Weekly industry news roundup – June 26, 2017

Financial Well-being

News from around the world

American Banker published a piece warning that marketplace lenders should refrain from attempting to replicate the practices of traditional banks. The author suggests that when marketplace lenders become more like a bank they give up some of their competitive edge and characteristics that make them so appealing to investors.

***

Lend Academy took an interesting look at the state of marketplace lending in Japan. While this market has been lagging in Japan compared to the U.S. and UK it has seen explosive growth in recent years. In fact, the marketplace lending industry has been doubling in size in recent years in Japan. Incredibly, “There has been almost no loss of principal for three years across all crowdfunding platforms,” according to the author.

***

INC. took a look at Amazon’s growing presence in the marketplace lending world. The monolithic company started lending in 2011 and “has surpassed $3 billion in loans to small businesses.” However, today the loans are exclusively small business offerings to their marketplace lenders. The author warns that banks could see further loss of business as a result of this growing venture.

***

Nasdaq reviewed which loans can help expand a small business. The piece touches on online lenders explaining that “online lenders often have a faster approval process than banks originating SBA loans.” The article is a good introductory guide to what a small business will need in preparing to apply for a loan.

***

The Huffington Post explained that “American entrepreneurs raised $34.5 billion online 2016.” Moreover, they announced that “P2P lending, and balance sheet lending , grew by 22% in the United States in 2016.” The article splits apart different sectors of the market and examines how each has grown in recent years.

Bondora mentions

In German: Deutsche Handwerks Zeitung cited Bondora among other alternative financial services which allow you to borrow or lend money without turning to banks.