The UK marketplace lending industry is likely to see several factors causing change in 2017; the Financial Conduct Authority has reported several concerns which may increase regulatory pressure; demand for loans and capital investment are also slowing; larger platforms will have a greater advantage while the smaller platforms may see greater challenges; competition and partnerships among traditional financial service providers and fintech companies will also continue to be significant for the market overall. Source
The UK online lender was launched with a focus on secured aviation lending and has expanded to other types of transactions including secured capital equipment and property lending; it says the authorization will help it to expand and further concentrate efforts on its technological development; the firm has reported an 850% increase in loan volume in the last year; the firm has plans to launch in Australia and also expand to other regions. Source
Development finance P2P lender Bricks Finance has received Financial Conduct Authority authorization; firm is not planning to launch an innovative finance individual savings account; will instead focus on expanding partnerships with brokers; also announced a new Bricks Bond product for wealth managers and their clients; firm has been lending since May 2015 with loans of more than £5 million ($6.22 million). Source
The UK's Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance (CCAF) is actively involved in industry research and is currently doing three alternative finance surveys; much of the research is in conjunction with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), providing insight for its crowdfunding consultation period; CCAF is surveying crowdfunding investors and crowdfunding borrowers; CCAF has also announced it will now be doing a survey on blockchain and cryptocurrencies; as part of the FCA's regulatory study, CCAF is working with 25 crowdfunding and P2P lending platforms in the UK to gain greater insight into the crowdfunding ecosystem. Source
Worsening conditions for the public's financial health have caused the FCA to launch a consultation. The fintech sector is already way ahead.
Last month as Wirecard was unraveling the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority temporarily suspended Wirecard Card Solutions (WCS) from operating; this...
Assetz Capital is a large P2P lender in the UK and now has authorization from the FCA; the company has lent more than GBP316 million ($410 million) to businesses and is now working on the final stages of its Innovative Finance ISA which it expects will be available in Q4 2017; Stuart Law, CEO of Assetz Capital, stated: "Our cautious approach of employing a world-class credit underwriting team and taking realisable security on loans is essential for our investors' peace of mind. Our focus remains to ensure the growth and security of our lenders' investments, as well as the success of our borrowers' businesses. Our team has done fantastically well to deliver such success to all of our stakeholders over the last few years and yet there is also so much more to achieve ahead of this milestone and we are all excited about the continuing journey." Source
In this conversation, we have a really cool conversation on fintech, crypto assets, payments and all the things around it with Ivan Soto-Wright, the CEO and Co-founder of MoonPay.
More specifically, we discuss Liability-driven Investment (LDI), the proliferation of AI in personal finance to drive sound decision-making, innovation in finance is following the same trajectory that resulted in VOIP for the telecommunication industry, the geographical maze of crypto KYC, payment networks, and crypto payment processing.
In an interview with P2P Finance News, Christine Farnish talks about their relationship with the Financial Conduct Authority, the recent departures of LendInvest and RateSetter from the group and updates to membership criteria; Farnish teased that there will be major changes to the way the P2PFA operates coming in November. Source
The approval of the EU's MiCA legislation highlights post-Brexit UK's regulatory shortcomings - could it be boosted?