Marketplace Lending News Roundup – October 7

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.

SoFi’s CEO hiatus stalls its big-time banking ambitions from Reuters – With founder Mike Cagney gone SoFi tries to decide who it wants to be amid a leadership vacuum.

The P2P Power 50 from Peer2Peer Finance News – UK p2p lending publication Peer2Peer Finance News has released their P2P Power 50 list. Honored to be included.

Zopa busts into branches with building society partnership from AltFi – Borrowers at Zopa will now be able to obtain loans at this 168-year-old building society.

Kabbage’s Petralia Talks Big Tech, Fintech and Lending from deBanked – Kathryn Petralia of Kabbage talks about their SoftBank deal, tech partnerships, culture and more.

International P2P Lending Volumes September 2017 from P2P-Banking – The European p2p lending loan volumes are out for September with Funding Circle the dominant platform.

Do you really think that Google or Amazon want to be a bank? from the Finanser – As usual Chris Skinner is on the money. GAFA (Google/Apple/Facebook/Amazon) will not become banks, they will just provide bank-like products.

Navient to Buy Fintech Firm Earnest for $155 Million from The Wall Street Journal – Looks like Earnest found themselves a buyer. Navient just acquired them for $155M.

Fifth Third Bancorp’s Greg Carmichael Discusses the Relationship Between FinTechs and Banks from The Clearing House – In depth interview with the CEO of Fifth Third Bank on fintech, regulation, innovation, their partnership with QED, the economy and more.

Roofstock, a marketplace for single-family homes with tenants, just closed on $35 million in new funding from TechCrunch – Real estate marketplace Roofstock just closed their $35M Series C.

Joe Chen’s Sneaky SoFi Share Snatch from Forbes – Renren is a very curious Chinese company that has made a name for itself with fintech investments in the USA.

From peer-to-peer to here: Three issues that Zopa must solve from AltFi – In the UK Ryan Weeks writes of the challenges facing fintech leader Zopa.

As CFPB closes door on payday, OCC opens one for deposit advance from American Banker – Yesterday was a big day for the short term lending space with the CFPB and OCC making important moves.

Brave new world from Peer2Peer Finance News – My piece about European fintech and next week’s LendIt Europe event.

Startups say this fintech ‘lab’ is giving them needed access to Wall Street and regulators from TechCrunch – FinLab is a fintech accelerator with a difference, it is focused on startups looking to help the underbanked.

Delinquencies remain low even as household debt climbs from American Banker – US Household debt is at a record $12.84 trillion but delinquencies remain low…for how long?

Over $500 Million in Real Estate Loans Have Been Originated on PeerStreet from Crowdfund Insider – Real estate platform PeerStreet crossed $500M in total loans this week.

Amazon Could Be Your Lender, Too from Bloomberg – Interesting piece by Lisa Abramowicz on how Amazon may be approaching the online lending market.

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.

So, let’s talk liquidation strategies…. – Forum members discuss liquidating Lending Club portfolios on the secondary market.

Wide range of FICO scores for A loans – Forum members discuss the wide range of FICO scores across loan grades.

Worst Month Yet – Investors discuss their September 2017 statements.

  • 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.