Thursday December 29 2016, Daily News Digest

United States

Three Reasons for Small Business Optimism About the Economy in 2017 (Forbes), Rated: AAA

Indeed there are reasons for continued optimism for small business owners in the new year:

1. Although rates went up, the increase was small, which is good news for borrowers seeking capital. Lenders are showing signs of opening up the purse strings. Big banks and institutional lenders are approving higher percentages of loan applications, and smaller banks are granting about half of the requests.
2. While the Fed signaled it would raise rates in 2017, the amounts will likely again be small.
3. Inflation remains low, despite an interest rate hike and strong consumer spending this holiday season.

Meanwhile, loan approval rates at big banks ($10 billion+ in assets) improved to a new all-time post-recession high in November 2016, according to the latest Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™, a monthly analysis of more than 1,000 small business loan applications on Biz2Credit.com. In addition, it marked the eighth time in the last nine months that lending approval rates improved at big banks.

Small banks also experienced an uptick in loan approval rates last month, granting 48.8% of funding requests from borrowers.

Institutional lenders, which have emerged as major players in the marketplace lending industry are approving an all-time Index high 63.3% of funding requests from entrepreneurs after an increase of two-tenths of a percent in a month-by-month comparison.

Institutional lenders, which have emerged as major players in the marketplace lending industry are approving an all-time Index high 63.3% of funding requests from entrepreneurs after an increase of two-tenths of a percent in a month-by-month comparison. Credit unions, which are currently approving 41.1% of loan requests, have experienced steady declines in their loan approval rates over the last 18 months. While loan approval rates at alternative lenders (59.2%) have dropped for five straight months.

Bloomberg Intelligence: FinTech in 2017 (Bloomberg), Rated: A

United Kingdom

5 ways to make your money work harder for you in 2017 (The Motley Fool), Rated: A

Funding Circle focuses primarily on small business lending, which can offer higher returns but is also riskier. Landbay organises peer-to-peer mortgages offering an expected return of 3.75% secured against property. Meanwhile, RateSetter offers unsecured lending to everyday customers. Peer-to-peer lending does come with a certain degree of risk and isn’t a substitute for savings accounts, so it may not be suitable for all investors.

Herefordshire Council withdraws from crowdfunding initiative (Hereford Times), Rated: A

THE COUNCIL will no longer lend funds to small businesses through a crowdfunding initiative.

Since 2015 Herefordshire Council has been in a partnership with crowdfunding group Funding Circle to help boost lending in the county.

The council has contributed to seven business loans since January 2015, lending a total initial principle of £15,560, towards loans with a total value of £ 29,500.

European Union

Nearly half of Belfast people to start New Year £100 out of pocket due to friends and family owing money (BelfastLive), Rated: AAA

According to latest research 42% of Belfast residents are already £100 out of pocket, on top of their own Christmas debt, due to friends not repaying loans.

New findings also show that half of us have lent up to £500 and nearly one in 20 (4%) have lent more than £5,000.

Canada

How Small Businesses Can Use Fintech Companies (Intuit QuickBooks), Rated: A

Between 2000 and 2016, approximately 100 startup businesses in Canada raised more than $1 billion in funding. Fintech companies attract enthusiastic investors, from the casual speculators at crowdfunding sites to seasoned venture capitalists.

Several Canadian fintech companies offer payment processing services, allowing consumers to utilize a smartphone as a credit card or as an e–wallet.

Toronto-based Lendified utilizes a proprietary algorithm to assess the reputation and potential of a small business to make a lending decision. Lendified’s platform allows the small business owner to apply online and get approved for a loan of up to $50,000 within five minutes.

Lending Loop is Canada’s first and only regulated crowdfundng platform focused on small business.

Canadian Fintech Firm MOBI724 Completes Third Equity Private Placement (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: A

MOBI724 Global Solutions Inc., (CSE: MOS), a Candian fintech startup that offers an all-in-one fully integrated EMV payment, card link couponing, and digital marketing system, announced on Tuesday it closed a third tranche equity private placement in the aggregate amount of $167,500 by issuing 3,350,000 common shares at $0.05. For each common share received, the subscribers were issued one common share purchase warrant at an exercise price of $0.15 exercisable on or before August 31st.

China

Tech Trends 2017: China’s WeChat, Musical.ly and Alipay Surpasses Outdated Western Technology (University Herald), Rated: A

China sets tech trends for 2017 with WeChat, Musical.ly and Alipay, surpassing outdated Western Technology and skipping phases in technological progression while catering to middle-class consumers.

Alipay, Alibaba’s payment system, enables users to pay using their mobile devices, one of the top tech trends for 2017 that could see less of credit cards since a good 40 percent of Chinese consumers now use the new payment scheme, Forbes reported.

Peer-to-peer lending is now gaining popularity among those who do not have the credit score to apply for loans with traditional banks. China Rapid Finance is now the largest consumer lending company facilitating access to loans of its more than 1 million borrowers.

India

YEAR-RBI 3 LAST (DCM24)  (India Today), Rated: AAA

The era of differentiated banking finally became a reality during the year, with the first of the small finance banks and payments banks getting operational. RBI also started discussions on starting peer-to-peer lending.

i2ifunding is a Leading Peer to Peer Lending Platform in India (BWDisrupt), Rated: A

i2iFunding is much more than P2P marketplace. Apart from providing end to end loan servicing, i2i diligently evaluates the credit risk of each of the loan projects, post which it assigns risk category and recommends an iWe raised Rs. 2 crore from individual angel investors in May 2016 and we are in discussion with various VC firms to raise $4-5 million in next few months.nterest rate for that project (a borrower can borrow at an interest rate which is higher than or equal to this rate). This helps the borrowers as well as the investors to have a benchmark interest rate. In the process, the investors get an opportunity to earn higher ‘risk adjusted returns’ while the borrowers get an opportunity to get funded at the lowest cost possible as per their risk profile and market based demand. We also provide legal and recovery support to investors in case of default by any borrower along with Principal Protection to ensure downside is limited for investors in case of default.

We raised Rs. 2 crore from individual angel investors in May 2016 and we are in discussion with various VC firms to raise $4-5 million in next few months.

In next couple of years, we would like to disburse at least 20-30 cr rupees every month.

P2P market size in India:
Following table is Based on a NSSO, Census of India report:

Authors: