Credit News in Brief - February 2019
- PLAYERS’ STRATEGIES – Agos Buys Out Banco BPM Subsidiary
Agos –Joint Venture by Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance and Banco BPM– buys out ProFamily.
Transaction amount: €310M
ProFamily outstanding loan (Q3 2018): €13.8Bn
Goals: Strengthen Agos presence on the Italian consumer lending market, enable them to feature loans through a network of 2,300 Banco BPM branches. Read more
- CREDIT CARDS – The US FinTech LendUp Externalises their Credit Card Business
LendUp announces an investment from LL Funds LLC and Invus Opportunities.
Goal: Externalise their credit card business, set this activity aide based on a dedicated entity called Mission Lane.
LendUp, for their part, will be focusing on personal loans, financial education and savings activities. This start-up aims for subprime customers, or roughly 140 million Americans with credit score under 680. They feature 2 credit cards: Arrow Card and L Card. Read more
- CREDIT CARDS – Jaja Finance to Launch a Credit Card
After an announcement back in September 2018, Jaja just closed a crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs. With help from investors including Celeres Investments, they raised £5M.
This amount enabled them to start producing and beta testing their first credit card issued in partnership with Visa. Jaja’s mobile-first approach directly challenges Tandem Bank's card offer, which also comes with a companion mobile app for monitoring transactions. Read more
- PERSONAL LOAN – Orange Bank Credit Offer Aims for Orange Customers
Earlier this year, the French neo-bank said they intended to let Orange customers apply for personal loans, enabling them to pay for mobile devices. This expansion should be effective as of H2 2019.
Key-Figures:
- 250,000 new customers in 2018
- 30 to 40% active customers
- Outstanding loan in 2018: €45.5M + €364M for Désirio car loans (sold by Groupama)
- PAYMENT FACILITIES – Ola Expanding their Pay Later Option
In 2018, the Indian ridesharing company started testing a feature called Ola Money Postpaid. This option lets passengers pay later for their rides, within 15 days.
Ola announces that this payment can now be settled 30 days after the ride and will also address other expenses (food, energy bills, leisure activities, etc.). This service will also apply to their entire customer base (150M Ola customers).
Key-Figures:
- 10% of their customers rely on Ola Money Postpaid (nearly 15M people)
- This feature shows encouraging progress in use rates: +30%/month (in number of users)
- REX – RCI Bank Achieves Strong Results in Ireland
Key-Figures:
- Over €1Bn in production since their subsidiary was launched in 2011
- 65,000 financing files
- Steady growth on the market for used cars (+30% application files in 2018)
- INSTALMENTS – Aigle Azur Opts for Banque Casino
The French airline Aigle Azur teams up with Banque Casino. This agreement will enable Internet users to rely on CB3X and CB4X instalment options (splitting their card transactions in 3 or 4 instalments) when paying for flight tickets.
Terms of this offer:
- Cart amount: between €100 and €4,000
- CB3X: 3 instalments over 2 months; applied rate 1.59%
- CB4X: 4 instalments over 3 months; applied rate 2.40%
- OPEN BANKING – Unicaja Banco Joins Fintonic
Just like BBVA before them, the Spanish bank Unicaja Banco will be featuring consumer lending offers on Fintonic marketplace. This is the first time this institution chooses to partner with a FinTech, and their first steps towards relying on a Banking-as-a-Platform model.
Fintonic Key-Figures:
- 500,000 users in Spain
- 15,000 loan applications recorded,
- Outstanding loan: €60M
- OPEN BANKING – Unicaja Banco Joins Fintonic
Just like BBVA before them, the Spanish bank Unicaja Banco will be featuring consumer lending offers on Fintonic marketplace. This is the first time this institution chooses to partner with a FinTech, and their first steps towards relying on a Banking-as-a-Platform model.
Fintonic Key-Figures:
- 500,000 users in Spain
- 15,000 loan applications recorded,
- Outstanding loan: €60M