joinFITE launched by Kiva and Dermalogica

wiseclerk

Announcement by Kiva on joinFITE a new microlending platform to fund woman entrepreneurs:

In partnership with Dermalogica and strategic partners, today Kiva.org is launching joinFITE.org to provide microloans to women entrepreneurs in low-income regions of the United States and 56 other countries.
A novel aspect of the campaign is its engagement of retail consumers as microlenders. Dermalogica, for example, will contribute $1 every time a consumer goes to the joinFITE.org Web site and enters a code printed on FITE-themed packaging that the company is using for five of its best-selling products. The resulting micro loan is made available to a designated entrepreneur within hours.
“We know the collective impact of consumer action and socially responsible business practices can create sustainable and far-reaching change,” said strategic partner actress Geena Davis. “Together, we can maximize our effort to empower women and girls around the world.”
So what does that mean for p2p microfinance? Kiva has found a way to combine microlending with product placement. A positive viewpoint on this will be that the codes on the products will invite new people to try the concept of microlending. A negative viewpoint might be that the positive image of p2p microlending is used for branding and advertising purposes.
Anyway: this approach could be copied by Kiva (and other p2p microfinance sites) with more partners/products. As long as the selection of partners is very responsible the p2p microfinance site avoids tainting its image.
Related article with some more background at Fastcompany.

P2P Lending Expectations for 2011

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I always enjoy speculating what p2p lending developments might happen in the year to come and then look back in in the end to see how I did. I don’t dare call it forecast, because these are just my personal opinions, though in some cases it’s an educated guess based on what I know individual p2p lending services are working on at the moment.
Last year most of my predictions came true to some degree. Maybe they were not speculative enough – this year I’ll insert 1 or 2 developments with higher degree of speculation.

Advent of whitelabel providers (probability 100%)
Okay let’s start this with a safe bet. In 2011 there will be 1-2 companies offering a solution that can be branded and used by p2p lending services and / or p2p microfinance sites. The interesting question here is how the acceptance by potential customers will be. My guess is that it will be slow selling until the companies have set the first pilot customer live.

Introduction of a p2p financed ‘credit card’ (probability very low)
I envision a p2p lending service where the borrower does not get a loan in one full amount initially but can access liquidity on demand (within a predefined credit line). From the funding side this would work somewhat like lenders investing in Ratesetter’s rolling monthly loans. On the borrower side the customer could either request an additional payout via a web-interface or more sophisticated the service could issue a branded credit card / debit card for that purpose, enabling the customer to access cash instantly on an ATM.
This concept has very interesting advantages as it allows the p2p lending service to build a durable relationship to the borrowers. And for the borrowers it offers the potential of lower rates on short term debt than the high rates credit cards typically carry.
Like the idea and want to discuss/develop it further? Self-promotion plug: You can hire me as a consultant. Continue reading →

Review of My P2P Lending Predictions For 2010

wiseclerk 3 Comments

In January 2010 I wrote down my predictions for p2p lending trends in 2010. Now let’s see how good my crystal ball was. The black text is my original prediction, with the review added in green and yellow.

More competition and entering more national markets (probability 100%)
This is a fairly easy bet. There are many, especially European markets, where no p2p lending service is operating yet. Even accounting for the fact that laws and regulation in some national markets make it hard or impossible to establish a service, there is still plenty of room. Looking at an individual country, it is much harder to tell. I still wonder that there are no competitors to Zopa in the British market (yet).
As expected this was an easy bet to win. Plenty of new p2p lending companies launched. Zopa got 4 new competitors in the UK (Ratesetter, Fundingcircle, Quakle and Yes-Secure). 3 companies launched in Finland. FairPlace started in Brazil.

More products (probability 100%)
Currently nearly all p2p lending platforms only offer one product: unsecured, fixed term loans. The differences are more in the details of loan funding (bidding, no bidding, markets, listings) but not in the offered product. In 2010 we will see additional products (e.g. secured loans).
Ratesetter introduced rolling monthly loans with variable interest rates. (Note: variable interest rates were one of my predictions for 2008 – I was a bit early on that one). Money360 tries p2p mortgages. CommunityLend might be up to something really interesting with FinanceIt. Some smaller enhancements to the existing product were developed too (e.g. cars as collateral).

A bank will acquire an existing p2p lending service (probability <25%)
While last year’s prediction was that there is the first bank experimenting with p2p lending (and there was), 2010 might see a bank (or other financial institution) buying a running p2p lending service.Buying will be much faster, cheaper and risk-less than if the bank tries to build a new service.
Did not happen. An interesting development was the decision of a Korean Savings Bank to act as a lender on MoneyAuction. Continue reading →

P2P Lending Year-End Review 2010

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As the end of 2010 approaches here is a selection of main peer-to-peer-lending news and developments covered by P2P-Banking.com:

(Photo by paul (dex))

Fairplace Faces Investigation by Federal Police

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Fairplace, the first p2p lending service in Brazil, faces an investigation by the Federal Police (Polícia Federal). Launched in April Fairplace so far facilitated 2.5 million BRL (approx. 1.5 million US$) loans. Apparently the Central Bank requested an investigation as early as August 10th, claiming that Fairplace violates laws that prohibit companies that are not financial institutions to operate in financial markets.

In December then the Federal Public Ministry of St. Paul (Ministério Público Federal) asked the Federal Police to open an investigation. According to press coverage penalties for the possible violations range up to four years imprisonment.

Separate investigations are undertaken by the Brazil Securities Commission (Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM)).

Founder Eldes Matiuzzo says his company does not provide loans but only offers a platform to match lenders and borrowers. He added that the company checked the legal situation before launching.

Nevertheless Fairplace suspended the auction of new loans on the site on Dec. 15th.

Gimmick – App for P2P Lenders

wiseclerk 1 Comment

I just saw the first iPhone App that is to support lenders in using p2p lending services. It aims to help them keeping up to date with the latest listings at Prosper, Lending Club and Kiva.

The features of this app are rather basic, but with the number of people lending at p2p services there could be a market for a sophisticated app that really helps lenders select loans while on the move.

Update: There are in fact two other free apps to browse Kiva loan listings.