ocrolus Archives - Lend Academy

Those of us who have been around the online lending space for a while will remember the “Lendscape” created by Orchard Platform (now part of Kabbage). It was a very useful infographic featuring all the major players in the online lending ecosystem. I used to refer to it on a regular basis whenever I wanted a complete picture of a segment of our ecosystem. It was last published in 2017 and I have missed having access to an up to date resource like this. We had even talked about internally at LendIt Fintech about recreating something like it. Now, we don’t have to.

Earlier this month Ocrolus released the 2020 Fintech Lending Market Map. While it is not an exact replica of the Orchard Lendscape it is a super useful resource. The big difference is that they ignore the investor side of the online lending space and bring in more of the technology and infrastructure companies. This makes sense given that Ocrolus is a technology company building the infrastructure to analyze documents and automate back office tasks and is used by many of the leading online lenders.

I caught up with David Snitkof, former co-founder at Orchard and now the Head of Analytics at Ocrolus, a position he has held since April. What was interesting to me is that this new market map of the fintech lending ecosystem was not actually his idea. He said there were many people at Ocrolus who were also big fans of the old Lendscape and were keen to resurrect it. Obviously, David would have been a great resource for Ocrolus and he did in fact have significant say in to how it was was produced.

When looking at the full infographic I am struck by how far our industry has come in the last decade. While we have certainly had our challenges, the innovations that were pioneered by a select group of companies a decade or more ago have led to loans now becoming a standard online offering. You will see several of the largest banks in the country on this infographic as they have integrated online lending into their business.

Now, not every company is listed and some companies maybe should not have made it in. But overall, Ocrolus has done the industry a great service by creating the most complete market map of fintech lending in several years.

[Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Tim Dubes, Vice President of Marketing with Ocrolus, a cloud platform for analyzing financial documents based in New York.]

Mirroring the growth in online lending volume over the past half-decade, there has been an acceleration in fraudulent account takeover. According to a pymnts.com report, account takeovers jumped 300% year over year in 2017, and have continued to rise ever since. The trend was particularly pronounced in the lending space; lenders lost $4 billion from account takeover last year, according to Javelin Strategy and Research.

To combat this type of fraud, online lenders need to learn what account takeover entails from a tactical perspective and the tools that are available to combat nefarious activity.

Online Lending Fraud: Account Takeover

Account takeover is a form of financial identity fraud where a fraudster uses some combination of a victim’s PII and ultimately access to an associated financial account to secure a loan and then steal the funds. Fraudsters apply for a loan in the victim’s name, transfer the funds into the victim’s account, withdraw the money and then disappear.

Account takeover can be riskier than other forms of identity fraud, but it comes with several built-in advantages for fraudsters looking for a fast return for their efforts. Unlike synthetic identity fraud, for example, the account takeover perpetrator does not need to build a new identity and associated accounts, or even establish a long-tail financial history to commit the fraud. The fraudster is essentially taking over a person’s identity, pre-existing accounts, and credit history to illicitly funnel money into a safe haven, using the victim’s account as a pass-through vehicle.

Account takeover is facilitated like many other types of identity fraud: a bad actor obtains sensitive information, such as bank account numbers, usernames or passwords, and other key credentials from personal contacts, malware, phishing, or other violations of a victim’s privacy. The fraudster takes out a loan in the victim’s name, and routes the funds into the victim’s legitimate account.

[Read more…]

Ocrolus Maps the Fintech Lending Ecosystem

The 2020 Fintech Lending Market Map will become a great new resource for the industry

Mitigating Risk from Account Takeover

Account takeover is an expensive and fast growing form of online lending fraud, this guest post describes the problem as well as potential solutions

Online Lending Fraud: Account Takeover

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