Disruptors

A new path forward for digital banks and their customers.

Prosper hopes to do for lines of credit what it did for unsecured personal loans, while BBVA hopes to provide a better experience for customers.

Kristy Kim was an immigrant success story with a degree from Berkeley and a lucrative job — except her lack of credit history precluded her from getting a car loan. She started TomoCredit to help the many young folks who struggle to qualify for a credit card.

Figure, the startup headed by Mike Cagney, uses blockchain technology to provide home equity loans in as little as five days. It intends to use the newly raised funds to offer other services, including wealth management.

Nap pods and beanbag chairs are nice, but what employees really care about are personal respect and generous compensation. Oh, and it helps to be dog-friendly.

Online personal lending pioneer Prosper is developing a home equity line of credit product that it will offer in partnership with banks. The embrace of traditional depositories marks a departure from fintech lenders that typically seek to disrupt and displace legacy institutions.

Startups that have developed the technology for real estate finance are starting to conduct a broader array of transactions, including property sales.

With online retailers beginning to challenge the dominance of brick-and-mortar grocery stores, CRE loans to strip mails anchored by them look riskier.