Marketplace Lending News Roundup – June 9

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.

International P2P Lending Volumes May 2018 from P2P-Banking – The international p2p lending loan volumes are out for May. With Funding Circle UK no longer reporting monthly loan volumes (no doubt in preparation for their upcoming IPO) Zopa has the largest publicly available origination volume.

British fintech startup Revolut to seek U.S. banking license: CEO from Reuters – We all know that UK fintech leader Revolut is coming to the US this year. Now Anna Irrera shares that they will be applying for a banking license as well.

Lendix raises $37 million for its lending marketplace from TechCrunch – French fintech platform Lendix are in growth mode as they close on a €32 million funding round that should see them expand to the Netherlands and Germany by the end of the year.

How student loan companies pretend to be your friend from The Guardian – A view of the US student loan problem from across the pond.

Is Crypto the Most Important Thing Ever? Some People Think So (Podcast) from Appetite for Disruption: The Business and Regulation of FinTech – Want to listen to a crypto evangelist explain exactly how crypto, blockchain, and smart contracts are transforming the world? Then check out this episode of the Appetite for Disruption podcast recorded at the recent LendIt Fintech USA.

Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance Launches Global Research to Provide the Most Comprehensive Research on Fintech Available Today from Crowdfund Insider – The fintech industry’s leading research body is the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance. They have launched their annual research initiative across the globe.

BlueVine raises $60 million to give small businesses access to working capital from VentureBeat – The large fintech funding rounds keep coming with BlueVine closing a $60M Series E recently.

Our path to listing SEC-regulated crypto securities from Coinbase – The crypto space is growing up with Coinbase announcing that they have acquired a broker dealer license, an alternative trading system license (ATS), and a registered investment advisor (RIA) license.

Why men must be accountable for more women in tech from AltFi – Gender diversity is a huge problem in fintech and one the entire industry needs to work on. As this article points out it is men who are going to have to take the lead here in addressing the problem.

Index Ventures Expects A $2 Billion Windfall From Early Bets On Fintech from Forbes – Fascinating piece by Oliver Smith on the success of the leading European fintech VC Index Ventures and the huge year they are having.

Money20/20 Europe: key takeaways from Fintech Futures – Good wrap up of this week’s Money2020 Europe event in Amsterdam.

Funding Circle scraps downloadable loanbook from Peer2Peer Finance News – In a highly anticipated move Funding Circle UK has stopped the ability to download its entire loan book. This is another step in preparation for the upcoming IPO (LendingClub did the same thing before their IPO in 2014).

Exclusive: P2P fund boss Simon Champ exits Pollen Street Capital from AltFi – It’s the end of an era as we learn today that p2p lending pioneer Simon Champ has stepped down from Pollen Street Capital. He created the first ever publicly traded vehicle in the space, P2PGI, back in 2014.

Prospa founders admit float lost ‘vital momentum’ from The Sydney Morning Herald – Australian online small business lender, Prospa, decided to postpone their IPO this weeks after receiving queries from the securities regulator there.

Lending Earnings Insights: 2Q2018 from PeerIQ – The latest quarterly analysis of the country’s lenders including economic sentiment from several CEOs.

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.

IRA Notes sold- what next? – A LendingClub investor asks questions about closing an IRA account.

Worst Month Yet – A popular thread where investors share the performance of their marketplace lending investments.

Investing with Bondora – Forum members discuss the wide variety of loans available on Bondora’s platform.