As P2PLendingNews reports, the latest amendment of Loanio’s SEC S-1 filing reveals that Loanio has licensed their source code for 375,000 US$ to an unnamed company.
100,000 US$ have been payed upon signing. For more details read the full article here.
Loanio has filed a S-1 registration with the SEC. P2P lending service Loanio had been briefly active in October and November last year before voluntarily closing to new users in order to seek SEC registration approval.
In the new SEC filing Loanio wants approval for offering 50 million US$ in notes based on peer to peer loans via their website Loanio.com. The filing includes the outlook for a secondary market (loan trading platform via a broker) and the plan that Loanio might partner with a “national financial institution”. Should that be achieved, borrower loans could be originated through this lending institution and then sold and assigned to Loanio. This would allow Loanio to offer loans to borrowers in more than the 22 states it has individual state lending licenses for now, and would eliminate (some) state interest caps.
The filing also gives insights into the company structure and expenses since foundation. Founder Michael Solomon hold 97% of the company shares.
Under the requirement to file with the SEC, starting a peer-to-peer lending company in the US market takes an unusual long pre-launch phase compared to other internet based business models.
Lending Club already completed the SEC approval process, while IOU Central and Prosper currently undergo this process. Pertuity Direct operates under a p2p lending model with a different setup.
Asked to comment on the recent developments, Loanio CEO Michael Solomon told P2P-Banking.com:
In light of recent events beyond our control, Loanio, Inc. has suspended its business so that we may begin the process of registering our promissory notes with the appropriate securities authorities and agencies. As a direct result, please be advised that effective immediately Loanio will no longer be accepting registration from lenders or borrowers and/or any new bids on loans or loan requests until further notice.
This message will be posted on the Loanio platform today.
Asked by Netbanker whether Loanio.com will face an SEC filing process and a quiet period like Prosper and Lending Club, Loanio CEO Michael Solomon answered:
“…from the perspective of (Prosper) going silent, it is actually great for us as I think we will quickly gain lots of lenders and hopefully we can wow them into sticking around. From a regulatory standpoint, we believe that at some point we will seek to introduce a secondary market platform, but we will focus the greater part of the next 12 month on building our platform and seeking out a national bank partner to cover the rest of the U.S. Our plans for a secondary market are too far ahead for me to contemplate at this time.”
If you sign up at Loanio.com as a new lender using this link, the peer to peer lending service Loanio will credit you $25. This promotion may be time-limited, so sign-up now, even if you want to start lending later.
Last week I titled ‘Loanio Launch‘. That was a little premature (I was not the only one fooled by the site apparently going live – see Tom’s blog). Well today Loanio.com is really live. And there are 5 listings at the moment (see screenshot). For a list of features see the previous loanio coverage.
Netbanker has a list of states (with max. interest rates), open to Loanio borrowers. You are welcome to discuss your thoughts on Loanio in Wiseclerk’s Loanio Forum.