Around the world
Reuters published an article reviewing recent actions from The American Bankers Association (ABA). The group is seeking their own marketplace lending platform in an effort to compete with the growing peer-to-peer industry. In particular, small banks, with fewer resources are struggling to compete with the speed and low costs of alternative lending.
Altficredit discussed a new FinTech business called LendingRobot. The technology helps individuals create a portfolio of investments across a variety of marketplace lenders. The approach is similar to a robo-advisor only in this case the selection of investments is limited to P2P business.
YahooFinance discussed the rapid rise of China Rapid Finance Limited, China’s largest consumer lending marketplace. Much of their ascent is credited to innovative technology and the use of “Predictive Selection Technology to acquire customers on a massive scale at low cost.” By the end of 2016 the company funded a total of over 10 million loans.
Fox Business discussed Citigroup’s aspirations to enter the marketplace lending business. In this case the company is focused on small business lending. Citigroup is offering loans up to $1 million. This group is considered an underserved segment of the lending market.
The Jakarta Post Focused on the Indonesian marketplace Lending world in their review of the data needed to succeed in P2P lending. The author stresses the importance of connecting more data points to better understand the credit profile of a borrower. Accordingly, the author suggests that “more services like electricity bill payment need to be consolidated and structured for an effective credit rating mechanism.”
