Marketplace lending

A recent federal court decision affirming the right of a servicer to collect on private student loans originated on Sallie Mae's behalf is good news for several parties, including marketplace lenders and others that partner with banks to make loans.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is expanding efforts to encourage the development of new banking products, announcing Wednesday that it will establish an office of innovation to spearhead research and communication related to fintech.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray has revived an ongoing dispute between banks and fintech firms over screen scraping, a method certain companies use to obtain access to consumer bank records.

The online lender is entering the car-loan market at a time when some banks are scaling back and regulators are sounding the alarm about deteriorating underwriting standards.

Bizfi, a New York-based online small-business finance company, announced the hiring of John Donovan as its new chief executive officer.

The investment bank will take "a very deliberate and methodical approach" to building its online lending platform, Chief Financial Officer Harvey Schwartz told investors Tuesday, implicitly drawing a contrast to once-highflying startups like Lending Club and Propser.

Such a charter comes with a bevy of legal and policy questions to resolve, including whether parent companies of firms that obtain a fintech charter would have to subject themselves to oversight by the Federal Reserve Board. State regulators, meanwhile, fear a new charter could erode their ability to regulate firms within their jurisdictions.

Bank of America, the second-biggest U.S. lender by assets, said third-quarter profit rose 7.3%, beating analysts’ estimates, as revenue from fixed-income trading was better than predicted and expenses fell.

Community banks need profit and diversification opportunities, while marketplace lenders may find mergers to be the easiest route into the banking system.

Goldman Sachs' newly launched consumer lending website is aimed at some of the very same customers that big banks and marketplace lenders covet, yet there are plenty of questions about its business plan, its ability to manage credit risk and the prospects of online lenders in general.