January 24, 2017 @ 11:19 am By JD Alois  |  

Karen Kerrigan, President and CEO of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) has declared her organization’s strong support for President Trump’s selection to manage the Small Business Administration. Trump has picked Linda McMahon an entrepreneur who scaled and built the highly successful World… Read More

January 24, 2017 @ 8:46 am By JD Alois  |  

UK Bond Network, an alternative finance provider that specializes in structuring and distributing investment opportunities in secured corporate bonds has been authorized by the FCA and HMRC  as an ISA manager. The approval now allows the platform to offer the Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA). Announced in… Read More

January 24, 2017 @ 8:19 am By JD Alois  |  

Global Alternatives has announced the “relaunch” of Property Crowd. Described as “property crowdfunding 2.0”, the updated platform will now offer cross-border investments in institutional grade real estate opportunities. Property Crowd is now offering professional investors and high net worth individuals (HNWIs) an 11.2% IRR via… Read More

January 24, 2017 @ 7:53 am By JD Alois  |  

The EU has ambitious goals on fostering sustainable energy projects but frequently financing is hard to find.  A newly published position paper, produced in concert with Citizenergy, on the challenge is pointing to alternative finance as a significant part of the answer. According to the… Read More

January 23, 2017 @ 10:54 pm By JD Alois  |  

Wecash Group, one of China’s top Fintech firms, has entered the Indonesian market via a joint venture with JAS Kapital and Kresna Investments. Wecash is a big-data credit evaluation platform. Founded in 2014, Wecash was the first Chinese startup to leverage data to detect fraud and appraise consumers credit…. Read More

January 23, 2017 @ 6:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

Real estate crowdfunding has experienced rapid growth in the US.  Yet most opportunities have been made available only to accredited investors. As securities laws are updated to accommodate the emerging innovation of internet finance traditional methods of funding real estate projects are being disrupted. At… Read More

January 23, 2017 @ 5:12 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fundrise has posted a page blocker announcing a new feature or application to be revealed soon. While short on details, Ben Miller, CEO and co-founder, states they are preparing to embark on “perhaps our greatest innovation yet.” Fundrise was the first online investment platform to… Read More

January 23, 2017 @ 2:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

Numerous states have enacted “intrastate” crowdfunding regulations to help foster capital formation for local businesses. Some of the states have crafted crowdfunding rules that are superior to Title III of the JOBS Act, also called Reg CF.  Minnesota is one of those states that benefited… Read More

January 23, 2017 @ 1:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

  GrowthFountain is the newest entry into the Reg CF crowdfunding space. The platform received its regulatory approval in December and today has officially launched. As of today, 22 platforms have received regulatory approval with one, uFundingPortal, being pulled from the list for operational shortcomings… Read More

January 23, 2017 @ 12:18 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago and the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School have partnered again on the 2017 Americas Alternative Finance Industry survey. Research… Read More

January 23, 2017 @ 9:23 am By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, Prime Minister Theresa May revealed her vision for a modern industrial strategy for the UK. The policy proposal was released during her first regional cabinet meeting. May is engaged in a tight-rope walk of policy as she manages ramifications of Brexit while crafting an… Read More

January 23, 2017 @ 8:16 am By JD Alois  |  

Specialist provider of P2P and marketplace lending products and services, Goji, has announced that Landbay, bond investment platform UK Bond Network, crowd bond provider Downing, and SME-focused P2P platform Peer Funding have each selected their platform to offer the Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA). Goji said… Read More

January 22, 2017 @ 5:19 pm By JD Alois  |  

Leveraging a common language and an emerging Fintech regulatory realm that is improving, SoFi is poised to enter the mortgage lending market in Australia. First reported in the Financial Review, SoFi, one of the largest online lenders in the US, is prepping to challenge  Aussie… Read More

January 22, 2017 @ 4:53 pm By JD Alois  |  

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Lloyds Banking Group Chief Executive Officer Antonio Horta-Osorio made the statement that “low-interest rates and fintech are the most important trends that will shape banking over the next 10 years.” The pronouncement comes as Lloyds has been enduring… Read More

January 22, 2017 @ 3:56 pm By JD Alois  |  

Finvasia is an India-based Fintech firm that hit the radar last year when it raised an undisclosed sum of investment capital at a valuation of around $22 million. The company’s mission is to become the brokerage of choice by providing zero commission trading. Yep free… Read More

January 22, 2017 @ 2:47 pm By JD Alois  |  

The concept of a Fintech Charter for emerging firms in the financial services industry has generated plenty of attention on Capitol Hill and with Fintech entrepreneurs. Originally pitched by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency towards the end of last year, a comment… Read More

January 22, 2017 @ 9:44 am By JD Alois  |  

Brexit fallout has created an “all-hands” situation for the UK. Departing the EU poses many challenges including the possibility for a diminished access to the single market. Prime Minister Theresa May, entrusted to manage one of the most challenging policy environment in recent history, has… Read More

January 21, 2017 @ 3:38 pm By JD Alois  |  

“If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old” ― Peter F. Drucker The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) rattled the cages of big finance and state regulators in proposing a possible “Fintech Charter” to license and regulate emerging… Read More

January 21, 2017 @ 2:07 pm By JD Alois  |  

Following big news of a $100 million funding round, Funding Circle has announced it will stop issuing new loans in Spain. The announcement was posted on the Spanish version site of the SME peer to peer lender noting that it has not offered new loans… Read More

January 20, 2017 @ 1:18 pm By JD Alois  |  

FINRA has published a report (embedded below) on Blockchain or Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and its implications for the securities industry. The publication is entitled; “Distributed Ledger Technology: Implications of Blockchain for the Securities Industry.” FINRA, or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is the self-regulatory organization… Read More