Many major announcements this week leading up to LendIt USA, though we lead with the news that Lending Club, Prosper, and Funding Circle have launched the first major US industry tradegroup, the Marketplace Lenders Association, to advance efforts to create a more transparent and efficient financial system via operating standards, codes of conduct, and other tools to enhance transparency. It is a welcome development—and quite timely—in light of the recent OCC whitepaper regarding innovation and regulation for the FinTech sector, and SEC Chair Mary Jo White’s comments last month.
Amidst this conversation, we see continued deal activity between banks and platforms—this time between Avant and Regions Bank. Region’s will use Avant’s technology to offer unsecured personal loans to Regions Bank customers. Expect more deals to come.
LendIt USA: We look forward to revisiting with many of you at the LendIt conference in San Francisco this week. Ram will kick-off the Structured Products track, provide an overview of the market, and offer best practices for platforms/issuers looking to fund via the ABS market. Please drop us a note if you’ll be attending, as well as look for us on the following panels:
- Securitization – How do we make it better? (Mon, 4pm)
- Valuation of Consumer Loans / Notes (Mon, 4:35pm)
- Portfolio Analytics: Cross Platform Performance Comparison (Tue, 2:30pm)
Industry Update:
- Avant in Landmark Partnership with Top 20 Bank (Crain’s, 4/7/16) A new variation on the existing bank and P2P platform partnership.
- FinTech Firms Are Taking On the Big Banks, but Can They Win?(NYT, 4/6/16) Expect a wave of FinTech companies partnering with larger institutions.
- Online Lenders Form Marketplace Lenders’ Platform (WSJ, 4/7/16) Trade Association forms to establish industry standards on disclosure.
- Supporting Responsible Innovation in the Federal Banking System: An OCC Perspective (OCC, March 2016) OCC describes vision for responsible innovation in the banking system–special focus on FinTech and Marketplace Lending.
- Banks Hit Marketplace-Loan Buyers (AB Alert, 4/8/16) Increased funding costs of marketplace-originated loans drive up interest rates.
- Wall Street Is Edging Toward Win on Derivatives Capital Rule(Bloomberg, 4/6/16) Basel Committee on Banking Supervision proposes changes to the leverage ratio.
- Big Banks on Edge as US Stress-Test Deadline Looms (Financial Times, 4/3/16) Banks brace themselves for Fed’s annual CCAR review.
PeerIQ Mentions:
- Fintech Lenders Dial Back Marketing In Response to Softer Investor Demand (WSJ, 4/10/16) Pace of lending slows across several platforms.
- Citi Tops PeerIQ’s 1Q Marketplace-Lending ABS League Tables(Bloomberg, 4/6/16) Highlighting key findings and our first league table is last week’s MPL Securitization Tracker.
- PeerIQ MPL Securitization Tracker (1Q2016), (Peer IQ), Rated: AAA (Lending Times, 4/4/16)
Lighter Fare:
- The Evolution of FinTech (NYT, 4/6/16) It starts with the pantelegraph in 1865…