Marketplace lending

In the weeks leading up to the resignation of LendingClub's chief executive officer, investment bank Jefferies Group asked the company to bolster its disclosures to borrowers, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Industry representatives swiftly rejected the Treasury Department's assertion that new legislation is needed to protect small-business owners.

If alternative small-business lenders don't get engaged in the regulatory dialogue, they risk letting a few bad apples determine their fate.

Wells Fargo is starting a program to offer small businesses online loans in as soon as one day, targeting territory occupied by On Deck and LendingClub.

The Treasury Department on Tuesday capped off a nearly yearlong inquiry into the burgeoning marketplace lending industry with a policy paper that recommends increased transparency and customer protections while also highlighting the sector's potential for expanding credit access.

It is imperative for regulators and lawmakers to approach the online small business loan market with care and an understanding of how these lenders expand access to credit.

State officials in California have asked top online lending firms a series of probing questions regarding their compliance with laws and regulations dealing with referral fees, bank partnerships, fair lending and other sensitive issues.

We should all understand now that pure gain-on-sale marketplace lending businesses, like LendingClub, are inherently unstable.

The abrupt resignation of the firm's founder and CEO, under a cloud, seems likely to fan investors' growing fears about the marketplace lending sector. It could also hasten regulatory scrutiny.

Fed up with the hassles of applying for a multitude of state licenses and relying on bank partners, fintech firms are increasingly interested in applying for a national bank charter — and federal regulators are considering ways to accommodate them.

LendingClub Corp. founder and Chief Executive Officer Renaud Laplanche resigned after an internal review of loan sales to a single investor. President Scott Sanborn will be acting CEO.

Square's practice of using its merchant transaction data for risk analysis may seem innovative, but other agile specialists — including Intuit — are finding ways to use new data streams to limit risk and deliver funds to borrowers.

A proposed class-action lawsuit against LendingClub threatens investors in bonds backed by its loans and similar debt even if the plaintiff loses, Moody's Investors Service said Thursday.

Prosper Marketplace's decision to eliminate 22% of its workforce is more evidence that the bloom is off the rose for a sector that had been enjoying astronomical growth.

The Treasury Department will release a white paper next week outlining "research and recommendations' related to marketplace lending as a capstone to its nearly yearlong inquiry into the fast-growing industry.

The hits that alternative lenders like OnDeck Capital are taking shouldn't be a surprise for an industry built on unsustainable business models.

Prosper Marketplace Inc., one of the largest U.S. online lending platforms, is slashing its workforce 28 percent, joining rivals in signaling investors aren’t as eager to fund loans after years of rapid growth.

Some buyers are hanging in there, but as OnDeck Capital's disappointing first-quarter results show, investors who acquire and securitize marketplace loans are heading for hills. Among the reasons: fear of defaults, unfavorable pricing and shrinking loan yields.

OnDeck Capital reported a quarterly loss of $12.6 million as revenues fell short of expectations. At the same time, the New York firm sharply reduced its earnings projection for the rest of the year.

With consumers generally averse to risk, financial institutions have an opportunity to rethink what it means to make bets in line with their customers' well-being.