Lending Club Set to Debut, and Industry Is Watching

NY TIMES ^ | 12/10/14 | MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED

[SoFloFreeper]

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Lending Club Set to Debut, and Industry Is Watching By MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED DECEMBER 10, 2014 When Lending Club makes its debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, it will carry the hopes of an entire industry.

The company, whose online marketplace matches people who are seeking loans with investors willing to provide them, emboldened its peers late Wednesday when it raised about $870 million in its initial public offering, surpassing expectations. Lending Club’s offering — which values the company at $5.4 billion — will set a template for potentially dozens of others that hope to join the public markets, carving out a new niche for so-called peer-to-peer lending alongside the traditional banks such companies have hoped to partly displace. One rival, OnDeck Capital, is scheduled to go public within days.

“It’s a huge moment for marketplace lending and alternative lending,” said Aaron Vermut, the chief executive of Prosper, a Lending Club rival. “It’s a big coming-out party for what we do.”

[SoFloFreeper]

Interesting idea that has been around for a while...but now it is going public.

I wonder if they can avoid Dodd-Frank regulations since they aren't banks.

[freedumb2003]

>>I wonder if they can avoid Dodd-Frank regulations since they aren’t banks.
<<

Probably by not being gay...

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

Rule #1 of “The Lending Club”: Never talk about “The Lending Club”.

Rule #2 of “The Lending Club”: See rule #1.