Marketplace lending

A fintech startup called Point is allowing consumers sell a piece of their home equity to investors, rather than borrowing against the value of their houses.

Lending Club, which has been rebuilding its executive ranks in the wake of a recent scandal, is hiring Thomas Casey as its chief financial officer.

Marketplace lenders that have partnered with banks face more scrutiny after a federal judge in California handed a legal victory last week to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Within five years, a dramatic transformation of the mortgage market will force firms to expand product menus beyond mortgages to develop stronger relationships with their customers.

The large marketplace lender is turning to everyday savers as it seeks to bounce back from a damaging scandal.

Live Oak Bancshares in Wilmington, N.C., has formed a renewable energy lending division.

Despite their slowdown in growth, marketplace lenders are still in good position to gain from the digitization of the financial services industry.

Nat Hoopes, executive director of a trade group that represents the chief executives of Wall Street banks, is making the jump to fintech.

Lending Club hired a pair of Wall Street executives to strengthen relationships with investors after many pulled back from buying the loans it arranges online during a tumultuous second quarter.

LendingClub wasn’t alone in its suffering during the second quarter.

Medallion Financial, trying to diversify beyond its traditional business of financing taxi drivers, plans to issue loans on behalf of web-based lenders. But that new strategy faces some potential pitfalls.

Fundation Group, a New York-based online small-business lender, announced Tuesday that it has secured a $100 million credit facility from Goldman Sachs.

Companies like Prosper have revolutionized the front end of the consumer lending experience, but they have not proven able to handle even minor financial bumps without running off the road.

With the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency evaluating the possibility of a nationwide charter for certain fintech firms, state regulators are voicing concerns that a charter could cut into their authority.

Heather Cox is moving to USAA; female regulators are gaining prominence in the online lending conversation; and asset managers are still fighting sexism at work (but then again, who isn’t?).

Banks have found a novel way to fend off fintech’s plans to take them down: they are funding it. A new report shows corporate venture capital investors, such as those backed by banks, made up nearly a third of funding in the second quarter.

LoanDepot, a Foothill Ranch, Calif.-based company that offers mortgages, home equity loans and personal loans, has raised $150 million in term debt financing.

Avant, an online consumer lender based in Chicago, is shoring up its funding base with a pair of new transactions.

This year federal and state regulators have started to pay closer attention to the rapidly evolving online-lending sector — particularly online small-business lending. What follows is a look at eight key players in the debate over how to regulate this emerging industry.

Online alternative financing can be an efficient source of capital for small businesses, but it can also be predatory, especially to unaware and inexperienced borrowers.