Industry News
deBanked to Attend FundKite ISO Event at Met Life Stadium Nov. 2nd
September 29, 2017
It’s unlikely the New York Jets will be dreaming of the Super Bowl come November 2nd when they play the Buffalo Bills, but MCA company FundKite is hosting a VIP event for select ISOs/brokers at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ that day.
According to FundKite, sales reps that hit certain funding targets will be invited to join the actual football players on the field for the pre-game warmup. The company is also offering attendees 50-yard line seats and complimentary food and beverages.
The catch is that reps have to fund more than $150,000 or $300,000 with FundKite before October 26th. Reps outside the Tri-State area will be flown in, courtesy of the company.
deBanked’s Sean Murray will be in attendance.
For more information, contact FundKite at isorelations@fundkite.com
Confidence in MCA and Online SMB Lending Industry Ticks Up
September 26, 2017The latest industry CEO survey conducted by Bryant Park Capital and deBanked showed that confidence in the continued success of the SMB lending/MCA industry is coming back. Confidence had a hit a low of 73.8% in Q1 of this year, the lowest point since the survey started in 2015. In Q3, the number jumped up to 81.3%.
Confidence in being able to access capital at a reasonable cost to grow ticked up only slightly to 79.9%, up from its lowest point in Q1 this year at 78.7%.
The first quarter of 2016 holds the confidence record since the surveying began. Coincidentally, that period is widely considered to be the peak of the online lending bubble. An April 2016 blog post published during that year’s annual LendIt Conference declared an end to the euphoria.
While respondents to the most recent survey were not asked to explain their confidence level, factors like a steady regulatory climate and some recent competition-reducing consolidation likely played a role in the boost.
Bizfi Survives, Thanks to World Business Lenders Asset Purchase Deal
September 22, 2017
The Bizfi marketplace is slated to live on, according to Stephen Sheinbaum who joined World Business Lenders (WBL) as a managing director in July. On Wednesday, WBL purchased several assets from Bizfi including the brand, the marketplace, the Next Level Funding renewal book, and other related pieces of the company, he says. Sheinbaum founded Bizfi (then Merchant Cash and Capital) in 2005.
WBL, a Jersey City-headquartered small business lender will also be a lender on the platform.
Other key Bizfi personnel have joined WBL including former Managing Director of Renewals John BellaVia, VP of Sales Michael Caronna, and Sales Manager Ryan Bressler.
The asset purchase does not affect the deal forged with Credibly to service the $250 million portfolio, Sheinbaum explains, which is separate.
While lesser known among the mainstream fintech media, WBL has been a stalwart player in the non-bank lending industry for years. Their ambitions and size became more apparent when deBanked attended their invite-only annual shareholder meeting at the Waldorf Astoria in NYC in 2015. The company went on to open a massive office in Jersey City in July 2016 that was attended by Jersey City Deputy Mayor Marcos Vigil, Councilwoman Candice Osborne, Archbishop David Billings and Mitchell Rudin, the CEO of Mack-Cali. At the ceremonial ribbon cutting, WBL CEO Doug Naidus said that he wanted to build a company that lasts, one that he can look back on and be proud of.
Now with the Bizfi brand and marketplace in tow, the company is uniquely positioned.
“[It’s a] game changer here,” Sheinbaum said. “2.0 here we come!”
C-level Credit Exec Leaves Lending Club for Affirm
September 21, 2017Lending Club’s Chief Credit Officer and Interim General Manager, Sandeep Bhandari, has joined fintech lender Affirm, according to Affirm CEO Max Levchin. Levchin posted the following on LinkedIn:
I am excited to announce and welcome Sandeep Bhandari to Affirm, Inc. as Chief Strategy and Risk Officer (CSRO).
Sandeep joins us from Lending Club where he was the Chief Credit Officer (CCO). Prior to Lending Club, he was at Capital One for many years, where he was Assistant Chief Credit Officer at Capital One Bank (Credit Risk Management) and Venture Partner (Capital One Ventures). Prior to that Sandeep held a variety of roles requiring expertise in strategy, credit risk management, marketing, product development, and underwriting across several lines of business including consumer and small business credit card, auto lending, and mortgage and home equity lending.
We are excited for Sandeep to join us for our next phase of rapid growth and to help us fulfill our mission of delivering honest financial products that improve lives.
The move comes on the heels of Lending Club announcing their “most advanced and predictive credit model ever.” Bhandari was responsible for credit strategy and overall credit risk management at Lending Club and presumably would’ve overseen that.
Talkative investors on the LendAcademy forum were not immediately sold on Lending Club’s new system, however. Some users bemoaned that Lending Club is ignoring common sense in favor of data. In one instance, the CEO of PeerCube referenced an interest rate anomaly alleged to be discovered in Lending Club’s pricing as “Data-driven but knowledge-unaware.”
Affirm and Lending Club differ. Whereas Lending Club targets the credit card refinancing market, Affirm helps consumers finance purchases. Last month, Affirm and Walmart were reportedly in talks to offer financing to consumers.
New CTO at Breakout Capital is Former CTO of Capital One Labs
September 18, 2017
Firoze Lafeer, the former Capital One Head of Tech Fellows Program and CTO, Capital One Labs, is now the CTO of Breakout Capital, a Breakout representative confirmed. Lafeer was with Capital One for five years, most recently running the company’s experimental product & technology incubator and accelerator.
Breakout Capital is a fintech small business lender based in Mclean, VA where Lafeer will lead technology, including scaling their tech platform.
Last month, Breakout hired Robert Fleischmann as Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships and Tom McCammon as Senior Vice President, Business Operations. Fleischmann was previously Director of Strategic Partnerships at RapidAdvance. McCammon was previously the Director of Portfolio Management and Credit Operations at OnDeck.
PayPal’s Global Head of Product Comm Joins Lending Club
September 14, 2017Anuj Nayar, PayPal’s global head of product communications, has moved on to Lending Club as VP and head of communications, according to published reports. Nayar was also previously Head of Mac Public Relations at Apple from 2003 to 2008.
At PayPal, Nayar was the primary spokesperson on a range of proactive and reactive issues, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Lending Club has struggled in the PR department since May 2016 when the company’s founder resigned.
SOS Capital Offers Super Bowl Tickets As Part of Charity-Driven Football Contest
September 10, 2017
Think you’re good at NFL predictions? SOS Capital is offering anyone the chance to win Super Bowl tickets in their football eliminator contest. The entry fee is a $100 donation to the JJ Watt Foundation to support Hurricane Harvey flood relief in Houston, TX.
Pool Details:
- $100 Donation Entry Fee
- Winner Receives 2 Super Bowl Tickets- Courtesy of SOS Capital
- 100% of proceeds will be donated to JJ Watts Charity
- Unlimited Entries Allowed
- Kicks Off Week 2 of the NFL Season
- Deadline to enter is Thursday Sept 14th 2pm
Contact SOS Capital for details on how to join and donate. Call 212-235-5455 or email Charity@soscapital.com
I have already made my donation to the JJ Watt Foundation and joined. I hope to see many others of you in the contest!
Square Wants to Become a Bank
September 6, 2017
Square is expected to apply for an Industrial Loan Company (ILC) bank charter this week, according to American Banker and other sources. Like SoFi, who is busy trying to do the same thing, their attempt will also face competitive resistance.
In June, Richard Hunt, president and CEO of the Consumer Bankers Association (CBA), told deBanked that in the case of SoFi, “The whole world is evolving, fintech is evolving. This was inevitable one way or another.” It is therefore not entirely surprising that Square is following SoFi. Others may wait to see how the regulatory debate plays out before putting in applications of their own, however.
“No one envisioned when they wrote the ILC charter that we would have fintech companies that finance mortgages and student loans from private equity capital and not deposits. It’s a new world. Like with all rules and regulations, federal regulators should periodically review longstanding policy,” Hunt said.
Several people from the banking industry argue that the ILC charter route is a loophole and that if fintech companies exploit it and screw up, they could put the entire banking system at risk.
Christopher Cole, executive vice president and senior regulatory counsel at the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), previously said, “We have been fighting the ILC charter for over a decade. When Walmart tried to apply for an ILC charter in 2006 we objected at that point. And that resistance was part of the reason why they never got a charter.”
On August 25th, Congresswoman Maxine Waters requested that a hearing be held on ILC charters to weigh all the concerns before acting on new ILC applications.
Until then, just because Square wants to become a bank, doesn’t mean they will succeed in doing so.
