Marketplace lending

The deal marks a milestone in SoFi’s evolution into a private bank for millennials, but it won’t solve the challenges of the alternative lender’s funding model.

Arkadi Kuhlmann, the founder and CEO of the neobank Zenbanx who pioneered branchless banking at ING Direct, explains why he stopped pursuing a bank charter and made a deal with Social Finance.

Usama Ashraf, the marketplace lender's new chief financial officer, will oversee finance activities and its capital markets function.

The acquisition should allow the San Francisco-based online lender SoFi to fulfill a long-standing goal: offering a deposit account to its young, upwardly mobile customers.

Eastern Bank developed its own online lending platform to compete with the likes of Kabbage and OnDeck. It might now be able to cash in by licensing to other banks.

If offering a national regulation option to fintech players is the carrot, compliance with commonsense borrower protections could be the stick in promoting responsible financial innovation.

The banking trade group confirmed that it has run a formal bidding process to find a partner.

Guest host Sam Maule chats with American Banker reporter Lalita Clozel and others about the OCC fintech charter, smart home devices, virtual assistants, the security and compliance issues posed by Alexa, and more.

BorrowersFirst said its new financing will come from Waterfall Asset Management, a New York firm that focuses on high-yield investments.

Wells Fargo faces an economic environment that may not be particularly suited for the way the bank is structured. Also: are you brave enough to make bitcoin a part of your retirement portfolio?