Opinion

March 12, 2015 @ 9:31 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Celebrating the tenth anniversary in finance,  Zopa, world’s first peer to peer lender has made significant achievements since its founding  “in a barn in Buckinghamshire.”   Zopa, led by CEO and Co-Founder Giles Andrews, launched a disruptive financial industry that enables consumers and businesses to bypass banks. Since… Read More

March 11, 2015 @ 7:00 am By Samuel Guzik  |  

To borrow a line from SEC Commissioner Daniel M. Gallagher, quoting from the fight song of his alma mata, Georgetown University:  Oh How Long It’s Been! As we approach the three year anniversary of the signing into law of the JOBS Act of 2012 it… Read More

March 10, 2015 @ 12:09 pm By Dara Albright  |  

I spend many waking hours advocating for crowdfinance and preaching about the economic repercussions of an unjust financial system that inhibits entrepreneurs from procuring growth capital and restrains unaccredited investors from acquiring higher yielding private securities. I’ve dedicated more than four years to this endeavor… Read More

March 10, 2015 @ 10:28 am By JD Alois  |  

Louise Beaumont joined a panel on Democratising finance yesterday at the inaugural Innovate Finance conference.  The session entitled The rise of alternative finance in the UK saw her join a prestigious group to discuss the future of finance. Louise is the head of Public Affairs at GLI… Read More

March 8, 2015 @ 10:42 pm By JD Alois  |  

Capitol Hill is an ever-revolving series of meetings, hearings and committees that too frequently get mired in petty political squabbles and posturing. Most of what occurs on the Hill these days is lost to much of the rest of the country who are simply too… Read More

March 7, 2015 @ 12:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a speech presented at the Stanford Law School, SEC Commissioner Kara Stein delivered a lecture clearly designed to cater to the audience. Entitled “Supporting Innovation Through the Commission’s Mission to Facilitate Capital Formation” the presentation noted that the SEC’s mission is not defined as supporting innovation… Read More

March 6, 2015 @ 12:07 pm By Charles Kaufman and Jor Law   |  

This article is part one, of a two part discussion, on Identifying Bad Actors for private placements. In 2010, as part of the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, Congress adopted the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. While most of… Read More

March 6, 2015 @ 9:02 am By JD Alois  |  

Steve Case, a staunch proponent of investment crowdfunding and advocate of access to capital for SMEs, called out billionaire pundit Mark Cuban on CNBC this morning. Ostensibly the discussion was on the Tech Bubble “Yes or No” polemic but discourse ended up being a bit… Read More

March 4, 2015 @ 4:13 pm By JD Alois  |  

David Weild, former Vice Chair of Nasdaq and current CEO of IssuWorks, delivered a presentation to the SEC Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies that addressed the issue of venture exchanges.  The need for a venture exchange has recently percolated up in discussion as… Read More

March 4, 2015 @ 12:13 pm By JD Alois  |  

The SEC Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies tackled the highly contentious issue of state Blue Sky Review preemption today regarding Title IV of the JOBS Act. Commonly called Reg A+, the SEC has recommended pre-empting state review as it is widely understood to have… Read More

March 4, 2015 @ 8:17 am By Anthony Zeoli  |  

Alright so maybe “all hail” might be a little much but cut me some slack, I’m excited. After more than a year of lobbying, campaigning and pounding the pavement Illinois finally has a filed intrastate crowdfunding exemption bill. Well, that’s not entirely true … Illinois… Read More

March 3, 2015 @ 11:14 pm By JD Alois  |  

Nasdaq CEO Bob Greifeld spoke briefly on CNBC today about the “institutional battle” between the NYSE and Nasdaq in regards to the number of IPOs.  For the record Nasdaq chalked up 189 for $22 billion raised in 2014 while the NYSE listed 129 for total… Read More

March 3, 2015 @ 1:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

SeedInvest, a widely respected investment crowdfunding platform that operates under Title II accredited crowdfunding (for now), has just submitted a comment letter to the Securities Exchange Commission pleading with the agency to “keep Title III crowdfunding simple”. The JOBS Act was signed into law almost… Read More

March 2, 2015 @ 11:34 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills has published its Small Business Survey (SBS) 2014.  The document indicates an improving environment for SME’s largely coinciding with the improving economy.  There is one area though that indicates a greater need for outreach and education by investment… Read More

March 2, 2015 @ 10:52 am By JD Alois  |  

At the end of 2014, Robert Steinhoff, a JD candidate at the University of Colorado Law School, published a comment on the investment crowdfunding environment in the UK drawing a parallel to what could occur in the United States. The interesting thesis recognized the UK… Read More

March 1, 2015 @ 9:58 pm By JD Alois  |  

Crowdfund Insider reported last week on the push within the EU to further capital markets integration in light of the daunting challenges of a fragmented regulatory regime and cross border idiosyncrasies.  The European Commission was envisioned as a seamless market facilitating continent wide economic amalgamation…. Read More

February 27, 2015 @ 11:01 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Mambu, a cloud banking technology platform provider that works with more than 100 financial innovators worldwide, including Banco Macro, Opportunity International  and Yale University, uniquely sits at the nexus of the transformation and financial inclusion markets, where new applications and the cloud’s agility offers a particularly compelling value proposition for… Read More

February 26, 2015 @ 9:27 pm By JD Alois  |  

Kickstarter CEO and co-founder Yancey Strickler chimed in on the FCC ruling today that now classifies the internet as a public utility.  Advocates of net neutrality celebrated the victory as many viewed it as guaranteeing open and equal access to the world wide web. Strickler… Read More

February 26, 2015 @ 12:47 pm By JD Alois  |  

The European Union published a “green paper” on Building a Capital Markets Union for the broader European community.  The ambitious goals are laudable but the challenge is high. While in the United States, and other countries around the globe, SME’s are the engine of growth…. Read More

February 26, 2015 @ 9:15 am By JD Alois  |  

The Bank of England has released its most recent data on the Funding for Lending program, an initiative that is supposed to compel banks to lend to business.  According to the BOE figures, lending is in decline; “Net lending by FLS Extension participants to all… Read More