LendIt Fintech USA Archives

All LendIt Fintech USA 2019 Sessions Now Available Online

April 25, 2019 By Peter Renton Leave a Comment

If you attended LendIt Fintech USA 2019 in San Francisco earlier this month there was likely many sessions you missed out on. I know that was the case for me. Not to worry you can now listen to or watch any and all of the sessions from this groundbreaking event.

While we have had videos of all the keynote sessions available online for a couple of weeks now, today we completed uploading all the track sessions as well. These are audio files that you can listen to via our website or they are also on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher (just search for LendIt Rewind or the title of your favorite session).

I have already started going through the audio files and last night I listened to The New Payday Lending Alternative: Employer Based Lending, a fascinating session featuring four companies that are trying to change the financial health of workers across America. There are dozens of other great session to listen to and I hope you add some LendIt content in your audio playlist.

LendIt Fintech USA 2019 Event Highlights

April 18, 2019 By Peter Renton 3 Comments

Roger Hochschild, CEO of Discover and Douglas Merrill, CEO of Zest Finance chat with Selina Wang of Bloomberg in LendIt Fintech USA 2019 opening keynote session

Last week the fintech world gathered in San Francisco for the 7th annual LendIt Fintech USA conference. As I do every year at this time I will share many of the highlights from the keynote presentations and other parts of the event.

We kicked off the event with a fascinating discussion that encapsulated so much of what is important in finance right now. We had the CEO of Discover, Roger Hochschild and the CEO of ZestFinance, Douglas Merrill on stage talking about bank-fintech partnerships and how machine learning is helping both banks and fintech companies expand their credit box to the previously underserved. Hochschild said that partnerships are so important for banks because they can get access to talent that they might otherwise not. My favorite quote from the session was from Merrill, “There is a moral beauty in finding people who have been mistreated by the [financial] system and fixing that”.

The CEO and Co-founder of Affirm, Max Levchin, had some harsh words to say about credit cards in his session. He basically compared them to pay day loans in that in both instances borrowers are allowed to refinance their own debt in perpetuity. Their business model is based to some extent on deceiving the customer. Far better to have an installment loan where you know exactly how much you are paying with a fixed payment every month. He also talked about Affirm’s groundbreaking partnership with Walmart and how both companies, while very different when it comes to scale, have a very similar customer-centric approach. He appreciated Walmart no longer offers a deferred interest payment option, something that Levchin dislikes intensely. He said that 2019 will be the year of big partnerships for Affirm both within finance and outside.

Sallie Krawcheck is the CEO of Ellevest and previously ran the wealth management operations for some of the largest Wall Street firms. She talked about an amazingly underserved investor segment: women. Investment management is such a male dominated industry with 90% of mutual fund managers and 95% of hedge fund managers being male. She made the interesting point that we have been socialized to think that something “for women” means it is inferior and likely just a marketing ploy. Women have not made the progress either in finance or other industries that we all expected a couple of decades ago. The gender pay gap is decades away from closing and one of the ways to help close this gap is to help women invest in a smarter way.

Sallie Krawcheck of Ellevest talks with Kat Utecht of Core Innovation Capital at LendIt Fintech USA 2019 — Sallie Krawcheck of Ellevest talks about empowering women investors with Kat Utecht of Core Innovation Capital

[Read more…]

Women in Fintech Demolish Glass Ceiling

LendIt Fintech Woman of the Year 2019 award finalists target diversity, equality, education

April 2, 2019 By admin Leave a Comment

[Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Mark Lusky of Mark Lusky Communications, a writing and marketing communications firm, operating since 1982. He specializes in ghostwriting expert advice articles, blogposts and other bylined content for clients, along with writing e-books, whitepapers, case studies, websites, opinion pieces and other communiques—incorporating marketing skills and perspectives acquired as a regional marketing director for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He will be attending LendIt in San Francisco this April.]

LendIt Fintech’s Fintech Women of the Year 2019 award finalists champion the causes of diversity, equality and education—and shout it from the rooftops. In the process, they’re demolishing glass ceilings for women and other diversity-challenged groups.

They are dedicated to achieving gender, ethnic and racial equality. And they are educating a variety of audiences— including borrowers, investors and the Fintech industry—about ways to grow and thrive by becoming savvier and open to all people.

These finalists are changing not just their world—but the whole world.

Promote diversity, respect, collaboration
Valerie Kay, Chief Capital Officer at LendingClub, is responsible for overseeing LendingClub’s Investor Group. She addresses the need for diversity, inclusion, mutual respect and collaboration. She emphasizes the vital importance of diversity to drive better workplaces, happier customers and more profits.

[Read more…]

New Lending as a Service White Paper Released

March 14, 2019 By Peter Renton Leave a Comment

One of the themes of the upcoming LendIt Fintech USA 2019 event will be the growing role partnerships are playing in lending operations at both banks and non-banks. We have gone from one or two projects that have moved beyond the pilot stage to several dozen lending as a service (Laas) implementations.

The latest LendIt Fintech white paper highlights industry growth, key trends, feature requirements and implementation considerations for financial institutions considering LaaS. It also profiles the leading fintech companies providing Laas, shows their capabilities as well as examples of customers who have implement their solution.

You can download the white paper here.

LendIt Fintech Industry Awards: Nomination Deadline Extended

Due to popular demand we are extending the deadline for awards submissions until Friday, February 15th.

January 31, 2019 By Todd Anderson Leave a Comment

LendIt Fintech USA 2018 Awards Dinner

One of the highlights of the year is the LendIt Fintech Industry Awards Dinner which will take place on the evening of April 9th at the conclusion of LendIt Fintech USA 2019. In its third year, the dinner highlights the great accomplishments of the people and companies that are driving the fintech industry forward. The event includes a pre-dinner networking reception, a three-course dinner, live entertainment and the awards ceremony.

First and foremost, this is an event for the industry. It will be an evening of celebration where the industry recognizes the outstanding achievements of the past year. While LendIt will organize the event, it will be the industry judging its own and deciding who exactly are the standout people and companies. A large selection of judges will be chosen that will contain no LendIt staff and will decide on the winners in different categories. The large team of judges will be carefully selected to ensure no conflicts of interest with different judges being responsible for different categories.

Scott Sanborn of Lending Club, Yihan Fang of Yirendai and Brendan Ross of Direct Lending Investments at the 2018 Awards

There has been over 450 applications submitted so far in the more than 20 categories listed below:

Best Journalist Coverage
Blockchain Innovator of the Year
Customer Alignment
Emerging Lending Platform of the Year
Excellence in Financial Inclusion
Executive of the Year
Fintech Innovator of the Year
Fintech Woman of the Year
International Innovator of the Year
Most Innovative Bank
Most Innovative Mobile Technology
Most Promising Partnership
Most Successful Cross-Border Partnership
Top Accounting Firm
Top Consumer Lending Platform
Top Emerging Technology Company
Top Enterprise Technology Company
Top Fintech Equity Investor
Top Law Firm
Top Real Estate Platform
Top Service Provider
Top Small Business Lending Platform

LendIt Industry Awards at the LendIt USA 2018 conference in San Francisco, CA on April 10, 2018. (photo by Gabe Palacio)

Don’t miss your chance to be recognized by your peers. If you have any questions about the awards please let us know.

LendIt Fintech USA 2019 Returns to San Francisco, Awards Nominations Open

In April the financial services sector will gather in San Francisco for our 7th installment of LendIt Fintech USA.

December 12, 2018 By Ryan Lichtenwald Leave a Comment

LendIt USA 2018 conference in San Francisco, CA on April 9, 2018. (photo by Evans Vestal Ward)

As we round out 2018 LendIt Fintech is completely focused on our 2019 events. Coming up first is LendIt Fintech USA 2019, our flagship event which will be held on April 8-9 in San Francisco at Moscone West. We expect 5,000+ attendees and will have some exciting names to announce as speakers in the coming weeks. If you or someone you know is interested in speaking at our event we recommend submitting a speaker application in the next few weeks.

The LendIt Fintech team has always taken pride in our content, but we also have invested heavily in facilitating networking opportunities both during the event and after hours. For 2019 we have added two new networking opportunities, the inaugural LendIt Fintech charity golf tournament and also a Sonoma wine tour and lunch. Both can be booked when you signup for LendIt Fintech USA. We will, of course, have numerous networking opportunities at the event itself including a return of Brella, the popular 1-to-1 networking app.

LendIt Fintech Industry Awards Nominations Now Open

One of the highlights of the event is our LendIt Fintech Industry Awards Dinner which will take place on the evening of April 9th. In its third year, the dinner highlights the great accomplishments of the people and companies that are driving the fintech infistry forward. It is a celebration of the industry, by the industry.

We are currently accepting award applications on the LendIt website. Keep in mind that you are supposed to nominate yourself and/or your company. So don’t be shy, let us hear from you. You have until January 31 to get your entries in and the more complete your entry the better your chances are of winning. The LendIt team will be selecting the finalists for each category and then a team of independent industry experts will select the winners. Good luck!

Lend Academy Readers Receive a 15% Discount

As always, you can save by purchasing your ticket to LendIt Fintech early. Early bird pricing is in effect until January 11th. And don’t forget Lend Academy readers can save an additional 15% by using the code LENDACADEMYVIP at checkout. We hope to see you there!

Purchase your ticket to LendIt Fintech USA 2019

Audio Recordings Now Available for LendIt Fintech USA 2018

LendIt Rewind has audio of all the sessions from the most recent event conveniently published in a podcast feed

May 16, 2018 By Peter Renton Leave a Comment

If you are like me when you were at LendIt Fintech USA 2018 in San Francisco last month you missed out on attending a lot of sessions. With so much great content going on simultaneously I know I wanted to be in multiple places at the same time. Fear not, the solution is LendIt Rewind.

We recorded every session and they are now uploaded for your listening pleasure in what we call LendIt Rewind. This is our audio archive where we keep recordings of all the previous conferences. There are a number of ways to listen:

Apple Podcasts – for Apple enthusiasts
Stitcher Podcasts – multi-platform app
LendIt Podcasts web page – dedicated page broken down by track

As you are listening you might also want to check out the slide presentations from LendIt Fintech here and the BlockFin Summit here.

I have already listened to a few of my favorite sessions and will be working through every session over the coming weeks. Enjoy.

Publicly Listed Fintech Companies – a Tale of Two Sectors

Deepak Lalit, Managing Director of LendIt Advisors reviews the public companies attending LendIt and their recent track record.

April 4, 2018 By admin Leave a Comment

[Editor’s note: Deepak Lalit is the Managing Director of LendIt Advisors, which is a new business line within LendIt Fintech that launched in 2017. LendIt Advisors has access to deep relationships across the entire Marketplace Lending ecosystem, and its objective is to connect Loan Originators with sources of Capital. Deepak has over 10 years of experience in Financial Services, with a specialty in Alternative Lending. Deepak has previously qualified as a Chartered Accountant (CA) and a CFA Charter holder.]

It is no doubt that Fintech has been THE buzzword of the last five years. While it may be hard to agree on the exact definition – there is a strong consensus that we are living in a time where technology is accelerating the pace at which traditional financial norms are being disrupted. The companies which master how to leverage their technology are creating huge opportunities for revenue growth in seemingly shorter and shorter periods of time. This makes the fintech sector very interesting from the point of view of an Equity Investor.

In this article, we briefly look at the broad performance of the publicly listed Fintech Companies, and discuss the investment opportunities that are available to US investors, and why we should all be paying attention.

How have the stock prices fared?

To understand the broad performance of the sector – the KBW Nasdaq Financial Technology Index (KFTX) is a good place to start. It is an equal weighted index of 50 companies ranging from the more recent IPO’s such as Square (SQ) and LendingClub (LC) to some of the more established players like VISA (V) and PayPal (PYPL). The criteria for inclusion into the index is where the distribution of a company’s financial products and services is exclusively through electronic means and their revenue mix is predominantly fee-based.

Since inception in June 2016, the index has returned 46%, outperforming the broad market S&P 500 by a whopping 24%, and even the tech-heavy NASDAQ by a meaningful 9%. [Read more…]

Broad Mix of Thought Leaders to Present at LendIt Fintech USA 2018

We are quickly approaching LendIt Fintech 2018 which will take place on April 9-11 in San Francisco

February 28, 2018 By Ryan Lichtenwald Leave a Comment

Many regular Lend Academy readers are aware that our sister company, LendIt is hosting its next event in a few weeks. LendIt has been hosting events since 2013 which bring the fintech community together. Today, LendIt, now branded as LendIt Fintech is the leading event in financial services innovation. In April, we will host the largest ever fintech event in San Francisco.

From the very beginning we’ve thought of ourselves as a little bit different in the event business. By hosting events in New York and San Francisco we are closer to the innovative companies that make up the industry. And now, more than ever, we are seeing interest from incumbents in financial services who come to see how they can work with fintechs whether it be through partnerships, or through mergers and acquisitions. It is a fascinating time to be part of financial services and LendIt is in a unique position as the place where companies across the ecosystem connect.

Part of the job for the team who also write on Lend Academy is crafting the agenda. We have some exciting new names that we wanted to share for those who plan to attend our upcoming event. As we were thinking about broader topics we targeted the three areas that we feel are most important in fintech today: Lending, Digital Banking and Blockchain.

Lending

Lending has been the bread and butter of LendIt events from inception. As online lending has grown up, so too has LendIt. In the early days there were just a handful of early companies who were thinking very differently about how lending should be done. There is now a healthy ecosystem that has been built around the lending industry. At LendIt Fintech USA 2018 we’ll cover all verticals of lending. Many people are familiar with LendingClub CEO Scott Sanborn who will kick off the event. While we will cover every aspect of lending, here are a few other notable speakers:

Jay Farner, CEO, Quicken Loans
Max Levchin, Co-Founder & CEO, Affirm
Anthony Noto, CEO, SoFi
Renaud Laplanche, CEO, Upgrade

Digital Banking

Every bank needs to have a digital strategy these days. Consumers have more options than ever and companies need to check all of boxes no matter what size bank they are. We’ll hear a wide range of perspectives from startups to established banks looking to serve a younger customer base. This track will also cover mobile technology, banking infrastructure, data science, partnerships, wealth management and how banks can compete in the ever changing marketplace. Below are just a few names that we’ll hear from on digital banking:

Yolande Piazza, CEO, Citi FinTech
Suresh Ramamurthi, Chairman & CTO, CBW Bank
Luvleen Sidhu President, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, BankMobile
Jeremy K. Balkin, Head of Innovation, HSBC Bank USA
Nicolas Kopp, U.S. CEO, N26 Inc.

Blockchain for Financial Services

For 2018 we looked at one of the biggest new trends in financial services, blockchain and decided to create an event within our event. We are debuting our new blockchain event Blockfin by LendIt. Blockfin is co-located within the LendIt Fintech event meaning attendees have access to both events. We teamed up and are co-hosting the event with CryptoOracle. BlockFin brings together the top innovators and experts from the entire blockchain ecosystem including technology platforms, crypto companies, investors and banks for 2 1/2 action-packed days of learning, networking and business development. The event will include: 1:1 investor meetings, a demo stage for crypto funds & ICOs and 40+ hours of cutting edge blockchain and cryptocurrency content. Some names we are excited to hear from include:

Tim Draper Founder & Managing Director DFJ
Richard Craib, CEO, Numerai
Tom Ding, Co-founder & CEO, String Labs/Dfinity
Vincent Wang, Chief Innovation Officer, China Wanxiang Group
Kathleen Breitman, Co-Founder, Tezos
Catherine Wood, CEO/CIO, ARK INVEST

This is just a taste of what you can expect out of LendIt Fintech USA 2018. You can learn more by visiting our speakers page or looking at sessions confirmed on our agenda. If you plan to attend the event, be sure to act soon as the price increases by $400 on Friday night. As a Lend Academy reader you can use our special discount code “LENDACADEMYVIP” for an additional 15% off.

We hope to see you in San Francisco in April.