Crowdnetic Debuts Marketplace Lending Gateway

New York, NY | September 28, 2015 NEW YORK, NY., September 28, 2015-- Crowdnetic, a leading provider of technology and market data solutions to the marketplace-lending industry, has unveiled "Marketplace Lending Gateway" ("Gateway"), a ground-breaking industry development and the newest addition to Crowdnetic's suite of marketplace-lending solutions.

Gateway seamlessly connects loan applicants to funding sources through a real-time matching and allocation engine designed to offer an array of options to borrowers and to increase loan volumes for marketplace-lending platforms and other loan originators.

For banks and other sources of loan referrals, Gateway provides an attractive referral alternative allowing them to connect customers to a broad range of third party loan products and to monetize loan turn-downs. Gateway is designed to support a number of loan sourcing channels including in-branch, online and email-originated loan applications.

As part of the initial rollout of Gateway, Crowdnetic has announced partnerships with a select group of top-tier marketplace-lending platforms and a network of several hundred local and community banks. Marketplace lending partners include Avant, CreditSuppliers, Funding Circle, Kabbage, Lending Club, Marlette Funding, OnDeck and Payoff.

"Lending Club is committed to becoming more useful to more people over time," said Lending Club founder and CEO Renaud Laplanche. "We're excited to work with Gateway to make responsible credit products available to more people."

"Building strong partnerships is a core part of our growth strategy, and we're always looking for innovative ways to extend transparent and affordable financing to even more small businesses. Through Gateway, banks and other partners can leverage our strong underwriting and customer-first approach to help clients they might otherwise leave unserved, and for us it's a great way to build originations and help a new set of businesses access the capital they need to grow," said Sam Hodges, co-founder and US managing director of Funding Circle.

Additionally, Gateway's anchor banking and referral partners include Metropolitan Bank and First Choice Loan Services Inc. NMLS #210764, a wholly owned subsidiary of First Choice Bank, Mercerville New Jersey. First Choice Loan Services Inc. operates 14 retail loan production offices and is the program partner for Mortgage Services for Costco members', LoanLogics (representing a vast network of community banks, credit unions and independent mortgage banks located throughout the US) and Affinity Partnerships.

"Metropolitan Capital intends to use Gateway to not only interface with its existing alternative finance lending partners, but also to gain access to new ones in additional sectors, collectively enabling us to offer clients a complete menu of options to accommodate any lending needs that are not best served by our own balance sheet. Clients benefit from being able to access greater borrowing options through a trusted source, and the bank benefits by not only adding value and strengthening our relationship with clients as a trusted advisor, but also generating additional incremental income while maintaining our credit focus and discipline." says Michael Rose, CEO of Metropolitan Capital.

Given the challenge of profitably sourcing and monitoring small business loans and the risks associated with consumer debt, traditional lenders have been hesitant to lend. As a result, consumers and small businesses continue to struggle to access credit. According to the FDIC, the total outstanding balance of small business loans ($1 million or less) held on bank balance sheets at the end of Q2 2015 ($599 billion) was down 15.8% from the peak of $711 billion in 2008.

According to a report published by Harvard Business School: "The reality is that transaction costs associated with underwriting small loans are high, as processing a $50,000 loan costs nearly as much as processing a $1 million loan, but with less profit... As a result, some banks significantly reduced or eliminated loans below a certain threshold, typically $100,000 or $250,000, as a way to limit time‐consuming applications from smaller and less sophisticated businesses."

Marketplace lenders have helped fill the lending void by employing sophisticated technology designed to automate many of the loan sourcing and underwriting processes. Through automation, marketplace lenders have reduced costs and the time required to obtain loans making loans more readily accessible.

As part of an emerging trend, a number of traditional banks have sought to participate in marketplace lending by partnering with marketplace lenders and other technology companies to both fund and refer loans into the marketplace lending model.

Gateway provides a single point of entry for a bank to access a broad array of marketplace lenders expanding the types of products that a bank can deliver to its customer base.

"The integration solution offered through Gateway is a wonderful mark of evolution in the mortgage industry and just makes sense. This partnership allows us at First Choice Loan Services Inc. to provide a higher level of service to our borrowers by providing a wider array of loan choices," said Norman T. Koenigsberg, President and CEO of First Choice Loan Services Inc. "The marketplace lending platform provides an opportunity for us to all win while never losing sight of what matters most which is the client."

By partnering with Gateway, banks will now be able to maintain stronger customer relationships by referring loans into Gateway instead of turning borrowers away. Gateway also accommodates bank branding preferences by offering a variety of white label solutions designed around specific partner branding strategies. Ultimately, Gateway offers banks a one-stop resource to integrate into this new area of alternative finance.

With the advent of Gateway, consumers and small businesses—whose loans may have been turned down initially for various reasons—may now receive competitive loan offers in a matter of minutes from multiple providers.

"There is a tremendous supply-demand imbalance between borrowers and lenders," says Luan Cox, CEO of Crowdnetic. "Institutional investors are seeking out these loans, which are often at rates below what traditional institutions offer. Therefore, Gateway provides the much-needed connection between those needing capital and those looking to invest, while helping banks provide another service to their clients."

To find out more about the space or to inquire about Gateway, please contact Crowdnetic at contactus@crowdnetic.com.

About Crowdnetic With offices in New York City and London, Crowdnetic Corporation is a leading provider of technology, infrastructure and market data solutions to the marketplace lending and crowdfunded-securities industries. Through its sophisticated technology solutions, in-depth research reports and industry-leading conferences, the company provides infrastructure and transparency for the global alternative-finance marketplace. Crowdnetic's data and technology solutions are used by asset managers, hedge funds, family offices, venture capitalists and investment banks. Crowdnetic owns and operates Lendvious.com, CrowdWatch.co, CrowdWatch.co.uk, CrowdneticWire.com and organizes leading industry events, such as Crowdfinance2015.com.