Online lender Avant was one company greatly affected by the industry's challenges in 2016; in May it laid off 60 workers with further reductions in July; it also paused its plans to expand into Australia and offer new auto loans and credit cards; a new partnership with Regions Bank has helped revive the company's growth and it also plans to announce another partnership in February; the new business activity has helped it to begin hiring again and it's currently looking for 25 technologists and some additional customer service support; in 2017 Avant's President, Adam Hughes, says the firm will focus on three main initiatives: growing Avant's core lending product, partnering with more brick-and-mortar banks and launching the credit card product; it also has plans to continue its previous initiatives including Australia expansion and auto loans. Source
In a statement defending allegations against its issuance of new bank charters, the FDIC reaffirmed its authority to review and approve applications for US businesses seeking deposit insurance from the FDIC; the criticism comes from the OCC as it continues to develop plans for its national fintech charter; in a podcast interview Friday with a Commodity Futures Trading Commission official, Keith Noreika criticized the FDIC's process for chartering banks, suggesting that the open process was too long and cost too much for requesting companies eventually leading to many withdrawn applications; Noreika also said the OCC has proposed a bill that would take away the FDIC's role in approving newly chartered entities for deposit insurance. Source
Marketplace lender, LendingHome, has reached a new milestone; firm has funded over $750 million in mortgage loans since its launch in April 2014; claims to be the largest mortgage marketplace lender; firm attributes the rapid growth to a broader range of investors, now including retail investors, and the secured status of the real estate loans; Matt Humphrey, LendingHome CEO, shares additional thoughts in the included Q&A. Source
Point of sale business credit provider Behalf has partnered with community bank FinWise Bank; FinWise Bank will support expanded credit financing and product offerings for Behalf; according to Behalf CEO and Co-Founder Benjy Feinberg, "Partnering with FinWise allows us to expand our product offering and serve more customers with financial tools that help them grow." Source
Bank of America Merrill Lynch says they are implementing HighRadius, an enterprise software AI solution to speed up reconciliation of receivables; they specifically are looking to focus on the bank's largest business clients; HighRadius uses AI, machine learning and optical character recognition to match a payment to a receivable; this will help cut down on some of the labor intensive work and more efficiently be able to send payment reminders to clients; BAML is the latest bank using AI to improve processes and cut cost. Source
Pepper Hamilton provides details on their recent podcast and webinar in their featured blog post; the firm's January 5 podcast provided insight on what the Donald Trump presidency means for the financial services industry; on January 24 the firm provided a webinar on factors for considering the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's new fintech charter. Sponsored Blog Post
Patrick McHenry is one of the most active proponents for fintech in Congress; Lend Academy talks with McHenry at LendIt USA following his keynote presentation; in the podcast he talks about the role of the House Financial Services Committee, his perspective on fintech, current legislation and his outlook for financial innovation over the next four years. Source
Steve McLaughlin has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to M&A in fintech, having advised on many deals in the space; he founded his firm FT Partners when he was 32 years old; according to data from KPMG, M&A was down in 2016 by 68% compared to 2015; McLaughlin shares his thoughts on what has contributed to the decline and where the industry is going from here; believes that the ability for companies to raise financing rounds has contributed to the lower amount of M&A deals; many companies in fintech are also fairly young when it comes to the earnings which makes M&A not as attractive to banks; McLaughlin also talks about the deals that have occurred in fintech and the sectors that are hot in 2017. Source
AutoGravity has added Westlake Financial Services to its network of financing companies; AutoGravity launched its app in 46 states in January; the platform allows consumers to shop for a car online, apply for financing and receive up to four auto financing offers. Source
Morgan Stanley Analyst James Faucette says Lending Club has upside potential of 35%; cites institutional investment, loan growth at moderate but sustained pace and industry contacts reporting no deterioration in reinvestment or retention rates; targets the stock at $8; the company will announce Q4 and year-end earnings on February 14th. Source