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Opportunities and Challenges in Online Marketplace Lending U.S. Treasury Report

On Tuesday, May 10, 2016 the United States Treasury Department published a white paper entitled “Opportunities and Challenges in Online Marketplace Lending.”

“There is a clear need for greater transparency in the market for borrowers and investors,” Treasury Counselor Antonio Weiss said Tuesday in a call with reporters. He said Treasury recommends that regulators form a group to examine oversight needs for the industry and figure out “where further regulatory clarity could benefit the market.”

This report and call to action comes on the heels of the resignation of Renaud LaPlanche, the founder and now former Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Lending Club, the largest global marketplace lender.  An internal review found a failure to disclose a personal interest in an investment fund the company was considering investing in. The review also found that he was among managers who had knowledge of abuses that were tied to the sale of some loans.

It has become clearer that marketplace lenders need to be more transparent about their business practices and some should be subject to additional oversight from U.S. regulators, according to a Treasury Department study released as the industry grapples with market turmoil and a scandal involving one of its leading firms.

The Treasury department said today in the released white paper/ report (attached) that companies in the burgeoning industry need to develop a public database for tracking data on their loans, and firms that lend to small businesses in particular should be subject to more federal consumer protection laws.

Treasury sought public comment on the marketplace lending industry to help government officials better understand the different business models and products being offered in July 2015.  Treasury outlined six recommendations, including calling for online lenders to improve how transparent their products are to borrowers as well as investors and the need for them to employ consistent standards and disclosures.

You can read the full report here.

FINRA Extends Review Period of Proposed Funding Portal Rules

As of December 9, 2015, FINRA extended the review period for its proposed funding portal rules to January 26, 2016. The new rules were promulgated pursuant to the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act 2012 (JOBS Act) which “prohibits funding portals from a variety of activities, including offering investment advice or recommendations, soliciting transactions for securities displayed on their websites, compensating employees for securities solicitations, and holding investor funds or securities.” The proposed rules under review are (i) funding portal rules 100, 110, 200, 300, 800, 900 and 1200; (ii) related forms; and (iii) FINRA Rule 4518 (“Notification to FINRA in Connection with the JOBS Act”).

See: FINRA’s Extension of SEC Review Period.

Title III of the JOBS Act vote is scheduled

October 28, 2015, posted by Kim Wales

Three years after the Securities and Exchange Commission released proposed rules for Title III, Regulation Crowdfunding, news was released yesterday that the Commission will take a vote on whether or not to release the final rules for Title III on Friday, October 30, 2015.

Given the challenges with the 653 pages of proposed final rules, I am hopeful that commission took into account the 300+ recommendation letters, numerous meetings and sideline protest that would amend the final rules into a usable form.

There were many changes requested but the top 3 included:

  1. Increasing the maximum raise from $1 million to $5 million during a 12 month period.
  2. Raise the cap from $500k to $750k before requiring the issuer to provide audited financial statements and to remove the yearly mandate.
  3. Remove the Liability on funding platforms, see page 280.

The meeting at the SEC is open to the public. It is scheduled to take pace at 10:00 AM in the Auditorium Room (L-002). The proceedings are expected to be live-streamed on the SEC web site.

The SEC outlined the meeting:

  1. The Commission will consider whether to adopt rules and forms related to the offer and sale of securities through crowdfunding under Section 4(a)(6) of the Securities Act of 1933, as mandated by Title III of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act.
  2. The Commission will consider whether to propose amendments to Securities Act Rule 147 and Rule 504.

 

The SEC Adopts JOBS Act Title IV: Regulation A+

By: Kim Wales (NY) — 03/25/2015

Today marks another milestone in the life cycle of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) — Regulation A+ is approved. With the three-year anniversary only two weeks away and after many recommendations submitted by myself and fellow colleagues, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously on the adoption of Title IV: Regulation A+ for small securities offerings.  This is a big step towards furthering the democratization of the capital markets for emerging growth companies.

“These new rules provide an effective, workable path to raising capital that also provides strong investor protections,” said SEC Chair Mary Jo White. “It is important for the Commission to continue to look for ways that our rules can facilitate capital-raising by smaller companies.”

Tier 1 offerings will be subject to federal and state registration and qualification requirements, and issuers may take advantage of the coordinated review program developed by the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA).

The rules will be effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

Here are some highlights for the adoption of Regulation A+. Both Tiers are subject to certain basic requirements while Tier 2 offerings are also subject to additional disclosure and ongoing reporting requirements.

1. State Blue Sky preemption and qualification requirements for securities offered or sold to “qualified purchasers” in Tier 2 offerings.

2.  Tier 1 issuers can raise up to $20m rather than the limited $5m maximum in a 12-month period, with not more than $6 million in offers by selling security-holders that are affiliates of the issuer.  The coordinated review process by NASAA will only be used for tier 1 offers.

3.  Tier 2 offers and issuers can raise up to $50m in a 12-month period, with not more than $15 million in offers by selling security-holders that are affiliates of the issuer.

3. Regulation A+ offerings are exempt from the mandatory 12(g) registration thresholds – so long as the issuer engages services of a registered transfer agent, remains subject to and current in a tier 2 reporting obligation and meets public float and revenue requirements similar to those in small reporting companies and exchange act rules.  The details of the reporting rules should be included in the final rules.

4. The JOBS Act mandates the Commission to review Tier 2 limits every two years.

5. Issuers raising capital using Regulation A+ may submit draft offers to the SEC staff, use electronic filing process on EDGAR, ability to use test the waters solicitation materials both before and after the filing of the application process.

6. Additional Tier 2 Requirements:

– Financial statements included in the circular will be audited annually.

– Semi and annual outgoing reports and current event updates that are scaled to Regulation A offerings.

– Limit the number of securities, non-accredited investors can purchase, up to 10% of the greater of annual income of net worth natural person; and

– Limit the purchase of 10% of the greater of annual revenue or net assets of unnatural persons.

– Issuers will use Form 8a — short form registration statement concurrently with a qualification Regulation A offering statement to register securities class 12(b) or 12(g) of the total package of investor protections to be included in the implementation of Reg A offer.

“Moving Title IV forward is a positive step in stimulating the economy, however, start-ups will still find it challenging to raise money using Reg. A because the cost and process  remains burdensome for this stage of company, says Kim Wales, founder of Wales Capital.” As an advocate for the JOBS Act and policy reform, “we still need to get the rules released for Title III and raise the limits up to $5 million and exclude investment limits for accredited investors” as prescribed in my recommendation letter “Limitation of Capital Raised,” February 23, 2014. “This is the part of the JOBS Act that will help all people.”

A New Bitcoin Exchange and Crowdfunding 2.0

By: Kim Wales (NY) — 01/23/2015

Over the past few weeks Bitcoin value has taken beating and in the past 12 months we’ve been hearing a lot about how Bitcoin’s underlying technology is going to decentralize the central banks monetary system, but also notary services, DNS, authentication, intellectual property ownership and data storage. And with all of the optimism surrounding Bitcoin, Europe’s leading Bitcoin exchange, Bitstamp, was forced to suspend operations, after losing millions of dollars worth of virtual currency due to a breach in its systems in early January 2015.

In a strong and bold move by, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss believe they have the answer a “fully regulated” Bitcoin exchange based in the United States. It is intended to break through as the frictionless payment method many believe it can be. However, in order to stabilize the value of Bitcoin and get more of the naysayers onboard, Bitcoin must evolve into “an ecosystem that is free of hacking, fraud and security breaches,” wrote Cameron Winklevoss in a blog post announcing the Gemini exchange.

While most of the products and services that were supposed to emerge on top of the bitcoin protocol have yet to see light, there’s actually one application of the bitcoin protocol that has been developed by several bitcoin 2.0 startups: decentralized crowdfunding.

Bitcoin is already driving the early stages of frictionless capitalism. A startup company, BitPesa, has launched a Bitcoin remittances company that intergrates with Kenya’s mobile money system M-Pesa. The pilot involves 15 diaspora originally from Kenya but who lives in London. These individuals regularly send money back to their home countries via traditional remittance mechanism. For the pilot program, the participants will only be able to use the BitPesa platform. This could prove a win for all in reducing transaction fees and placing more money in the pockets of local community people. This could spur business creation, job creation and ultimately decreasing the wealth inequality gap.

“A growing number of US investors, traders, financial institutions and businesses wanted to get involved with bitcoin directly, but had no options other than to trade overseas or sit on the sidelines.” An extended entry “GEMINI SAYS IT’LL HAVE TOP-NOTCH SECURITY AND FDIC INSURANCE!”

Gemini is set to standardize the way in which Bitcoin is traded for buyers and sellers bridging the gap that currently exist in the marketplace while expanding what some platforms powered by blockchain technology remove the need for trusted third party.

The evolution of the crowdfunding has merged with Bitcoin, allowing startups to raise funds by creating their own digital currencies and selling “cryptographic shares” to early backers. This means that investors in crowdfunding campaigns get tokens that represent shares of the startup they support and can actually benefit from the token value appreciation.

In part, revolutionizing the way companies can raise money while at the same time adding a return on the investors holding in Bitcoin is what I find attractive in the model, once implemented properly. The bitcoin community has coined the term “Bitcoin-powered crowdfunding” as real crowdfunding. Enthusiasm around these projects is also tied to the fact that these platforms would be a real source of investment for other types of blockchain-powered applications and would help with the funding of Bitcoin infrastructure.

Platforms like Swarm, Koinify and Lighthouse are three decentralized crowdfunding platforms that have generated a buzz in the Bitcoin community.

As soon as the exchange gains regulatory approval from Benjamin M. Lawsky, the superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services, Gemini will proceed forward. A test model of the exchange is already up and running, according to the Times.

It is too early to know Bitcoin’s fate since it is not clear whether a central bank or other regulatory entity will govern it; that final decision may ultimately rule in its success or demise. However, even with uncertainty, venture capitalist are swooning the market and the adoption rate of Bitcoin continues to increase by a number of well-known retailers, including Overstock, Expedia and Dell.  Each started accepting Bitcoin for domestic sales through their websites over the past few months.

One thing is for sure, the capital market is being reformed and this in turn will influence how capital formation will be achieved in the coming years.

RBS fosters economic growth with P2P Lending Partnerships

By: Kim Wales (NY) — 01/23/2015

As we eagerly await the Securities and Exchange Commission to release the final rules for Titles III and IV of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) in the United States that will open the gateway to equity and debt based crowd finance for start up and emerging growth companies.

A continued push to restore confidence, foster transparency and get money into the hands of the most needing enterprises is apparent in the United Kingdom with the Royal Bank of Scotland’s move to partner with online lending marketplaces, Funding Circle and Assetz Capital. On heels of Santander Bank implementing a similar strategy in 2014, these partnerships show an emergence of acceptance that bridges traditional finance with digital debt crowd finance, which is an enticing mechanism to financing small medium enterprises.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, said “It is great to see companies like Funding Circle forging a new partnership with RBS to ensure that small British companies have the best access to funding”.

Peer – to – Peer (P2P) has expanded rapidly after the financial crisis of 2008 as banks scaled back lending – leaving many smaller businesses without any access to finance.

Starting early February, RBS, the state-backed bank partnership with Funding Circle and Assetz Capital will enable it to refer some smaller businesses that it is unable to finance on to the P2P platforms. RBS said its aim is to “expand choice” for customers with loan applications that do not meet the bank’s criteria, by sign-posting them towards the P2P lenders, as well as other alternative sources of finance.

Working hand and glove with RBS, P2P platforms Funding Circle and Assetz Capital will extend bank clients located in Scotland and southwest of England that have been turned down for loans by the bank a new and nimble way to obtain debt financing for their businesses. Clients must indicate on their loan application that their information can be shared with an external third party in order for the bank to bridge the gap in helping the client obtain the financial resources. RBS is expecting to work with up to five such platforms in the coming months.

This new P2P partnerships, which do not involve fees being paid to the bank, follow plans from George Osborne, chancellor, to force banks that reject loan applications from small companies to refer them on to alternative sources of funding. The RBS referral scheme, which plans to expand nationally over the next three months, comes ahead of government plans to make referrals compulsory due to criticism that Britain’s largest banks are failing to provide sufficient credit to the sector. “A key part of our long-term economic plan is to ensure that British businesses are able to access the finance they need to grow and succeed,” said Osborne.

Kudos to the Chancellor, RBS and Santander Bank fostering the economic recovery needed during the most trying periods in history for some generations. The ecosystem to support a capital market that is multi-layered will need to be able to support competing and related interests globally as related to technology, banking facilities, communication, and distribution channels.

It is my belief that the markets that succeed in balancing public and private interests are the markets that will go the furthest in facilitating capital formation through shifting traditional paradigms. Efficient markets need to improve the allocation of capital and enhance long-term economic growth.

India’s SEBI considers Crowdfunding

By: Kim Wales (NY) — 01/19/2015

India’s SEBI considers crowdfunding as an alternative to helping young budding businesses find funding. There are thirty-eight countries leading the advancement of policy reform to tackle the economic challenges in their homelands through initiatives like crowdfunding. The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 motivated many nations to revisit their securities laws that involves entrepreneurs and small groups of people raising funds for their ventures through various online platforms involving individuals as well as organizations.

In countries like India, the regulatory commission SEBI is evolving guidelines in consultation with government for funding arrangements for start up and emerging growth companies.

At a seminar held by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, SEBI whole-time member Rajeev Agarwal said on Wednesday, “while it is still in a nascent stage in India, compared to large markets like the US, China and the UK, crowd funding is catching up fast especially in the wake of emergence of social media as a key platform for such activities.”

The market regulator had, in July last year, come out with a draft framework on crowdfunding. Under the proposed framework, the issuer entities and their promoters and directors would need to meet ‘fit and proper’ criteria of SEBI, while they can not use multiple platforms to raise such funds within a year, among other provisions that may prove beneficial to economy.

According to SEBI, there is a need for funding for SME through alternative sources as 2008 global financial crisis made it difficult for banks to lend money to the ventures or start-ups, which may have high risk element.

However, SEBI said there is possibility of systemic risk associated with crowd-funding as well as chances that investors could be defrauded.

SEBI whole time member on Wednesday noted that the finance minister made allocation to the extend of Rs 10,000 crores to extend funding facilities for SMEs and other splinter groups in the budget for 2014-15 “which has yet to be utilised for the desired purpose”.

“The government and SEBI are making guidelines for the utilization of this fund, especially for start up entrepreneurs,” Agarwal said.

He also assured that SEBI would continue to protect the retail investors and promote trading in SMEs on the exchanges within the existing guidelines but expressed inabilities of the regulator to broad-base policy measures in this regard.

However, Agarwal said that while the crowdfunding issues has been discussed by the international board of SEBI in detail, India may have to wait longer to bring in guidelines on the same.

“The subject has not even been debated in great details in advance economy such as US and Europe and that India should wait for some time before contemplating regulations and directives on the matter,” Agarwal said.

SEBI

SEBI Consultation Paper

 

JOBS Act: SEC Proposes Revising Section 12(g) for Titles V and VI

By: Kim Wales (NY) — 12/18/2014

The Securities and Exchange Commission released proposed rules that would implement Title V and VI of the Jumpstart Our Business Startup Act. The Commission proposes amendments that would revise the rules adopted under Section 12(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) to reflect the new, higher thresholds for registration, termination of registration and suspension of reporting that were set forth in the JOBS Act. The proposed rules would also apply the thresholds specified for banks and bank holding companies.

What’s next: Public Comment Period (comments should be received on or before February 18, 2015).

Read the full proposal here:

SEC 12g

 

 

 

 

SEC 33rd Small Business Forum on Capital Formation Recap

By: Kim Wales, 11/26/2014 —

The 2014 Securities and Exchange Commission Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation ensued on November 20, 2014 at the SEC headquarters in Washington, D.C.

In usual form, since the signing of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act), the crowd (attorney’s, issuers, intermediaries, regulators, investors, service providers and) scurry to wait with baited breathe to hear the status of the pending rules for Titles III (Crowdfunding) and Title IV (Regulation A+). Remaining true to form the Commission did not provide any dates on when the final rules will go live for either.

The Forum is known to advance some recommendations in the past that has influenced the health of the capital markets; though it seems like no movement has been made on the recommendations that came from the 2013 Forum, specifically focusing on Title III, as I was a panelist presenting on for the “Panel Discussion: Crystal Ball: Now that you raised money, what’s next for the company and the markets?” Waiting patiently over the webcast or in person we were sure that the Thirty-Third forum would not disappoint.

What resonated from each Commissioner and more specifically from Commissioner Gallagher in his introduction was hope that day’s discussion would “embrace the full scope of the public and the private markets in small business securities which encompasses a fully robust capital market ecosystem for small businesses which requires both.”

Further, he continued –“There is a need for continued innovation in secondary trading in the private marketplace. If additional guidance from the SEC—for example, with respect to a private resale exemption—would help the market to develop further, we should move forward on that now.”

3 Key Points from the Commissioner’s Opening Remarks

READ MORE HERE

Article Revised 11/27/2014

JOBS Act (Title II): Bill Gross to Manage $500M Alerts Investors using Social Media

By: Kim Wales, 11/24/2014 —

While Wall Street continues to be a little apprehensive about adopting social media into their day-to-day operations, money manager Bill Gross who describes himself as a philosophical nomad disguised in Western clothing, a wondering drifter, masquerading in a suit near a California beach in his latest investment report released on November 3, 2014. Gross proves his prowess by taking to social media site Twitter to announce to the world his next big opportunity and outpacing some of compatriots in the world of social information to gain an advantage.

Following the announcement, Gross said on Twitter, through Janus’ official account, that he was “honored” to be managing the new account for Soros.

Bill Gross will manage $500 million for George Soros' at Janus Capital

Bill Gross will manage $500 million for George Soros’ at Janus Capital

Social information is slowing influencing Wall Street investment decisions as we witness events that continue to move markets since the signing of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act), and the ‘go-live’ of Title II, general solicitation and advertising that went live on September 23, 2013.

Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix was the first that took to the social media site Facebook highlighting the opportunity embedded social information for investors.  Hasting’s actions highlighted the uncertainty surrounding that the application of Regulation of Fair Disclosure to social media. The Regulation stated that information must be published in a manner “reasonably designed to provide broad, non exclusionary distribution of the information to the public.” And Hastings believed that the 245,386 subscribers to his Facebook page were sufficiently broad under the current guidelines.

Proving that capital markets are democratizing,  Hastings’ Facebook post led to the SEC decision to accept the use of social media as a way for companies to communicate material, non-public information both recognized and reinforced the importance of social media as a source of information on Wall Street ad Main Street.

SEC Says Social Media OK for Company Announcements if Investors Are Alerted

As reported by Bloomberg’s Mary Childs and Katherine Burton, “Janus is seeking to raise its profile and rebuild a brand damaged by missteps and departures of money managers. The firm, which had $174 billion under management as of Sept. 30, attracted more than $1 billion of estimated net subscriptions to two bond mutual funds in October after the Sept. 26 hiring of 70-year-old Gross, who co-founded Pacific Investment Management Co. in 1971.”

Despite the slow adoption to social networks by Wall Street these are clear signs that a ‘change in sea’ is underway and Gross’ perch over the California shores is giving him a clear view on how to navigate online and off.