Industry News

Amazon Discontinues Its In-House Business Loans

March 9, 2024
Article by:

amazon truckAfter deBanked reported that Amazon’s on-balance-sheet business loan receivables had remained steady throughout 2023, the company has abruptly decided to terminate its in-house lending program altogether.

Through an email confirmed to Fortune, Amazon ended its in-house term loan business on March 6. That same story says that they will continue to work with third party lenders and funders as they have been doing for a while. Some of their partners include Lendistry, SellersFi, and Parafin.

The in-house program had been running since 2011 and was first discovered by deBanked in 2013.

While the company was shy about disclosing origination figures, it carried approximately $1.3B in loan receivables on its books throughout last year.

The Amazon news coincides with the announcement that business loan rival Funding Circle has decided to exit the US market. Funding Circle US is currently up for sale.

FOR SALE: Funding Circle US?

March 8, 2024
Article by:

Funding Circle WebFunding Circle has decided to focus just on its UK business. The company is open to selling off its US business, it revealed.

“Whilst the US business offers attractive long term growth, it also requires a significant amount of cash and capital to grow the SBA proposition and we don’t believe that this is the best course of action for the Group,” said Funding Circle CEO Lisa Jacobs. “We have received indications of interest for the US business and will update further in due course.”

The US segment originated $491M in 2023 while generating $40.4M in revenue and a $29M net loss. That loss was steeper than the $11.6M recorded in 2022.

Funding Circle had just recently secured an SBLC license after years of lobbying for the SBA to end the 40-year pause. When that happened, it was anticipated to be a big boon for them.

Compared to the competition in 2023, Funding Circle’s American origination volume was only 1/6th that of Enova’s.

The Schedule at a Glance

March 7, 2024
Article by:


See what’s up next on the 2024 Agenda:

Broker Fair 2024 – New York City – May 20, 2024
Venue: Metropolitan Pavilion
Hotel: Renaissance New York Chelsea Hotel
Preshow Venue (Evening May 19): Somewhere Nowhere
Register Here

B2B Finance Expo – Las Vegas – Fall 2024
Attend this inaugural commercial financing expo taking place in Las Vegas this Fall.
Info coming soon at: https://www.b2bfinexpo.com

The Biggest Small Business Funders

February 21, 2024
Article by:

Although all of the specific data isn’t entirely available, we’ve compiled a short list of who the largest small business funders were in 2023:

1. Square
2. Enova
3. PayPal
4. Shopify
5. Amazon
6. Intuit
7. Parafin

growth

Missing Funds in Prime Capital Ventures Case Now Exceed $90 Million

February 20, 2024
Article by:

eye on your moneyThe case of the missing $50 million in the Prime Capital Ventures deposit scheme case is quickly ballooning to a much larger sum. On Tuesday, the Receiver representing Prime in the recovery efforts informed the Court that the total owed to victims is now almost $91 million and that it has yet to locate and secure anywhere near that amount. The growing number is attributed to the fact that more victim companies are beginning to come forward after news of the receivership and personal bankruptcy of Prime’s principal Kris Roglieri have been made public.

Roglieri’s attorney has asked the Court for the automatic stay of actions afforded to him in his personal bankruptcy be also applied to the other businesses he owns that the Receiver of Prime is suing, including the National Alliance of Commercial Loan Brokers entity. Roglieri is reportedly the 100% owner of the NACLB.

The party that sued Prime into receivership in the first place, a company named Compass-Charlotte 1031, LLC, said in its rebuttal to Roglieri’s request that not only is Prime indisputably insolvent but that there is no evidence that Roglieri’s other businesses at issue are not equally insolvent. Compass-Charlotte and the Receiver have both asked the Court not to extend the bankruptcy stay to these other businesses so that Prime can continue to pursue the assets.

NACLB Conference Founder Files Chapter 11

February 15, 2024
Article by:

Caesar's PalaceKris Roglieri, founder of the National Alliance of Commercial Loan Brokers (NACLB) conference, filed for Chapter 11 on Thursday as his legal issues continued to accelerate. In addition to his primary business Prime Capital Ventures being placed into receivership, numerous lawsuits, and his home being raided by the FBI, yet another party filed suit this morning to say that it had also been scammed by Roglieri after paying him $6 million as an upfront payment for a loan that he then ghosted on. The Receiver in the case believes that victims lost more than $50 million “in what appears to be a multi-state fraud scheme.” He has not actually been charged criminally at this time.

Roglieri’s bankruptcy election was under subchapter V, meaning the debts listed are business debts. Among them is an unpaid bill for $436,237 to Caesars Entertainment in Las Vegas where the NACLB held its last conference this past September. Other debts include a $709,000 EIDL loan, $600,000 in outstanding state taxes, ~$1 million to law firms, and a $100,000 business line of credit for the Commercial Capital Training Group.

Top Industry Execs Attend Small Business Finance Leaders Summit in Washington DC

January 29, 2024
Article by:

Capitol BuildingFifty top C-level executives attended the Small Business Finance Leaders Summit in Washington DC last week to discuss the economy, small business finance, policy issues, regulatory impacts, and industry best practices. Co-hosted by two major trade organizations, the Small Business Finance Association (SBFA) and the Innovative Lending Platform Association (ILPA), it was invite-only and open to members of both.

Speakers included US Senator Roger Marshall, Tom Sullivan from the US Chamber of Commerce, Holly Wade from the National Federation of Independent Business, Aaron Klein from Brookings, Will Tumulty from Rapid Finance, Justin Bakes from Forward Financing, Kirk Chartier from OnDeck, and Steve Allocca from Funding Circle, among others.

“As our industry matures, it’s important to provide industry leaders with an opportunity to connect and engage with high-level thought leaders,” said Steve Denis, Executive Director of the SBFA. “We believe our C-level Summit complements the Broker Fair and other industry conferences like Money 20/20 or Nexus. We hope to expand our Summit in June to bring in some new industry voices and will continue to focus on high-end content that is meaningful and strategic for our members and other top industry leaders.”

The organizations are planning another Summit in early June to build upon the success.

Debanked on SNL

January 28, 2024
Article by:

Saturday Night Live ran an awkward segment last night about debanked. Make sure you watch it until the end.

As a good refresher, the word debanking was ranked one of the top 10 most significant words of 2023 and debank is in the dictionary.