Weekly industry news roundup – March 27, 2017

Financial Well-being

Around the world

Seeking Alpha published an article from the International Monetary Fund. The authors explored the underpinnings of the fintech revolution. Many, including the IMF, see P2P lending at the fore of this sweeping change. Speed and low costs are influencing more people to embrace theses digital solutions.

Crowdfund Insider reported on findings from online lending analytics firm OFF3R indicating that lending activity in the UK has increased in recent months. Moreover, the long-term trend is strong given that “Early data from March appears to suggest that this momentum will continue for the equity crowdfunding sector.” While the information pertains to the UK market the data indicates strength in the broader industry.

Entrepreneur offered 6 tips for navigating online lending for small businesses. Their article comes amid findings from The Harvard Business Review showing that although “the total volume of small-business bank loans decreased by 3.1 percent in 2014, small-business online lending increased twofold.” The author cites costs, and quality as areas to consider.

Reuters explored the ways in which traditional banks are seeking to increase speed to compete with the growing online lending industry. Credit bureaus like Experian are attempting to leverage technology to drive down the time required for underwriting loans.

CXOToday discussed ways in which fintech solutions like P2P lending are disrupting the lending market in underbanked regions like India. The author discusses how a “cost advantage also helps P2P lenders to offer better prices as compared to banks.” These emerging markets have become areas of accelerated growth for P2P lending.

Bondora mentions

ArticStartup praised Bondora citing that we “turned to profit late last year after focusing again on its original offering of consumer loans.” Pärtel, our CEO, reflected, “By mid-2016 we understood that our focus has to be on what we started from – a faster and cheaper consumer loan product. And we understood that on the investment side it has to be an online product for the people, not so much for the banks or funds.”