Weekly industry news roundup – December 19, 2016

Financial Well-being

Around the world

On Wednesday CrowdFund Insider published an article on comments from Fitch Ratings regarding the recent decisions from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Fitch noted that any FinTech company choosing to pursue a charter would experience increased regulation and capital requirements. These responsibilities, in turn, may impact earnings.


In a podcast from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco the former Chief Innovation Officer for Standard Chartered Bank discussed how marketplace lending emerged because “Banks were not willing or able to step in and support the SMEs.” He continues, “if you looked at the data since the global financial crisis, year on year, the overall credit to SMEs was declining.”


Business Insider reported on the £85 million of taxpayer money the UK has invested in P2P lending. One P2P lender remarked on the actions of the British Business Bank’s actions stating “The British Business Bank continues to play an important role in promoting competition in the small business lending market by lending directly through platforms.”


The Tech Portal reported on recent actions from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The organization took steps to remove barriers to FinTech startups in the country by offering “licensing exemptions.” The author explains “This exemption will allow the startups to start testing without having to go through the application process for a license. They only need to notify the regulator that they plan to start testing a service and meet certain criteria.”


Tech Bullion shared P2P statistics from the UK citing that “cumulative lending reaching about £3.7 billion October last 2015” in the country. Some analysts expect the market to reach £5 billion in 2018 as growth accelerates due to customers seeking easy, affordable loan solutions without the burdensome process of working with traditional banks.

Bondora mentions

P2PGuide shared our post on managing risk with the Bondora Portfolio Manager.