Thursday October 25 2018, Daily News Digest

United States

SoFi CEO Anthony Noto: Market volatility, rising rates create ‘opportunity for us’ (CNBC) Rated: A

Rising interest rates and market volatility, while feared on the Street, create an opportunity for online lending platform SoFi to gain new customers, according to CEO Anthony Noto.

“When the markets pull back, people evaluate: ‘Where am I putting my money from an investment standpoint?'” Noto said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Tuesday.

Amazon Debuts No-Fee AmEx Card to Lure Small-Business Spending (Bloomberg) Rated: AAA

Amazon.com Inc. and American Express Co. are upping the ante in their bid for small-business spending.

The two companies unveiled a new co-branded card for small businesses on Tuesday. Cardholders with an Amazon Prime membership will be able to choose between an interest-free loan for 90 days or 5 percent back on purchases made at Amazon.com, Amazon Business, Amazon Web Services and Whole Foods Market, the companies said in a statement. The no-fee metal card will also offer 2 percent back on purchases at U.S. restaurants and gas stations and on mobile-phone services.

Student-Loan Debt Is Bringing on Millennial Class War (Vice) Rated: AAA

MagnifyMoney, an independent service that compares financial products and is affiliated with the loan marketplace LendingTree, recently analyzed 2016 data from the Federal Reserve and estimated the average millennial with student debt had 75 percent less net worth than their debt-free peers. Though many of the stats they calculated might have been skewed by extremes—think people with debt loads of $200,000 and trust-fund kids worth seven figures—they were able to reach some pretty startling conclusions. For instance, the median net bank account balance (checking and savings) of all grads under 35 who had loans, they found, was $5,500, while it was some $10,180 for those who didn’t.

So what’s the most meaningful difference between those with loans and without?
The one that’s really most costly is when you look at the retirement savings. On that side, the average grad under 35 with debt has around $21,000 in retirement savings. Someone who doesn’t have student loans has an average of almost $40,000.

Credit Card Stats & Studies (Hub Wallet) Rated: AAA

Building Loyalty with Gen Z and Millennials Starts with a Better Experience (Globe Newswire) Rated: AAA

In particular, changes in the credit card market have been heavily influenced by the youngest generations. While TransUnion studies have found that consumers generally have a much higher propensity of opening their next credit product with a lender with whom they already have multiple relationships, this doesn’t appear to hold true for Gen Z. Younger consumers are engaging with new lenders rather than going to existing lenders for new products. In the report, Gen Z respondents indicated that they were the least likely to open a new credit product with a financial institution as a result of an existing relationship with that lender.

While consumers are carrying more credit cards in their wallets today than in 2010, the industry has seen five straight quarters of declining year-over-year origination growth. The study also found that the average duration for which a credit card remains open has shortened across the majority of age groups, which would indicate shifting loyalty.

The Fintech 250: The Top Fintech Startups Of 2018 (CB Insights) Rated: AAA

The entire Fintech 250 list and report is available here.

Lendio Named to the 2018 CB Insights Fintech 250 List of Fastest-Growing Fintech Startups (PR Newswire) Rated: A

CB Insights today named Lendio to the second annual Fintech 250 list, a prestigious group of emerging private companies working on groundbreaking financial technology.

“It’s an honor for Lendio to be listed among the innovative companies driving the fintech industry forward,” said Brock Blake, Lendio CEO and founder. “Lendio is doing its part to power the economy by bridging the financing gap for small businesses. We are committed to shaping the future of marketplace lending to help business owners unlock their financial potential.”

Lendio, the nation’s leading marketplace for small business loans, recently announced it has facilitated over $1 billion in financing to more than 51,000 small businesses across the U.S. Through access to this growth capital, Lendio’s small business customers have generated an estimated $3.8 billion in gross economic output and created more than 25,000 jobs nationwide. Lendio’s milestone comes after an 80 percent increase in loans funded through its platform in the last year.

As Rates Rise and Recession Threatens, Alternative Lenders Batten Down the Hatches (Bank Innovation) Rated: A

The CEOs of Prosper Marketplace, Lending Club, and Social Finance Inc. all spoke to a common theme – preparing for the coming storm and choosing loans for quality, not quantity. JPMorgan Chase has predicted a 60% chance of recession by 2020, and it’s not clear how traumatic an event it will be.

JPMorgan signed a deal with Plaid for customer data sharing (Business Insider) Rated: A

JPMorgan on Monday signed an agreement with Plaid, a technology company that connects bank accounts with fintech apps like Robinhood, Venmo, and Acorns, that will give its customers better control over their personal data.

Plaid will access JPMorgan’s customer data through a secure application programming interface or API, allowing customers to share their financial information more easily and safely. Banks including JPMorgan have pushed back against so-called screen scraping, another way for fintech apps to companies to access customer data that generally is viewed as less secure.

Goldman shifts Marcus digital bank to its wealth unit (American Banker) Rated: A

Goldman Sachs Group is shifting a heavily touted business line into its wealth management unit as the bank eyes expansion through products that can be pitched to the division’s customers.

The firm is handing oversight of the Marcus business — its retail-banking effort, which offers personal loans online — to its $1.5 trillion investment management division, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg. The move is aimed at starting new business offerings under the Marcus brand that can be sold to the unit’s expanding roster of clients.

A spokesman for Goldman Sachs confirmed the contents of the memo.

U.S. ‘Unbanked’ Population Continues to Fall (Wall Street Journal) Rated: A

We’re Closer Than you Think to Autonomous Finance (Lend Academy) Rated: A

Autonomous finance isn’t a well known term within fintech, but it may be the biggest innovation in the consumer finance space in recent years. Ken Lin, the CEO and Co-Founder of Credit Karma talked with us recently on the Lend Academy podcast about this concept of autonomous finance, a concept that is slowly turning into reality.

Credit Karma is in the unique position to capitalize on this idea, particularly when it comes to the lending business, which still relies heavily on credit scores. The company has built a platform in which users can track their credit score over time and get suggestions on products based on their financial life. From my perspective Credit Karma has a monopoly of sorts on this business with no other serious competitors at scale. Due to their sheer size and the engagement with their members, Credit Karma is a significant lead generator for the major online lenders that exist today.

New UltraFICO score stokes concerns about data privacy (American Banker) Rated: A

Navient eyes end of non-compete with Sallie Mae in January (Asset Securitization Report) Rated: A

Kabbage Extends Access Of Small Business Lending (Benzinga) Rated: A

Kabbage is now lending over $10 million per day to small businesses, in congruence with the company’s recent addition of 30,000 customers in 2018. The company reported its first $500 million quarter this year, according to the press release.

The lender serves up to 1,400 businesses daily and has demonstrated a 68 percent increase of working capital accessed by Kabbage on mobile devices, as well as a 283 percent growth in use of the Kabbage Card since 2017.

“It was a great growth quarter for the company, and is a direct result of developing flexible and convenient solutions that simplify accessing capital for small businesses,” Kabbage CFO Scott Rosenberg told Benzinga.

Beyond Kickstarter: 10 Niche Crowdfunding Platforms for Startups (Entrepreneur) Rated: A

1. CrowdStreet

If you’re building a real-estate investment business — or developing real-estate projects — check out the online crowdfunding opportunities on CrowdStreet.

4. FundThatFlip

If your business is remodeling and reselling homes, FundThatFlip offers a place to get quick cash to fix up and resell. Investors put in a minimum of $5,000.

Guaranteed Rate Ranks as the Best Mortgage Lender for Online Mortgage Service by U.S. News & World Report (Bankless Times) Rated: A

Guaranteed Rate, an industry leader in technological innovation, tops the list of the Best Mortgage Lenders of 2018, according to U.S. News and World Report. The Chicago-based retail mortgage lender was named the Best Lender for Online Service with its groundbreaking advances to make the mortgage experience fast, simple and secure with its digital platform.

US News & World Report recommended the Guaranteed Rate mortgage process as best for borrowers who:

• Want to complete most of the mortgage process online
• Want help figuring out the right product for their situation
• Want access to a variety of home loan options

Bought Mega Millions Tickets? Here’s What You Could Have Made If You Invested That Money Instead (Time) Rated: A

Americans spend a lot of money playing the lottery. Approximately 370 million lottery tickets were sold between Saturday and Tuesday before the Mega Millions drawing, according to a lottery official. The U.S. generated nearly $73 billion in lottery sales in 2016 and CNN reports that in 2017, U.S. residents spent about $73.5 billion on tickets. The average American spends about $223.04 per year on lottery tickets, loan marketplace LendEDU found in a report that calculated its average by dividing the 2016 lottery revenue by the U.S. population (325.7 million).

Milwaukee, Cincinnati and Minneapolis Are the Most Promising Places to Open a Restaurant (PR Newswire) Rated: A

LendingTree, the nation’s leading online loan marketplace, today released its study on the best cities to open a restaurant. The study found that while traditional foodie destinations like New York and San Francisco are saturated with restaurants, up-and-comers have room to grow. The restaurant population in cities like Milwaukee, Cincinnati and Minneapolis cities is less dense than in other areas, and labor costs are lower.

LendingTree analyzed the 50 largest U.S. cities to see which offer prospective restaurateurs the best shot at success. Many top spots are in once-overlooked Midwestern cities now experiencing urban renewal. The least promising cities have historically been the restaurant industry’s most competitive.

Nav and Clover Partnership Streamlines Access to Business Credit Scores & Financing (PR Newswire) Rated: A

Today, Nav and Clover, a subsidiary of First Data, formally announced an integrated, multi-year partnership to deliver U.S.-based Clover users access to their free business credit scores, as well as custom-tailored business financing and credit card options.

The Federal Reserve Bank and other surveys consistently report around 70 percent of small business loan applicants are denied by their bank. As credit data is a primary way that banks and other financial institutions evaluate business loan applicants, the integration of business credit scores and insights directly into Clover’s dashboard enables these merchants to manage this important data.

Memorial Healthcare System Taps ezCarePoint to Provide Instant Online Financing for Patients’ Out-of-Pocket Medical Costs (AP News) Rated: A

Patients at facilities run by South Florida’s Memorial Healthcare System (MHS), one of the nation’s largest public healthcare systems, can now easily and quickly finance their out-of-pocket medical fees online, thanks to a new program powered by ezCarePoint, a next generation medical financing technology platform created by ezVerify, a Sunrise, Fla. based company and LendingPoint, a Kennesaw, Ga. based company.

RealtyFolio Updates Its Platform for a Big 2019 (PR Newswire) Rated: B

RealtyFolio, the online real estate investing platform has updated its interface, including a redesign, rebrand, and upgraded features. The upgrade was meant to “make it even more comfortable for clients to navigate the platform and for clients to be able to invest in real estate projects, quickly and easily,” according to the company’s CEO, Jonathan Klein. He went on to say that they “expect a very big year in 2019, with many projects in the works, and a lot of demand from clients.”

RealtyFolio is ushering in the future of real estate investing by allowing you to build a real estate portfolio online. With over 30 years of real estate investing and management experience on its team and a vast network of strategic partners across the United States, in cities such as New York, Miami and Los Angeles, RealtyFolio gives everyone a chance to swim with the sharks.

Tamarack Hires Seven and Expands Headquarters (ELFA) Rated: B

Tamarack, a leader in providing independent software solutions in the equipment finance and commercial lending industry, has moved to a new headquarters in the North Loop, doubling their space, and added seven new positions over the past three months to meet the growing demand.

With over 25 years of Leasing and Lending experience and an expert in InfoLease®, Tamarack hires on George Burke. Burke adds extensive experience to Tamarack’s back office software engineering team.

White Oak ABL Appoints Griffith to Managing Director (ABL Advisor) Rated: B

White Oak ABL, LLC, an affiliate of White Oak Global Advisors, LLC, announced the appointment of Clark D. Griffith to Managing Director, based in San Francisco. Griffith joins from Encina Business Credit where he held the position of Senior Managing Director in charge of West Coast originations, offering lines of credit and term loans from $5 million to $50 million.

PNC to offer online business loan option in 2019 (Delaware Business Now) Rated: B

PNC announced that in 2019 it plans to begin offering fully digital business lines of credit, up to$100,000.

PNC will partner withOnDeck and use its Platform-as-a-Service to simplify and accelerate the conventional lending originations processes for PNC Bank’s small and medium-sized business customers.

PNC will combine its expertise with ODX’s online origination technology and professional services to create PNC Small Business Lending.

TickPick Announces Affirm Partnership, Expands Payment Options at Checkout (PR Newswire) Rated: B

TickPick, the no-fee ticket marketplace that is transforming the industry, announced today a partnership with Affirm, the company founded by entrepreneur Max Levchin to provide fair and honest alternatives to traditional credit. This new payment option makes TickPick the first and only secondary marketplace to offer Affirm, which allows customers the ability to spread out the cost of their purchase over time through simple monthly payments.

United Kingdom

Funding Circle’s broker channel reaches £1bn lending milestone (Bridging and Commercial) Rated: AAA

After four consecutive record-breaking quarters, the in-house broker team has supported the growth of 9,600 British businesses.

Prior to the lending milestone, the P2P platform promoted Tom Shave to head of broker.

Tom has assisted in developing a diverse network of introducers, big and small, across the country.

UK regions come to the fore in producing $ 1bn tech companies (London Loves Business) Rated: A

The UK’s leading tech clusters are competing head to head with European capitals, according to new analysis of company growth, in a sign that the success of the UK tech sector is pushing far beyond its London heartland.

Following the IPOs of Farfetch and Funding Circle, the UK is now home to 15 unicorns and six cities have produced so-called unicorns – $1bn tech companies – according to research prepared for Tech Nation and the Government’s Digital Economy Council by venture capital analytics company Dealroom.co. This latest research is published ahead of the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s first meeting with the Digital Economy Council on 24 October 2018.

Looking at the creation of $1bn tech companies, Oxford and Cambridge combined have produced more fast-growing tech companies than both Paris and Berlin.

China

Loss-Making China Rapid Finance Limited (NYSE:XRF) Expected To Breakeven (Simply Wall St News) Rated: AAA

China Rapid Finance Limited’s (NYSE:XRF): China Rapid Finance Limited, through its subsidiaries, provides a consumer lending marketplace for lenders and borrowers in the People’s Republic of China. The US$156m market-cap posted a loss in its most recent financial year of -US$122m and a latest trailing-twelve-month loss of -US$49m shrinking the gap between loss and breakeven. As path to profitability is the topic on XRF’s investors mind, I’ve decided to gauge market sentiment. Below I will provide a high-level summary of the industry analysts’ expectations for XRF.

European Union

Klarna Talks Split Payments at Money2020 Conference (Cheddar) Rated: A

Klarna is launching a new ‘Slice it in 4’ product, allowing users to split up payments. Michael Rouse, chief commercial officer of Klarna, explains how it works.

INDOCHINO Chooses Klarna to Give Consumers the Power to Pay Over Time (PR Newswire) Rated: B

INDOCHINO shoppers can now Slice it at the checkout by using Klarna’s online consumer financing to easily spread the cost of their purchase over 6-36 months. Slice it has a simple 4-step credit application process, real-time decisioning and is offered within the merchant’s own website – no re-directs – for a frictionless and fast purchase experience.

By taking the premium made-to-measure experience direct to the consumer, INDOCHINO has created a superior alternative to off-the-rack clothing at ready-to-wear prices. Their immersive multi-channel experience enables customers to order their custom garments with ease online or in-person at one of 30+ showrooms across North America

German fintech poster child N26’s major security gap (Handelsblatt) Rated: A

Germany’s fintech darling N26 is potentially vulnerable to money laundering and terrorism financing, according to research by Handelsblatt’s sister magazine WirtschaftsWoche, which exposed a security gap at the online banking startup.

The apple of discord is how easily someone can open an account with a fake ID. A WirtschaftsWoche correspondent saw first hand how a man, Milo T., scanned a friend’s ID, added his own passport photo to the ID, printed it out and stuck it atop of a white plastic card that was the same size as the office ID card in his country. He cut the edges to make them round and voilà: a new identification card.

It took five minutes and the result is so blatantly a forgery that it would fail to convince even the laxest of nightclub doormen. None of the holograms or other security features found on original IDs can be seen on the fake. Regardless, Milo effortlessly used this ID to set up an N26 account, and this wasn’t a one-off occurrence. WirtschaftsWoche documented how several people opened N26 accounts using forged papers.

Robo.cash welcomes new loan originator (Peer2Peer Finance  News) Rated: B

LATVIAN peer-to-peer payday lender Robo.cash has added a loan originator from Kazakhstan to its platform.

Z-FINANCE provides short-term private lending in Kazakhstan with an average loan size equivalent to €60 (£52).

Investors on the Robo.cash site can now invest in these loans, which have a repayment period up to 30 days and an expected interest rate up to 12 per cent per annum.

Z-FINANCE was launched in July this year and currently lends through a network of 102 sales branches in Kazakhstan.

International

ID Finance Group reports 61% revenue growth for the nine months of 2018 (Fintech Finance) Rated: AAA

ID Finance Group has reported 61 per cent revenue growth and revenues of $141.3 million for nine months of 2018 following strong growth in Europe and Latam. The data science, credit scoring and digital finance company issued $215.7m in loans in the first nine months of the year, a 64 per cent increase on the same period last year.

Its European and LatAm operations comprising Spain, Poland, Brazil and Mexico demonstrated exceptional growth experiencing a 197 per cent revenue growth and revenues of $32.6 million for the nine months of 2018. It issued $63.8 million in loans, a 142 per cent increase on the same period last year, and has also grown its customer base to over one million registered users with 20,000 new users joining weekly.The Group has now separated its European and LatAm operations from its CIS businesses (comprising Russia, Kazakhstan and Georgia) and it is functioning as a separate entity under the ID Finance name.

Moven Enterprise Expands Availability of AI Smart-Banking Solution with Global Launch (Business Wire) Rated: A

–Moven Enterprise, the smart-banking solutions division of Movencorp, Inc, today announced that it has expanded its footprint globally to help banks deepen their digital customer engagement and drive new revenue streams while significantly reducing attrition and acquisition costs.

After working successfully with TD Bank (TD) in Canada, Westpac in New Zealand, and others, Moven is now bringing its AI-driven digital banking platform to banks across LatAm, APAC, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. The global expansion is well-positioned as Moven Enterprise received investment from SBI Group to enhance Moven’s footprint in Asia earlier this year. This included the formation of a joint venture, SBI Moven Asia. The company’s innovative platform leverages a bank’s data and uses proprietary algorithms to create contextual, individualized smart-banking experiences for consumers; providing them the right advice at the right time with the right offer and helping them move towards a better financial lifestyle.

The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Becoming a Private Lender—Pros & Cons (NuWire Investor) Rated: A

Private lending has picked up the pace in recent years. This is despite high-interest rates charged by private lenders. Many reasons have pushed lenders into this space including tightened requirements by banks.

In addition, banks tend to shy away from lending money to small businesses and startups. As a result, many borrowers look for other ways of funding, and such opportunities provide opportunities to private lenders.

However, starting out as a private lender is no easy walk in the park. Numerous risks lurk in the business, and you need to tread with caution. In this article, you’ll learn how to become a private lender and some of the pros and cons involved, so if you have an interest in becoming “a bank,” read on.

Fintech Streamlines Socially Responsible Impact Investing Via Robo-Advisors (Investor Place) Rated: A

What makes an investment socially responsible? There are several criteria. For instance, SRI investing avoids tobacco companies as their products cause health problems and death. Typically, a company’s social responsibility rating is based on its performance in three categories: environmental, social and governance (ESG). Positive practices across one or more of these spheres can land a company in the socially responsible category.

At the same time, robo-advisors are digital investment managers designed to grow your wealth through investing with models are based on sophisticated computerized algorithms, including ESG consideration. These fintech darlings have answered the call for socially responsible robo-advisors with a host of diverse options. Of course, you could choose a socially responsible mutual fund or ETF on your own. But, for the busy investor, let one of the many robo-advisors take charge of your investing, in line with your personal values.

Uphold Joins Crypto Lending Platform Cred for New Lending and Earning Solutions (Coin Speaker) Rated: A

In today’s business community, partnership has become one of the most promising tools on the way to new amazing developments and interesting projects that are aimed at offering customers really unique experience and opening new opportunities for them.

News about recently established collaborations regularly appears here and there. This time the headlines are made by Uphold which is a major global digital money platform, that has conducted transactions worth over $4.0 billion across 184 countries, and Cred that is a crypto-backed lending provider with over $250 million in credit facilities.

Joint Projects

Having announced their partnership Uphold and Cred have revealed their plans to launch two cutting edge blockchain-based consumer finance products: Uphold Earn and Uphold Borrow. Both products are aimed at helping customers to earn interest from stablecoin holdings and borrow money against the cryptocurrencies they have.

India

Indian P2P Lending Operators forms Association to Make P2P Industry More Credible (Indian Web2) Rated: AAA

After the Reserve Bank of India unveiled guidelines last October recognizing the need for peer-to-peer lending platforms as NBFC-P2P in the country, the regulatory authority had issued first license in May 2018 and since then 9 players have been recognized as NBFC-P2P companies. More than 12 companies are in the process of getting approval from the regulatory authority. Some of them are at advance to mid-level stage.

To represent the NBFC-P2P industry at various front as well as to represent country’s P2P lending industry at international forums, most of existing & new players have teamed-up and formed a registered body – Association of NBFC P2P Platforms.

The association has been registered under The Society Registration Act, 1860. Mr. Pramod Akhramka has been elected as President, Mr. Rajiv Ranjan as Secretary and Mr. Mukesh Bubna as Treasurer of the association.

Choose bank or online lender based on nature of loan (DNA Online) Rated: A

Unexpected expenditures often come knocking on your door when you want them the least. The reasons could range from maintenance for your vehicle to your old washing machine that needs to be replaced. The plus point of such expenses cropping up during the festive season is that you can always get a good bargain online (or at the store nearby). The fact still remains that these are expenses nevertheless. And that too when your festive expenditure is already lined up, leaving no financial bandwidth.

At times like these, loans bring a sigh of relief. But with so many options available in the market, whom should you approach with your loan requirement- banks or digital lending platforms?

Today, Indian consumers are benefitting from a range of financial products and financial institutions (FI) such as banks, non-banking finance companies, online lending platforms, etc, available at their disposal. If you are planning to take a loan or feel like there’s a possibility of availing the same in the near future, you must primarily understand that every lender has its own unique pros and cons. Some are quick in terms of loan approval and disbursal, some are cost-effective, some offer greater flexibility to their customers, while some offer innovative products that are more relevant for an applicant.

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