Thursday March 14 2019, Weekly News Digest

United States

Deal Final in FTC’s Action Against Online Lender (Manatt), Rated: AAA

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has finalized its deal with SoFi, an online lender that the agency had accused of making false statements about student loan refinancing.

According to the FTC, the California-based personal finance company misrepresented how much money student loan borrowers have saved or could save by refinancing.

Read the FTC complaint here.

Read the FTC decision and order here.

OnDeck Announces Extension of Two Revolving Credit Facilities With Credit Suisse & Deutsche Bank (Crowdfund Insider), Rated: AAA

OnDeck, a small business online lending platform, announced on Wednesday extensions to its existing credit facilities with Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank on improved terms.  According to OnDeck, the amended facilities provide an aggregate of $360 million of committed funding capacity and are available to finance OnDeck’s term loans and revolving lines of credit. The scheduled maturity dates for the facilities were extended three years to March 2022.

Unemployment Rate Drops to 3.8%; GreenSky’s Strong Earnings (PeerIQ), Rated: AAA

The unemployment rate dropped to a near five decades low of 3.8% even as nonfarm payrolls only rose by 20K. Average hourly earnings rose by 3.4%, above economists’ expectations.

GreenSky’s Strong 4Q2018 Earnings

GreenSky’s 4Q revenue grew by 22% YoY to $109 Mn, although net income fell by nearly 43% YoY to $23 Mn. The stock rose by ~6% post earnings.

• Transaction volume increased by 23% YoY to $1.3 Bn.
• Loan servicing portfolio increased by 36% YoY to $7.3 Bn.
• GSKY had aggregate commitments of $11.8 Bn from its nine bank partners, of which $4.8 Bn were unused.
• 30+ DQ rates rose slightly YoY from 145 bps to 148 bps.
• GreenSky now has nearly 12 k home improvement merchant partners and nearly 3 k elective healthcare partners.

How to Decide Between Earnest and SoFi for Student Loan Refinancing (Credible), Rated: AAA

Earnest and SoFi are two of the best student loan refinancing companiesout there. They both offer fixed as well as variable rate loans, a 0.25% autopay rate discount, and certain unemployment protections to help in the event of involuntary job loss, but they also have their differences.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of both lenders to help you make an informed decision.

The rate of borrowers using loans for debt management drops; growing proportion of borrowers use loans for new purchases (LendingPoint), Rated: AAA

It turns out that, over the past two years, the proportion of our borrowers who say they are earmarking their loans for debt consolidation has decreased markedly, from about 60% in 2017 to about 54% in 2018. The percent using loans to pay for new merchandise or services has grown during those two years. Home improvement jumped from 6% to 8%; loans for medical expenses rose from 2% to 7%.

In 2017, the percent of millennial consolidators was about 61%. In 2018, that dropped a full 10%, down to 51%, a bigger decrease than any other age cohort.

What Do Millennials Want From Banks? Non-Financial Products (Forbes), Rated: AAA

If they haven’t, then why are 56% of Millennials giving megabanks (the four largest US banks) their checking account business? If they hate the big banks so much, why did JD Power report that Millennials’ satisfaction with big banks is now virtually equal to that of mid-size and regional banks?

Green Dot targets social media influencers in banking-as-service push (American Banker), Rated: A

A new affinity banking service developed by Green Dot proposes to tap one of the most potent — and controversial — sources of distribution in the digital economy: social media influencers.

The digital banking and payments provider is developing what it calls Bank OS, a simpler version of its enterprise banking-as-a-service platform already used by the likes of Intuit, Stash, Uber and Walmart. It would enable partners to develop their own financial products just as those brands do, including offering credit cards, debit cards with loyalty programs or even a mobile app.

How online lenders attract and service the evolving SMB borrower (Tearsheet), Rated: A

But while small businesses still struggle with cash flow, how they shop for loans and their level of financial education about their options are changing. On Tearsheet’s recent webinar with leaders at Kabbage, BlueVine, and Intuit’s QuickBooks Capital, we discussed the changing nature of the SMB borrower and how their firms have evolved to keep up.

Pay Yourself First? Last Is How Small Biz Often Works (Newsmax), Rated: A

Everyone knows the Golden Rule of business is to pay yourself first. But more than half of small business owners are going months without pay – if they are taking any at all.

About a quarter of these entrepreneurs go two to six months without pay, and another quarter have gone more than six months without salary, according to a recent survey from Kabbage (http://kabbage.com), a cash flow optimization platform.

PAYNET STRATEGIC INSIGHTS MARCH 2019 (PayNet), Rated: A

The PayNet Small Business Lending Index (SBLI) rebounded with a 17.2 point jump to 150.7 in January, climbing to its second-highest level ever. On an annual basis, the SBLI increased 4.9%. The SBLI 3-month moving average also rose in January and currently stands 1.5% above its year-ago level.

The PayNet Small Business Delinquency Index (SBDI) 31–90 Days Past Due edged up one basis point to 1.45% in January, and is up six basis points on an annual basis — its 33rd consecutive year-over-year increase. The SBDI 91–180 Days Past Due was unchanged at 0.38% but is three basis points above its year-ago level.

Less Than Zero? This Proposed ETF Would Pay Investors, But There’s A Catch (Benzinga), Rated: A

Equifax Deleted Key Data Breach-Related Docs, Senators Say (Law360), Rated: A

Equifax Inc. failed to preserve key internal discussions over its massive 2017 data breach, U.S. senators said Thursday at a hearing where elected officials grilled the credit reporting giant’s CEO and the…

Home Equity Line of Credit Providers Face Growing Threat from Alternative Lenders, J.D. Power Finds (JD Power), Rated: A

Despite record-high levels,[1]new home equity line of credit (HELOC) originations have been steadily declining[2] as a perfect storm of rising interest rates, new tax laws and growing competition from alternative lenders has crimped traditional HELOC growth. According to the J.D. Power 2019 U.S. Home Equity Line of Credit Satisfaction Study, released today, HELOC customers are more likely than ever to shop for alternative sources of funding and HELOC providers are falling short on digital offerings.

This week in Chicagoland real estate: One Chicago Square, Woodlawn and more (Chicago Agent Magazine), Rated: A

New York-based DDG, Chicago-based Marc Realty and Ruttenberg Gordon announced plans for a 13-story hotelwith 250 rooms in Fulton Market. The developers are raising $55 million to fund the project through Prodigy Network, a New York-based real estate crowdfunding platform. The hotel will be located at 1234 West Randolph Street and will be operated by New York-based Standard Hotels. It’s set to be completed within two years.

PeerStreet Expands Executive Leadership with Two Senior Hires in Finance Team (BusinessWire), Rated: B

PeerStreet has announced the hiring of two executives with extensive experience in the financial services and real estate sectors: Ellen Coleman and Bob Brown. Ms. Coleman joins as Executive Vice President of Finance, and Mr. Brown joins as Executive Vice President of Finance & Corporate Development.

CoreLogic : Introduces Verification of Employment and Income Solution to Expedite Borrower Verification Process (MarketScreener), Rated: A

CoreLogic, a global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today released an enhanced Verification of Employment and Income(VOE/I) product. The comprehensive new VOE/I product takes time, touch and cost out of traditional employment and income verification through a three-step ‘waterfall workflow’ process, ensuring that every mortgage applicant can be verified.

The enhanced VOE/I product features a three-step ‘waterfall workflow’ that ensures each borrower’s employment and income is verified as efficiently as possible.

• Step One: Instant verification via a direct integration to The Work Number (TWN)
• Step Two: Automated verification leveraging dozens of third-party data sources
• Step Three: Manual verification by a team of dedicated CoreLogic verification experts

CORELOGIC INTEGRATES CONDOSAFE WITH THE ELLIE MAE ENCOMPASS ALL-IN-ONE MORTGAGE MANAGEMENT SOLUTION (CoreLogic), Rated: B

CoreLogic today announced the integration of its CondoSafe product with the Ellie Mae Encompass^® all-in-one mortgage management solution. CondoSafeis a one-stop condo project review tool that enables lenders to have a single, consistent, standardized review process, allowing them to determine eligibility earlier in the process, resulting in quicker approvals.

ArborCrowd Announces New Equity Offering in 707-Unit Multifamily Portfolio (AP News), Rated: B

ArborCrowd, the first crowdfunding platform launched by a real estate institution, today announced a new offering that allows investors to acquire equity interests in the Sioux Falls Multifamily Portfolio, a collection of class-B apartment communities located in Sioux Falls, S.D. The properties exhibit strong upside potential due to Sioux Falls’ sound multifamily real estate fundamentals and notable lack of professionally managed workforce housing product.

The investment has a targeted internal rate of return (IRR) of 12 to 14 percent over a three- to five-year hold period. Tzadik has budgeted $5.2 million to perform a comprehensive capital improvement plan that will include upgrades to all renovated units, common areas and public spaces.

LendPro’s Female Leaders Celebrated on International Women’s Day (LendPro Email), Rated: B

As the financial technology (fintech) industry continues to grow, innovators are increasingly looking for leadership and expertise to grow their companies and stand out from competitors. LendPro, a Lending-As-A-Service (LaaS) fintech company, prides itself in hiring strong talent.  Women make up 50% of staffing at LendPro’s Charlottesville corporate office, versus 37% female staffing at most fintech companies.

United Kingdom

Property finance hub Lendinvest plots £500m London float (Sky.com), Rated: AAA

The online property finance hub Lendinvest is plotting a £500m stock market flotation that will provide a fresh test of investors’ faith in a fast-growing but volatile area of the non-bank lending market.

Sky News has learnt that Lendinvest, which was set up in 2008 and has so far lent roughly £2bn to help buy, build or renovate British homes, has appointed Lazard, the investment bank, to advise on its strategic options.

Lending revolution: fintechs vs banks (Raconteur), Rated: AAA

Eight out of ten SME loan applications were approved by banks in the third quarter of 2018, according to the latest figures from trade association UK Finance. While this is a far cry from the days of the global financial crisis, when SME lending all but dried up in part due to regulatory pressures to shore up capital, smaller companies are still citing challenges in securing funding from traditional players, according to Stuart Chalmers, commercial banking lead for Accenture UK.

Alternative lenders understand the hunger for a seamless customer experience and have built credit journeys that align to business expectations

Almost 30,000 companies used non-traditional channels over the year, with peer-to-peer lending and equity-based crowdfunding now established investment vehicles for seed, startup, early-stage and fast-growth companies seeking capital. In fact, CCAF estimates that 29 per cent of all new loans issued in 2017 to small businesses with annual turnovers less than £2 million came from alternative finance.

Burnham residents are the most thrill-seeking in the UK according to new study (Windsor Observer), Rated: A

It may come as somewhat of a surprise, but according to research from Zopa, Burnham has been revealed to be the most thrill-seeking town.

Peer-to-peer firms told to improve wind-down arrangements (Out-Law), Rated: A

In a letter to chief executives (4 page / 352KB PDF) sent last week, the FCA said a recent supervisory review of firms’ current arrangements against current requirements “strongly suggests” some P2P firms were falling short of the standards required by its rules.

Augmentum Capital signs up to Innovate Finance (P2P Finance News), Rated: A

AUGMENTUM Capital has joined Innovate Finance as its first investor member.

It is currently planning to issue extra ordinary shares in its investment trust as it looks to fund around £300m of potential opportunities in the sector.

PEER TO PEER LENDER RELAUNCHES PRODUCTS (Insider Media), Rated: A

A South West-based peer to peer lender is to re-launch its lending products aimed at individuals and businesses.

Folk2Folk is to offers 9 per cent interest rates for investors with a loan to value ratio of up to 60 per cent.

The business has so far brought £275m into rural businesses in Britain over the past six years.

Wonga compensation claims four times higher than expected (TechRound), Rated: A

It has been recently revealed that the number of compensation claims made against the failed payday lender Wonga, which filed for administration in August 2018, has ended up increasing four-fold. The initial figure given by the Financial Ombudsman Service in a Treasury Committee in January this year suggested that there were around 10,500 customers who had open complaints with the short-term credit, high-interest company.

Now, it turns out that the number of redress claims that have been made against Wonga is considerably higher, totalling over 40,000. It is potentially the case that these people will not end up getting their money back after having been mis-sold loans.

The IFISAs you can open for £100 or less (P2P Finance News), Rated: A

According to the most recent HMRC statistics, overall ISA savings fell from £79.8bn in 2015/16 to £61.5bn in 2016/17. Meanwhile, Bank of England statistics found that the amount of money that Brits were saving (both within and outside of the ISA wrapper) fell by £7bn in 2018 alone.

• Abundance

Minimum investment: £5

• Assetz Capital

Minimum investment: £1

• Crowd2Fund

Minimum investment: £10

• RateSetter

Minimum investment: £10

• Octopus Choice

Minimum investment: £10

Environmental benefits of ISA investment (The Ecologist), Rated: A

Crowdfunding and peer to peer lending grew out of the banking crisis of 2008. According to the European Central Bank, the availability of bank loans to SMEs declined 23 percent immediately following the crash, causing a devastating impact on the economy.

Over 100 Finastra customers upgraded trade software in time to meet new SWIFT standards (RealWire), Rated: B

Over 100 Finastra customers were upgraded to the latest compliant versions of its transaction banking software, Fusion Trade Innovation, ahead of the new SWIFT standards deadline of 17 November 2018. The new ‘Standards MT Release’ included significant changes to category 7 messaging standards used in trade finance – the most significant set of changes to the SWIFT trade finance messaging interface in over 30 years.

China

China’s Lufax hits huge $ 39.4bn vaulation thanks to Primavera Capital-led Series C (Alt Assets), Rated: AAA

Chinese peer-to-peer lending business Lufax has confirmed it has reached an enormous $39.4bn valuation thanks to a Series C round led by private equity house Primavera Capital.

Chinese fintech unicorn Lufax in no rush to IPO (Technode), Rated: A

Chinese peer-to-peer (P2P) lender Lufax is not in a hurry to list on the stock markets, said an executive of its biggest shareholder, Ping An Insurance, during its earnings call, Chinese media reported (in Chinese) on Wednesday.

Ping An Insurance Group deputy CEO Jessica Tan said after Lufax’s latest round of funding, Ping An still holds approximately 41% of its shares.

European Union

Google Pay Added to Klarna’s Bank of Payment Options (WWD), Rated: AAA

Today, Klarna, the global payments provider “smoothing” out kinks in the checkout process for retailers, announced a partnership with GooglePay. Available for Klarna customers in Sweden, the intention is to make mobile payments “even easier and more secure.”

CreditEase Invests in wefox Group, the European Largest Insurtech Platform (PR Newswire), Rated: AAA

CreditEase, a Beijing-based leading FinTech conglomerate in China, announced today that its direct investment arm, CreditEase FinTech Investment Fund (CEFIF), participated in wefox Group’s $125 million USD Series B, a fast-growing Berlin-based insurtech firm together with Mubadala’s newly created European Ventures Fund. The investment is the largest Series B round for a European insurtech and Goldman Sachs International is acting as the private placement adviser to wefox Group in connection with the transaction.

The investment will help spearhead the company’s expansion into the European broker market. It also paves the way for wefox Group to accelerate growth and create the world’s most innovative product and engineering team applying advanced data analytics to create an all-in-one insurance platform in which all interactions are personalized. The company, which was founded in 2014, has grown its revenue to around $40 million USD, while serving more than 1500 brokers and over 400,000 customers, making it Europe’s number one insurtech platform.

Luna Connect: A new digital disrupter in the lending landscape (Irish Times), Rated: A

Luna Connect is a new digital lending platform primarily aimed at those lending to SMEs. It is designed to fit into the rapidly evolving financial services ecosystem and its founder, Brian D’Arcy, drew the inspiration for his business from the disruption currently underway in the financial services sector.

The company’s target market are lenders offering loans of under €200,000, whose borrowers typically require a fast decision on their application and want a more transparent lending process. The initial focus will be on Ireland and the UK with Europe and the US to follow. Investment in the project to date has been around €120,000 which was self-funded with support from the NDRC and Enterprise Ireland through the competitive start fund.

Australia/New Zealand

New US ambassador warns of China’s ‘payday loan diplomacy’ (The Washington Post), Rated: AAA

The new U.S. ambassador to Australia said Wednesday that he’s concerned about the way China lends money to developing Pacific nations in what he describes as “payday loan diplomacy.”

China categorically rejects accusations that it uses loans, grants and other financial inducements to extend its diplomatic and political reach, saying it is merely acting in the best interests of both sides in such transactions.

New way to borrow takes Australia by storm (Mozo), Rated: A

As distrust of the nation’s big banks and mortgage brokers swells amongst the wreckage of the banking royal commission, online lenders are emerging as real challengers in the home loan, business loan and personal lending markets.

NAB’s UBank launches ‘green’ deposits to chase Millennials’ savings (Financial Review), Rated: A

The CEO of National Australia Bank subsidiary UBank, Lee Hatton, says future retail depositors will want more control over where banks lend their money, prompting it to launch a “green” term deposit targeting environmentally concerned Millennial customers.

How marketplace lending meets investor needs (Cuffelinks), Rated: A

However, it’s also true that today’s investors face a risk environment of unprecedented complexity. In 2018, the S&P/ASX200 declined by 6.8%. Residential property values are falling and bank deposit rates fail to match inflation. In the last year, the Australian media landscape was dominated by the findings of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, with its revelations of duplicitous lending practices, improper fees, and general misconduct that, by the banks’ own admission, fell far short of community expectations.

Financial Markets Authority executive steps down over employment matter (NZ Herald), Rated: B

Financial Markets Authority (FMA) executive Garth Stanish left the investment watchdog at the end of last month over an internal employment matter, a spokesman for the authority said.

Stanish was also a director of markets oversight, a group that includes oversight of NZX, crowd-funding/P2P lending platforms and frontline supervisors.

India

P2P startup PaisaDukan raises 1st round of investment from JITO (UNI India), Rated: AAA

Vivriti Capital raises second round of funding of Rs 110 Cr from Creation Investments (YourStory), Rated: A

Vivriti Capital, a Chennai-based lending platform for corporate entities, secured Rs 110 crore worth of equityin an additional round of funding from its existing investor Creation Investments.

This comes just within two months of the Series A funding closure in December 2018, in which the company raised Rs 200 crore from Creation Investments. With the current equity infusion, Vivriti’s overall capital stands at approximately Rs 320 crore.

MSME Lending fuelled by Digitisation (Free Press Journal), Rated: A

MSMEs play a major role in Economic development of India. There are around 63.4 million units and they contribute to 6.11% of the manufacturing GDP and 24.63% of the GDP from service activities and 33.4% of India’s manufacturing output. They have been able to provide employment to around 120 million persons and contribute around 45% of the overall exports from India. The sector grows at a rate faster than the large ones at more than 10% pa.

About 20% of the MSMEs are based out of rural areas.They provide employment to more than 130 million people and contribute to 45% of exports. MSMEs are also the largest employment generator every year. As of Sep18, the total credit in India was Rs 105.5 Lakh crores and MSMEs had borrowed Rs 24.7 cr. Large and Mid Caps borrowed Rs 44.4 cr. Year on Year the growth of overall commercial credit was at 13.5%.

Micro loans which are less than Rs1 cr grew 22.2% year on year and SME loans between Rs1 cr – Rs 2.5 cr grew at 18.3%.The growth was faster than the overall growth. Share of NBFCs in SME credit increased from 13% in Sep 15 to 17% in Sep 18. The number of NBFCs lending more than Rs 100 cr to MSMEs stood at 77 at the end of Sep 18.

Asia

Investment Task Force suspend operation of 168 illegal fintech firms (Antara News), Rated: AAA

Fintech group to help develop P2P lending (The Jakarta Post), Rated: A

A group of financial technology (fintech) lenders wants to help develop a healthier lending industry and protect consumers by setting out a strict code of conduct for its members.The Indonesian Fintech Lenders Association (AFPI) will help stimulate the industry, which only gained government recognition three years ago, by providing risk management certification, public education campaigns and a compulsory code of conduct, which should be uploaded to the AFPI website soon.AFPI chairman Adrian Gunadi said the association had been established to ease the Indonesian Fintech Association’s (AFTECH) workload in dealing with fintech companies that provide lending services, including peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, crowdsourcing and digital credit cards.Such lenders account for 30 percent of all licensed fintech companies, whereas the remaining 70 percent are companies engaged in, among other thing…

Government moves to legalise P2P lending (Vietnam Vet), Rated: A

During a recent meeting with relevant ministries and agencies to discuss P2P lending, Hue instructed that during the pilot operation, P2P lending would be restricted to connecting lenders and borrowers as currently being run by most P2P lending companies in Viet Nam. P2P lending companies would not be allowed to mobilise capital, but act as intermediaries to connect lenders (investors) and borrowers.

The development of P2P lending will also create a new capital supply channel. Research conducted by Transparency Market Research showed that P2P lending would surge by 48.2 per cent annually in the 2016-24 period, while Morgan Stanley forecast the business model would reach a growth rate of 53.5 per cent globally by 2020.

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