Alt lending

• Zopa (F08) lowers lending rates.

• On Deck Capital (F12), Kabbage (F15), and CAN Capital (F13) agree to disclose SMB loan pricing.

• Lending Club (F09) partners with MileagePlus to offer borrowers and investors a way to earn award miles when they borrow or invest.

• American Banker: Bizfi (F15) Hires Former Lending Club Exec as New CEO.

Fintech in Asia

• Let’s Talk Payments projects AsiaPac as a clear winner in revenue growth in its fintech outlook for 2017.

• Invest HK launches Hong Kong Fintech Week 7-11 Nov 2016 and features FinovateAsia 2016 on Tuesday, 8 Nov.

• HSBC collaborates with Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company to launch fintech R&D lab.

• Ant Financial, which acquired Finovate Best of Show winner EyeVerify (F16) this year, invests in Thai mobile money innovator, Ascend. See EyeVerify at FinovateAsia this week in Hong Kong.

• Shanghai-based China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) joins R3 consortium.

• SBI Ripple Asia and Japan-based SBI Holdings introduce blockchain-oriented consortium of 42 Japanese banks and financial services institutions.

• Fintech investment firm Senjo Group opens new global headquarters in Singapore.

• Malaysia to expand funding options for SMEs with registration of xis’s new P2P platform operators scheduled to go live in 2017.