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Marketplace Lending Predictions for 2018

A review of our 2017 predictions and some new thoughts for 2018

January 2, 2018 By Peter Renton 4 Comments

Views: 222

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 2017 Predictions

First, let’s review my predictions I made exactly one year ago. We had an interesting year as an industry in 2017, it was certainly a better year than 2016. I think I did ok on my predictions from last year although as you can read below I did get some things completely wrong.

  1. 2017 will be the year of the bank partnership
    I would say I was partially right on this one. We certainly saw a large number of new bank/fintech partnerships with deals closed from Avant, Fundation, Upstart, P2Bi, LendUp, Biz2Credit and many others. And in Europe the floodgates opened with dozens of new deals between lending platforms and banks announced. But in the US I was expecting even more partnership deals than we had so I think it is bit of a stretch to call 2017 the year of the bank partnership here.
  2. The OCC Fintech Charter will receive a positive reception
    It was an interesting year for the OCC Fintech Charter. With Thomas Curry leaving as head of the agency in April, then Keith Noreika holding the acting role for a few months and finally Joseph Otting being sworn in to lead the agency in late November it was difficult for any new initiative to get momentum. There was also the case of the Conference of State Board Supervisors suing the OCC over the charter, which was dismissed in December. So, while many of the fintech platforms supported the charter there was no real positive movement this year.
  3. Lending platforms will offer banking products
    While we had a couple of platforms offering credit cards for the most part this prediction failed to materialize. With the possible exception of SoFi I think we are still some time away from lending platforms offering a variety of banking products.
  4. One large platform will be acquired
    I am going to say I got this one right as one major platform was acquired in 2017. Student lender Earnest was acquired by Navient in a deal announced in early October. My guess that Prosper might be the platform to be acquired was wrong but there were rumors flying around about acquisition talks at more than one major platform last year.
  5. There will be no new IPOs this year
    I was almost right on this one but one US lending platform did have an IPO in 2017. Short term lender Elevate went public in April after postponing their IPO in 2016. None of the major marketplace lenders braved the public markets in 2017 as valuations continue to be depressed at many of the leading companies.
  6. China will become an important source of capital outside the USA
    I got this one right. China continues to make its presence felt as more US companies are looking for capital from that part of the world. The leading Chinese fund, the CreditEase Fintech Fund, made investments in 2017 in Upgrade, dv01, Orchard, Lenda and Nav just to name a few. China is now becoming a consideration for many more companies looking to raise money.
  7. Artificial intelligence will take center stage
    I think I read more articles about AI this year than in the previous five years combined. Whether it is for underwriting, customer acquisition, collections, compliance or cybersecurity AI is now central to the success of many lending platforms. It has taken center stage and will remain important for the foreseeable future.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Peer to Peer Lending Tagged With: artificial intelligence, bank partnerships, cyber security, IPO, predictions, regulation

Views: 222

Banks Going Digital – Transforming Branches, Apps and a Focus on Customer Experience

Banks know they must go digital and many are embracing new technology to improve the customer experience

June 22, 2017 By Todd Anderson 3 Comments

Views: 155

In Austin last week American Banker hosted their annual Digital Banking Conference where banks of all sizes gathered to discuss the innovation in banking today. There were a few main themes that came out of the event; banks are focused on transforming the customer experience, mobile first approaches are prevalent and technology solutions like AI and cyber security are becoming must haves within the bank.

The big banks have all started to understand that the traditional way of banking is a thing of the past. Keynote speaker Yolande Piazza, CEO, Citi Fintech talked about disrupting from within, changing how they operate to enable the customer and move to a mobile first approach. She explained how this approach is radical for a bank and the layers of compliance did not make the transition smooth. They have completely rethought how they hire, 50 percent of their fintech talent is from outside the company. They have looked towards fintech and technology companies to fill their pool, while the banking talent comes from within.

Consumer oriented experiences really drove a lot of the conversations at the event, banks and the vendors were all talking about how to best utilize the consumer’s time when they engage. Mobile apps seem to have become a bit of a competition among the banks, though some would describe it more as a competition of experience and not necessarily as a competition between different banks. No longer are banks looking to drive where the customers should go, they are looking for the customers to drive what they want in the experience.

Consumer experience is not limited to the digital channel; banks and companies like Samsung are also focused on changing the way people interact within the branch. In speaking to Reginald Jones, Director of Sales for Regulated Industries, he talked about how the consumer electronics giant is working with banks to help change the way people think and interact with their local branches. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Peer to Peer Lending Tagged With: artificial intelligence, Banks, BioCatch, Citi, cyber security, digital banking, fintech, Mobile App, Samsung, Zelle

Views: 155

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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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