis, CEO and Co-Founder of Savy from P2P-Banking – Yet another Baltic p2p lending platform has launched. Great interview with CEO of Savy.

Surprise! There’s One More IPO This Year from The Wall Street Journal – Looks like Chinese p2p lending platform Yirendai may go public as soon as next week now.

California Regulator Launches Inquiry Into Marketplace Lenders from The Wall Street Journal – Now California is going to delve into the lending practices for marketplace lending platforms.

Peer-To-Peer Lender Zopa Eyes £500m Valuation from Sky News – The world’s first p2p lending platform Zopa is now worth more than £500M with new £70M raise according to Sky News.

Citigroup Funded Loan to Syed Farook Made Through Prosper Marketplace from The Wall Street Journal – According to The Wall Street Journal it was Citi that funded the Prosper loan used by the San Bernadino shooter.

RateSetter Expands Relationship with British Business Bank with SME Loans from Crowdfund Insider – Looks like RateSetter is expanding their SME lending program to more than just sole traders now.

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.

Two month full paid…is this common? – It is a relatively common practice for borrowers to pay their loan early, sometimes very early.

Borrower with 9 recent inquiries – Forum members uncover a loan that incorrectly listed a borrower as having 9 inquiries.

Worst Month Yet – A popular thread where Lending Club investors talk about decreasing returns.

  • 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.