Marketplace Lending – Page 3 – FinTech and Blockchain Law Watch

Fraud-Prevention Resources for Online Lenders

Nov 14 2016

Several resources exist—and are receiving renewed attention—to help companies combat fraud committed during the online-lending process. With cybercrime on the rise, the non-profit Pittsburgh-headquartered National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance (“NCFTA”) announced earlier this year that it was opening offices in financial centers New York and Los Angeles. The NCFTA conducts real-time information sharing and analysis with experts in the public, private, and academic sectors, with its Cyber Financial Program specifically dedicated to identifying and neutralizing cyber threats to the financial-services industry from malware, phishing, social engineering, and other computer-aided or fraudulent methods. In October 2016, TransUnion launched the Fraud Prevention Exchange, an industry collaborative where reports of prior fraud and ongoing high-velocity applications are shared to help show what identities and devices may be compromised and—knowingly or unknowingly—participating in fraud. Several other industry players got involved in the Online Lending Network later that month to share data on loan applications and funded loans to assist in combatting loan stacking and excessive credit risk.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) works under the parameters of Section 314(b) of the USA PATRIOT Act to assist financial institutions in sharing information with one another to identify and report activities that may involve money laundering or terrorist activity. FinCEN has “strongly encouraged” voluntary information sharing under 314(b)’s safe harbor to boost customer-due-diligence programs, bring more transparency to convoluted financial trails, and alert financial institutions to known bad actors they may not have encountered yet.

These same reasons support increased and real-time sharing of fraud-prevention data between financial institutions, particularly in the online-lending industry that is growing and speedy. As the industry matures, it seems destined for collaboration on fraud-prevention issues.

A borrower referral scheme may increase competition for SMEs

Nov 03 2016

By Jonathan Lawrence

From 1 November 2016, nine of the UK’s biggest banks will be obliged to pass on the details of small businesses they have rejected for finance to three internet-based finance platforms – Funding Xchange, Business Finance Compared and Funding Options. These platforms will then share these details with alternative finance providers and go on to facilitate a conversation between the business and any provider who expresses an interest in supplying finance to them.

Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays, Santander, Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank, Bank of Ireland, Danske Bank and First Trust Bank, will all have to offer access to these finance platforms, with small businesses having to give their permission before their details are shared.

Research had shown that 71% of UK businesses seeking finance only ask one lender and, if rejected for finance, many simply give up on investment rather than seek alternative options.

Last year 324,000 UK small and medium sized businesses sought a loan or overdraft, 26% of these were initially declined by their bank and only 3% of those declined were referred to other sources of help.

The scheme was enacted by the Small and Medium Sized Business (Finance Platforms) Regulations 2015.

In April 2016, the UK government introduced the SME credit data sharing scheme which requires banks and credit reference agencies to share SME credit information equally with all providers. This increases competition in business lending by making it easier for challenger banks and other lenders to make credit decisions on businesses to help them get the funding they need.

Movement in marketplace lending regulation for small business loans

Sep 09 2016

By Jim Bulling and Michelle Chasser

Marketplace lenders who cater to small businesses are about to face increased regulation in relation to the credit they provide. From 12 November 2016, some businesses will receive the same protection currently available to consumers as unfair contract terms in small business contracts will become prohibited.

Small business contracts include loans which are entered into with businesses which have fewer than 20 employees for an amount less than $300,000 or less than $1 million if the term of the loan is more than 12 months.

Under the new law, a contract term will be unfair if:

it would cause a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations;
it is not reasonably necessary to protect the interests of the party who would be advantaged by the term; and
it would cause detriment to a party if the term is relied on.

Who bears the risk? Federal Court holds that a purchaser of unsecured consumer loans is the “true lender”

Sep 09 2016

By Irene C. Freidel and David D. Christensen

A California federal court has held that the purchaser of consumer loans is the “true lender” and thus subject to state usury laws, even though a separate entity funded and closed the loans in its own name. The recent decision, however, is another reminder that US state and federal regulators, as well as plaintiffs’ attorneys, may be able to pierce these partnerships where the financial institution funding and closing the loan does not bear substantial risk on those loans.

Proposed FDIC guidance on marketplace lending could have far reaching impact on industry

Aug 31 2016

By Sean Mahoney

Following up on its recent Supervisory Insights article on marketplace lending and Advisory on Effective Risk Management Practices for Purchased Loans and Purchased Loan Participations, the FDIC on July 31, 2016 released its proposed Examination Guidance for Third-Party Lending. If nothing else, this series of recent developments demonstrates the FDIC’s concern with the role of banks in marketplace lending. Unlike the prior two releases, the July proposed guidance is subject to public comment, with a comment period expiring October 27, 2016.

All three issuances share a common set of fundamental concerns. These include concerns that (a) a bank may rely on a marketplace lending platform to an unjustified extent; (b) the marketplace lending activity may not fit within a bank’s corporate strategy; (c) that lending through a marketplace platform may not be consistent with the bank’s underwriting standards; (d) that the bank may not adequately assure that the activity is being conducted in accordance with applicable law; and (e) that the bank may not otherwise adequately manage risks inherent in the activity. The Proposed Guidance goes a few steps further by requiring that banks that engage in marketplace lending activities have specific, detailed policies and procedures addressing a set of prescribed parameters. Further the Proposed Guidance would mandate that contracts between a bank and marketplace lending platform provide the bank with, among other things, (i) the right to mandate that the platform adopt policies and procedures governing any activity outsourced to the platform, and (ii) rights to performance data, audits and funding information.

While the Proposed Guidance will only apply to state-chartered, FDIC-insured banks that are not members of the Federal Reserve System, it could have far-reaching effects given the increased prevalence of state-chartered banks of all types in marketplace lending. Moreover, the Proposed Guidance may strain the tension between financial innovation and comprehensive regulatory oversight inherent in much of FinTech.

Marketplace lending technology patents held invalid

Aug 09 2016

By Joseph Valenti, Samuel Reger and Chris Bell

On July 25, 2016, three appellate judges in the United States held that a popular online marketplace lender’s patents were invalid because they merely reflected an “abstract idea” that is not entitled to be patented or otherwise eligible for exclusive protection under American intellectual-property laws. The practical effect of this decision is that the lender could not sue its competitors for patent infringement where those competitors allegedly used the same techniques to match borrowers with lenders on their own marketplace lending platforms.

The judges from the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals likened the claimed inventions to a “fundamental economic concept” (i.e., an abstract idea) that served as the basis for the consumer-loan industry. They ruled that simply implementing this concept with “generic technology” to automate the process does not then make it patentable.

K&L Gates Adds Leading FinTech Partners

Jul 28 2016

Global law firm K&L Gates welcomes Judith Rinearson and Linda C. Odom as partners in the firm’s FinTech and Consumer Financial Services practices. Rinearson joins K&L Gates’ New York and London offices, and Odom, joins the Washington, D.C. office. “Judie Rinearson and Linda Odom are highly respected authorities in numerous key regulatory and commercial areas within the FinTech ecosystem,” stated Robert Zinn, co-leader of K&L Gates’ global corporate and transactional practice area as well as of the firm’s market-leading global FinTech practice.

To read our full press release please click here.

Impact of Brexit and UK FinTech

Jul 21 2016

by Jonathan Lawrence, Stephen Moller, Jacob Ghanty and Tom Wallace

A month has passed since the UK referendum vote to leave the European Union. Now that the initial dust is starting to settle, we have set out to examine various potential impacts on the UK FinTech sector. We consider areas including:

regulation and passporting
data protection and data sharing
anti-money laundering and know your customer
human capital
the role of banks
London as a global FinTech centre
venture capital

For our long form insight piece, please click here.

Regulators notice small business loans are big business

Jul 07 2016

By Jim Bulling and Michelle Chasser

The focus in marketplace lending appears to be shifting to small business loans recently and it is clear that small business loans are big business. The European Investment Bank has agreed to make a £100 million investment in small business loans originated through Funding Circle in the UK as part of its priority to improve access to finance for small and medium businesses. In the US marketplace lenders originated around US$1.9B in 2015 up nearly 60% from 2014.

The increased volume of small business loans has not escaped the notice of US federal regulators. There are concerns that sometimes small businesses are essentially individual entrepreneurs and may not have any more tools than consumers to assess the terms of loans offered to them. The US Treasury’s recent white paper, Opportunities and Challenges in Online Marketplace Lending, made a number of recommendations including that more robust small business borrower protections and effective oversight be introduced for online marketplace lenders. A number of regulators including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Securities and Exchange Commission were contributors to that paper.

Brexit: the effect on UK FinTech

Jun 07 2016

By Jonathan Lawrence

On 23 June 2016, the United Kingdom will hold a referendum about whether to remain in or leave the European Union. A British exit from the EU has been labelled a “Brexit”.

A recent Financial News poll has showed that the UK FinTech sector is substantially in favour of staying. Financial News surveyed 118 FinTech professionals to gauge their opinion.

More than two-thirds said Brexit would be detrimental to UK FinTech. However, nearly 18% believe it is still unclear what the long-term impact would be. The remaining 13% think UK FinTech would benefit from a decision to leave the European Union.

Often tech talent is sourced from countries such as Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Romania and Slovenia. The ability to access talent was a major concern of some business people interviewed. The other key potential issue is regulation. There’s a circular debate over whether there would be lighter regulation after the UK left the EU, or whether it would be forced to stay in line with the rest of Europe as a price for continued market access. One theory is that the European market – already smaller than the US – would, in effect, be divided in two. US FinTech firms already have the advantage of addressing a bigger market – partitioning Europe would make this advantage greater still.

More than 84% of those who said Brexit would harm UK FinTech said it would make London less attractive for foreign FinTech companies as a location for their European HQ. However, the largest share believes London would maintain its dominance as a FinTech hub. Asked which European cities would most threaten London, 28% answered “none”, closely followed by Berlin, 25%. Frankfurt came third with 15%.

On the other hand, some 13% said the sector would be better off and 18% were undecided. Of those who believe UK FinTech would benefit, 63% thought it would free up resources that could be reinvested in innovation. Some 58% said Brexit would make it easier for FinTech companies to do business with clients in non-EU countries.

Category:Marketplace Lending