Supporting the Online Lending Market – 2018 Lend360 Conference (Chicago)

I attended my second LEND360 conference last week in Chicago and the energy and enthusiasm were pervasive and overpowering. I walked away with confirmation that FLOCK’s plan to begin serving this asset class/market is well-timed.

LEND360 focuses on the marketplace for online lenders which today has an addressable market size of over $1 trillion, from small personal installment loans to small business lending, according to industry analyst John Hecht, Managing Director with Jeffries, who presented at the conference. FinTech lending is clearly a space that is sizable today and shows further growth potential in the near future plus the primary constraint is capital, not market size or credit quality.

Macro-economic factors appear to be increasingly supportive of this segment of the lending industry as consumers are exhibiting a willingness to take on incremental debt.  At the same time, the regulatory climate has improved – lowering related risk and clearing the way for rapid expansion of these products. This combination of increasing consumer demand, a favorable economic and regularity landscape, and the desire of many lenders to grow, creates a very compelling opportunity for specialty finance companies.

The timing appears excellent for FLOCK’s entry into the FinTech/Online Lending market – there are clear signs of growth in this segment and strong indications that the subsequent demand for our portfolio financing will similarly rise.  We look forward to supporting smart debt buyers and sellers in this emerging market.