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Cross River Bank Raises $100 Million Led by KKR

Fintech pioneer Cross River Bank has closed a large funding round led by one of the world's leading private equity firms

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Today, Cross River Bank (CRB), one of the leading banks supporting marketplace lending platforms, has announced they have closed a significant funding round, $100 million, led by private equity firm KKR. This is by far their largest funding round, dwarfing the $28 million they raised in 2016 and is a validation of the unusual path the New Jersey-based community bank has taken.

Chairman and CEO Gilles Gade shared his comments on this funding round in their press release:

We are very pleased that our growth and progress has the endorsement of leading investors such as KKR. We also welcome new investors CreditEase and Lion Tree Partners and are especially grateful for the continued confidence of our previous investors Battery Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Ribbit Capital. This is a very strong signal that we continue to execute on our plan and are poised to take Cross River through its next phase of successful development here in the U.S. and across the globe.

Started in 2008, which in itself was an interesting time to start a bank, CRB first got involved in fintech very early on when they partnered with GreenSky on home improvement loans. They have since become the go to bank supporting many leading marketplace lending platforms including Marlette, Upstart, Affirm and RocketLoans just to name a few. While maintaining their community banking roots they have become one of the driving forces in the growth of the marketplace lending space with their banking-as-platform solution. They have also become a significant player in broader fintech working with leading players such as Coinbase and Transferwise on payment processing.

CRB is also a founding member of the Online Lending Policy Institute,  a nonprofit public policy organization based in Boston, MA whose mission is to encourage responsible innovation in online lending. Their leadership in that organization has helped the industry connect with regulators and lawmakers in Washington.

It is interesting to me that in his quote in the press release Gilles ends with “and across the globe”. I don’t know of any other community bank in America that has global aspirations but with CRB’s success in this country it seems that global expansion is on the horizon. However they choose to grow the company they now have a well funded war chest with which to attack any new market.

Is Loyalty the Key for Amazon Becoming a Successful Bank?

A new survey suggests that it is prime time for Amazon to enter banking.

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65% of Amazon Prime respondents are willing to try a free online bank account offered by Amazon. This data is according to a new survey conducted by Bain & Company which found that Amazon has a huge advantage over the incumbent banks: loyalty. Part of this loyalty stems from Amazon’s excellent customer service and policies. Customers have a trust with Amazon that does not currently exist in banking.

With this trust comes an incredible amount of data around purchasing decisions, credit cards on file and integration across all sorts of devices from smartphones to Alexa devices.  Amazon Prime boasts 90%+ renewal rates which connects to a majority of households in the United States. According to data, Amazon’s customers control 75% of US household wealth and account for about 75% of the wealthiest households’ assets making them valuable target banking customers.

It is expected that Amazon will partner with a bank to offer bank-like services which may initially be targeted at young adults. With the acquisition of Whole Foods, Amazon has the potential to reach customers where they would like to be served, even if that means offline. The full results from Bain & Company provide additional insights into Amazon’s customers and the willingness to embrace Amazon as a bank.

Biometrics is Going to Eat the Finance World

A look into the world of biometrics and how new technology is going to impact identity verification in finance

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With apologies to Marc Andreesson who famously said several years ago that software is eating the world, I think that same sentiment is going to be applied to biometrics and finance. And that is a good thing.

In a world full of cyber-hacks and data breaches most people would agree that the current system of text passwords is broken. In a recent survey it was revealed that 81% of people use the same password for multiple accounts with that number being even higher, at 92%, for millennials. Talk about a broken system. While the more sophisticated users will rely on a password manager like 1Password or Lastpass clearly the general population wants things to be simple even at the expense of security.

Enter biometrics. Biometrics is simply defined as the biological identification of a person. It has been in use for centuries and has been commonplace ever since the introduction of the photo-id driver’s license a few decades ago. But it has only been in recent years that its use has exploded.

The introduction of Touch ID on the Apple iPhone in 2013 was a seminal moment in the history of biometrics. People could suddenly use their thumb or finger print as an identity verification tool and forgo using a password. Today, on my phone I can login to my bank account, buy music or apps, buy a plane ticket, even check my Lending Club account all with the press of my thumb. No passwords needed. This saves the hassle of not only having to remember passwords but also having to type on these small devices.

Thumb prints were just one step. Voice interaction is now becoming widespread with millions of people asking questions of Alexa, Siri or Google every day. Alexa now has dozens of banking “skills” where you can check your account balance, make a payment or track your spending at several major banks such as CapitalOne, American Express or US Bank. Also, TD Ameritrade has their VoicePrint technology where you can phone in to customer service and verify your identity with just your voice.

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This Summer LendIt is Offering Two Ways to Learn About China

LendIt is headed to China again this summer with our annual Lang Di Fintech Conference and LendIt China Executive Tour

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The LendIt team is excited to return to China for our second annual Lang Di Fintech conference on July 15 -16 in Shanghai and our fourth annual China Executive Tour from July 8-17. The tour will start with some fun in Macau, move to Hong Kong for our Investor Summit with AMTD, then onto Beijing for three days of meetings, and finally end in Shanghai for the conference itself.

The Second Annual Lang Di Fintech Conference in Shanghai

In China, the LendIt Conference is called Lang Di Fintech and it is the largest fintech event in the country. Similar to other LendIt events in the USA and Europe, Lang Di Fintech will be a key forum for the leading global fintech companies to meet, learn, share experiences, and build partnerships. We expect over 2,000 attendees comprised of entrepreneurs, investors, regulators, service providers, researchers and media from the US, Europe and China.

Lang Di Fintech will cover a broad spectrum of fintech topics with a special emphasis on technology and financial inclusion. We will have six broad categories, which include fintech technology, blockchain, lending, banking & technology, financial inclusion, and Asia Pacific Fintech outside of China. We will have specific panels on technology like artificial intelligence, biometrics and cybersecurity.

Lang Di Fintech will feature more than 50 Western speakers including government leaders and executives from leading financial services firms. As always, simultaneous translation is provided for all guests at our event.

The Fourth Annual LendIt China Executive Tour

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Marketplace Lending Predictions for 2017

My annual gaze into the crystal ball brings you seven predictions for 2017 as well as a review of my last year's predictions.

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Crystal ball - 2016 predictions

Happy New Year everyone. As I do every year at this time I make a few predictions for the year ahead as well as review my previous years predictions.

Review of my 2016 Predictions

As we know 2016 turned out in a way that was completely unexpected. Regardless, I will go through what I thought would happen in 2016 – some things I got right and with others I was way off.

  1. Lending Club will launch an auto lending operation this year
    Despite the challenges at Lending Club in 2016 I did get this one right. They launched a new auto lending operation in October in their first new product expansion in more than two years.
  2. Consolidation will begin
    I was not really right with this one. While consolidation did begin somewhat in 2016 my suggestion of three platforms buying acquired by larger competitors did not really come true. We saw several platforms go out of business but only one or two minor acquisitions.
  3. There will be five IPOs in our industry in 2016
    I was embarrassingly wrong on this one. I expected the IPO market to rebound in 2016 and several of the large platforms to take advantage of the public markets. I was completely wrong with zero IPOs in our industry in 2016.
  4. Three large banks will build platforms
    I was pretty much right on this one. We had Goldman Sachs launch their Marcus platform in 2016 and we also saw Wells Fargo launch their Fastflex product for online small business lending. While outside the US, German banking giant Commerzbank launched their own online lending platform.
  5. A Chinese company will buy a U.S. marketplace lending platform
    This did not happen in 2016 although interest in the US marketplace lending industry in China has never been stronger. I think I was probably a couple of years early on this prediction.
  6. The retail investor will become more in favor in 2016
    The retail investor certainly became more in favor this past year. There were some new Reg A+ deals announced and Lending Club made several moves aimed at increasing retail investor volume including the one just last month providing bonuses for new IRA investment.
  7. A new trade association will finally launch
    This was an easy one to predict as many of the leading companies have been talking about it for some time. The Marketplace Lending Association launched in April and we had several other initiatives launch as well.

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Marketplace Lending Predictions for 2016

I stare into my crystal ball and provide predictions for the year ahead as well as review my predictions from one year ago.

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Crystal ball - 2016 predictions

Happy New Year everyone. Here is my annual predictions post where I review my previous years predictions and make some new ones for the new year.

Review of my 2015 Predictions

  1. Lending Club will issue $10 billion in new loans and Prosper $4.1 billion
    I was a bit optimistic on my loan volume predictions. While both companies had a great 2015 Prosper came in at $3.7 billion for the year, below my $4.1 billion projection. We won’t know Lending Club‘s final numbers until their next earnings call in a few weeks but we do know that they did $5.8 billion through Q3. So, if they keep a similar growth rate to previous quarters I would expect around $2.5 billion in Q4 for $8.3 billion in total loans for the year. Still a great year but below the aggressive numbers I projected.
  2. Prosper will remain a private company
    I got this one right. Prosper remained a private company with not even a whisper of an IPO for them in 2015.
  3. There will be two new marketplace lenders completing an IPO
    This one I got completely wrong. Given the state of the IPO market today compared with 12 months ago it is not surprising that no other U.S. based marketplace lending went public in 2015.
  4. A new platform will launch targeting non-accredited investors
    I was only partially right on this one. While several new platforms contacted me throughout the year with their intention to launch for retail investors the only offerings that actually launched in 2015 were from existing real estate platforms Groundfloor and Fundrise.
  5. A midsize bank starts their own marketplace lending platform
    This was an interesting one. While I also did not get this one right there was more talk about the banks role and response to our industry in 2015 than ever before. We did see news break in June about the intention of Goldman Sachs to create their own platform but nothing has materialized on that front yet. I think I was just a year early on this (see prediction #4 below).

I also predicted that Lending Club would make two acquisitions and I was dead wrong on that as well. Lending Club is biding their time on acquisitions but clearly they will grow their borrower base at some point through acquisitions. I am confident that the predictions I got wrong will all come true in the near future, some in 2016 as you can see below.

My 2016 P2P Lending Predictions

Now on to this year. I am going to see if I can improve on my somewhat dismal performance from 2015. Here are several predictions I feel confident making for 2016. [Read more…]

An In Depth Look at the OnDeck/JPMorgan Chase Deal

We speak with Noah Breslow, CEO of OnDeck, to get details of their new partnership with JPMorgan Chase.

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JPMorgan Chase Bank OnDeck Capital partnership

On Tuesday, OnDeck and JPMorgan Chase announced a partnership in what I think is the biggest news for the marketplace lending industry all year. The largest bank in the country, with $2.6 trillion in assets and close to $100 billion in revenue, decided that they needed help in providing loans for small businesses. So they turned to OnDeck.

I caught up with Noah Breslow, CEO of OnDeck, yesterday to discuss this historic deal. The roots of the deal began all the way back when OnDeck was choosing its bankers for their IPO in 2014. Noah met with Jaime Dimon and other senior executives at Chase and they were very intrigued with OnDeck’s business. Dimon himself seemed passionate about doing something with small-dollar business loans and the seeds of the partnership were sewn.

OnDeck ended up choosing JPMorgan as one of its bankers for their IPO and soon after they began serious discussions. Dealing with the nation’s largest bank meant that OnDeck had to ramp up much of its infrastructure to meet the stringent requirements for this partnership. This meant significant investments in IT, data security, compliance and more.

How the Deal Will Work

There has been a lot written about the JPMorgan Chase/OnDeck deal this week but I have not read anything that describes the details of how this deal will actually work. With the proviso that they are conducting a pilot and the final details may change, Noah explained how the partnership would operate.

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Frank Rotman Releases White Paper on Small Business Lending

The white paper called The Brave 100: The Battle for Supremacy in Small Business Lending is a co-production of QED Investors and Oliver Wyman.

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The Brave 100 Frank Rotman

Earlier this year Frank Rotman, a partner at QED Investors, released the seminal white paper, The Hourglass Effect, focused on the personal loan market and why banks exited this business. Now, he has a second paper out, this one focused on small business lending.

This new white paper, The Brave 100, was written by Frank with the help of some research done by consulting firm Oliver Wyman. The Brave 100 refers to the at least 100 alternative lenders who are providing capital to small businesses often where banks will not. It compares the new alternative small business lenders with the banks, explores each others strengths and provides insight on where the chips may fall.

Here are some of the key points that Frank makes in this white paper: [Read more…]

Goldman Sachs Is Entering P2P Lending Becoming the 1st Bank to Launch a Platform

The 146 year old investment bank has hired a seasoned consumer finance veteran and is looking to launch an online lending platform next year.

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Goldman Entering Online Lending

Goldman Sachs is entering P2P lending.  This is a major milestone for our industry since it marks the 1st bank to enter.  The New York Times posted a lengthy article about Goldman’s plans to launch its online lending platform and compete with top platforms like Lending Club and Prosper. There are many details yet to be known but, according to the New York Times article, they plan to launch their own platform early next year. They are still in the early planning stages and it still isn’t clear how this new offering will be branded.

Goldman Sachs will offer unsecured personal loans and will also venture into lending to small businesses according to several articles about the new business unit. Joining the team at Goldman to run the new operation is Harit Talwar, a former executive at Discover, who they have brought on as a partner. From the Times article:

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Being Better is not Enough: The Way Forward for Marketplace Lending

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Finance concept. Dollars and bank building.

[Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Jonathan McMillan, who has published the book The End of Banking: Money, Credit and the Digital Revolution. The book explains why a financial system without banking is both possible and desirable in the digital age. The article is part of a two-part series. The first article explained why marketplace lending is disadvantaged in the current regulatory framework. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own.]

To ensure their survival in the long run, marketplace lenders have to tackle the privileges of banking institutions – such as government guarantees and the access to Federal Reserve liquidity. We made this point in a previous article. But what specific changes should the industry propagate to create a sustainable and fair regulatory environment for the financial system?

The Obvious Option: End the Unfair Advantage

The most obvious solution is to simply ban government guarantees and prohibit the Federal Reserve to provide emergency liquidity. Prominent libertarian politicians advocate this solution. Should the marketplace lending industry befriend the Tea-Party movement, demand to end the Fed, and pledge to throw the head of Treasury into jail if he bails out another banking institution?

In some cases, such as this one, the obvious solution is not the right one. The current financial system is vulnerable to unpredictable chain reactions. Just think about the repercussions of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. Could you stick to a pledge not to bail out financial institutions if it means that the whole system goes bust, implying millions of people to lose their jobs and homes?

The government can only remove the unfair advantages for incumbent banking institutions if the financial system is immunized against these destructive chain reactions. Even the former chairman of the Fed, and the current chairwoman from the International Monetary Fund acknowledge that the too-big-to-fail problem has not been solved – despite many new banking regulations. We have to take another angle on enabling a modern and stable financial system.

The Intuitive Option: End Banks

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ABOUT LENDIT FINTECH NEWS

LendIt Fintech News, Powered by Lend Academy, has been bringing you all the news and information about fintech and online lending since 2010 when it was founded by Peter Renton. We not only have the industry’s most active news site, but also the largest investor forum and the first and most popular podcast.

We are a team of fintech enthusiasts who have been covering the industry for many years. With a deep knowledge of online lending, digital banking, blockchain, artificial intelligence and more our team covers the daily news and writes in-depth editorials.

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