Marketplace lending

The White House and other Democrats have long pushed for banks to offer affordable small-dollar loans as an alternative to payday loans and other costlier credit, but banks have struggled to make them profitable and safe for consumers.

LendingClub won over debt investors with algorithms that quickly assess borrowers' creditworthiness, making it easy for banks, hedge funds and others to snap up billions of dollars of consumer loans arranged through its online platform. Those algorithms still have some kinks.

Despite their recent growth, too few marketplace lenders are reporting data to the consumer reporting agencies, which could negative repercussions on the financial system.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.

SunTrust Banks in Atlanta has committed $50 million to a credit facility for the online small-business lender Credibly.

WASHINGTON — The current financial regulatory structure is ill-suited for innovation, but a legislative effort to fix that may still be a long way off, according to top House Republican lawmakers.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is urging banks to perform due diligence and identify potential risks before conducting business with marketplace lenders.

OnDeck Capital, an online small-business lender in New York, has added a former E-Trade Financial executive to its board, as another director plans to leave.

College Ave Student Loans, an online lender in Wilmington, Del., announced Thursday that it has raised $20 million in equity financing.

A new class of fintech startups is using loan applicants' social networks to determine creditworthiness as the banking industry debates the merits of alternate underwriting methods.

Opus Bank in Irvine, Calif., is the latest bank to partner with an online lender, announcing an agreement Thursday to refer certain small-business customers to OnDeck Capital.

LendUp, which makes subprime consumer loans online and over mobile phones, announced Wednesday that it has raised $50 million in equity funding, plus an additional $100 million in debt financing.

BlueVine, a Palo Alto, Calif., firm that is aiming to modernize the invoice-financing business, announced a new fundraising round on Wednesday.

LoanHero, an online lender specializing in consumer loans at the cash register, announced that it has raised $2.5 million in seed funding.

Online lenders like Aprenita, Payability and Pollen VC have all launched within the last 13 months to fill a need they say is not being met by traditional banks, and only partially by venture capitalists and invoice-financing companies.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.

Fundation Group, an online small-business lender, has hired an industry veteran as its first chief operating officer.

A compilation of our favorite stories of 2015, as selected by the people who assigned and edited them.

Maybe disruptors, not bankers, are the ones who need to worry about an abrupt paradigm shift. Though many bankers fear having fintech startups pick off the most profitable parts of their business, history suggests this "unbundling" of banks is a recurring, temporary phenomenon that is generally followed by a period of "rebundling."

The Seattle-based tech giant, in its latest foray into the financial services business, has begun offering installment loans to British consumers.