During the week I share the latest marketplace lending and fintech news on Twitter as it happens. Then every Saturday I take the most interesting news items and blog posts from the past week and share them here.
UK positioned to win in fintech, despite Brexit uncertainty from AltFi – Great op-ed by Karen Mills in AltFi on why the UK is still poised to be the global leader in fintech.
Startup Affirm Gets Investment from GIC and a Valuation Nearing $2 Billion from The Wall Street Journal – Big news from Affirm this week. They have closed a $200m equity round at a valuation between $1.5-$2B.
N26 partners with Younited Credit to launch credit offering in France from TechCrunch – German digital banking leader N26 is partnering with Younited in France to offer personal loans.
SoFi Completes $769 Million Student Loan Securitization; Brings Total ABS Issuance to $6.9 Billion in 2017 from Crowdfund Insider – Another huge securitization from SoFi, a $769M deal following on from its $777M deal less than two months ago.
Finance teams are ‘bottlenecking’ banks’ digital transformations from Tearsheet – The CFO role at banks is changing, now demanding skills in technology and data analytics.
To compete with big tech firms, banks need big-tech talent from American Banker – Interesting piece in American Banker on how banks can compete with the tech giants for data science talent.
New York Regulator’s Fintech-Charter Lawsuit Dismissed from The Wall Street Journal – A small victory for the OCC today as a federal judge dismisses a lawsuit over the fintech charter.
INSIKT raises $50 million to lend to low-income communities from TechCrunch – Congrats to James Gutierrez and the Insikt team on their $50m funding round.
Mission-oriented neobank gains $47 million in funding from American Banker – Mission driven fintech company Aspiration has closed a $47m Series B.
Will 2018 Be the Year of the Bank of Amazon? Experts Weigh In from Bloomberg – Industry experts weigh in on the trends to look for in 2018.
Fintech Is The New Oil In The Middle East And North Africa from Forbes – The Middle East sees fintech as a way to wean themselves off oil and diversify their economy.
Consumer lending 2017: Bold bets and strategic exits from American Banker – Many banks were active in consumer lending in 2017, here is a breakdown of recent activity.
Online lending platforms test investors’ faith from Financial Times – When it comes to success in online lending solid underwriting is key. Without that you are doomed to fail.
LendInvest hits $1bn in funds under management from AltFi – Congrats to Christian Faes and the LendInvest team in the UK on reaching $1B under management. Impressive!
Bitcoin surge spawns startup lenders willing to accept crypto-collateral from American Banker – It was inevitable. Some lenders are now accepting bitcoin as collateral to make personal loans.
Look East for Innovation from Chris Skinner – The leapfrog in fintech is happening in Asia and Africa as they bring billions of people into financial services for the first time.
From the Lend Academy Forum
The Lend Academy forum is where investors go to discuss p2p lending. Below are some topics that were being discussed this week.
LC Hosting First Investor Day in NY Today Stock Down to $3.50 in Pre-Market – Forum members discuss recent moves in LendingClub’s stock price and an asset management company that has been increasing their stake.
LC and Prosper Fees Comparison (and kudos to LC) – One investor digs into LendingClub and Prosper’s investor fees.
Loan status migration / adjustment numbers – weird – LendingClub has a lower estimated loss rate for loans in default than those that are 31-120 days late.
