Weekly Industry Update: Deep-Dive on Navient Acquisition of Earnest, Equifax CEO Meets Senate
By Vy Phan
October 9, 2017
Conferences:
- COO, Kevin Reed will speak at FinTech Rising ’17 with 20+ FinTech founders. Get 25% off with code FTR25
- Amazon Could Be Your Lender Too (Bloomberg, 10/6/17)
- Marketplace Lending News Roundup – September 30 (LendAcademy, 9/30/17)
- Acting OCC Head Noreika Comments on FinTech Charter and Online Lending (PeerIQ), Rated: A (LendingTimes, 10/2/17)
- Yellen Says Fed Should Make Sure Bank Rules Aren’t Too Burdensome (WSJ, 10/4/17) Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen voiced support for making sure bank rules aren’t unduly burdensome, remarking that the Fed is open to reducing some of the regulatory burden on banks, particularly smaller ones. (Transcript)
- Navient to Buy Fintech Firm Earnest for $155 Million (WSJ, 10/4/17) Earnest has agreed to be acquired by student loan servicing giant Navient for $155 Mn in cash, the acquisition will allow Navient to originate its own student loans.
- Congress is Trying to Get the IRS to Modernize (Lend Academy , 10/4/17) A new bill introduced in Congress will mandate the IRS to make their data available via API.
- Can the OCC really grant fintech charter to a Google? (American Banker, 10/3/17) Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika’s suggestion last week that commercial firms, including Google and Amazon, could legally obtain a fintech charter if they applied has raised political concerns.
- Lending Club and Prosper Data: 10 Years In (Lend Academy, 10/7/17) LendAcademy looks back at Lending Club and Prosper's returns over the past 10 years.
- College Ave Student Loans Completes $161MM in Inaugural Securitization(BusinessWire, 10/2/17) College Ave has completed its first securitization of private student loans, totaling $161 Mn.
- SoFi rolls out new deal amid exec reshuffle (GlobalCapital, 10/2/17) SoFi is in the market with a new deal backed by refinanced student loans under its SOFI shelf.
- P2P lender Zopa launches new credit risk scorecard (AltFi News, 9/29/17) Zopa’s new credit risk scorecard will be used to determine the risk of a borrower – and drive whether they are accepted, and, if they are, what risk market they’re placed in.
- Square Wants To Be A Bank, And Real Banks Are Pissed (Buzzfeed, 9/29/17) Days after Square submitted its ILC application this month, the Independent Community Bankers of America called on the FDIC to put in place a two-year moratorium on ILCs getting deposit insurance.
- SoFi's CEO Hiatus Stalls Its Big-Time Banking Ambitions (NYT, 10/2/17) SoFi’s search for a replacement CEO may stall their application for a banking license because regulators assess whether a company has a capable CEO before allowing it to accept deposits.
- Senators Rip Credit-Reporting Model in Wake of Equifax Breach (WSJ, 10/4/17) In a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee, senators questioned former Equifax CEO Richard Smith on whether a large overhaul is needed.
- Kabbage’s Petralia Talks Big Tech, Fintech and Lending (deBanked, 10/2/17) Kabbage Co-Founder Kathryn Petralia spoke at The Economist’s Finance Disrupted 2017 conference, arguing that tech giants do not pose a greater challenge to traditional banks than the fintech startup community and that there is room for both.
- Watch the first ever 360-degree video of a spacewalk (The Verge, 10/5/17) Two Russian cosmonauts captured the footage during a spacewalk in August.