Banks are Running Scared – Wells Fargo Bans Staff from P2P Loans

It’s extremely amusing to observe the welfare baby, bailout dependent, “Too Big to Jail,” parasitic legacy banking system squirm in the face of advancements in peer-to-peer financial technologies; whether they be Bitcoin, P2P lending or crowdfunding. It is becoming increasingly clear that humanity would do much better without this gigantic cancerous tumor on our backs, and we finally have the tools to move on. 

In fact, the largest bank in the U.S. is so concerned about peer-to-peer lending, it has banned its staff from participating.

We find out from CNBC that:

Wells Fargo has banned its employees from lending their own money through peer-to-peer loan platforms, in a sign of growing tensions between new “P2P” lenders and the largest U.S. bank by market value.

“Ethics administrators” at Wells Fargo decided to forbid staff from P2P lending after concluding “that for-profit peer-to-peer lending is a competitive activity that poses a conflict of interest.”

Lending Club, the biggest P2P lender in the US, says it has provided $3.35bn worth of loans since starting the business almost seven years ago. Prosper, the second-biggest P2P lender in the country, says it has made $690 million worth of loans.

Lending Club has appointed three high-profile board members from Wall Street, including John Mack, the former Morgan Stanley chief executive, Mary Meeker, the internet analyst, and Lawrence Summers, the former US Treasury secretary.

While disappointing, it’s no surprise that former bankers are jumping on board. They see the writing on the wall.

Full article here.

In Liberty,
Michael Krieger

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4 thoughts on “Banks are Running Scared – Wells Fargo Bans Staff from P2P Loans”

  1. By extension of this ‘logic’ , Wells- Fargo implies it is it’s employees ‘Master’. If it forbids P2P as ‘competitive’ it may also forbid other investing, in ANY financial company for the same reason. An employee would be forbidden from buying BofA stock (I know…why would they buy that?), he could be forbidden from opening a credit union account, as a member, an individual is essentially part owner in the union, and as such he is in ‘competition’ with WF. He could be forbidden from having a CHASE VISA card…the list could go on…ALL extensions of their logic.

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  2. The fact is that crowdlending and crowdfunding are becoming more and more prominent in the American economy, just as they have been in Europe for some time now. Prosper and Lending Club are doing better than ever and loads of new entrants into the trillion dollar “alternative finance” market are being seen. For example, http://www.fund364.com is now in business specializing in crowdlending for small business loans at low rates. What used to be alternative financing is so disruptive that it is replacing the norm and becoming mainstream. Traditional banks, with their hefty overhead costs, just can’t compete in that their borrowing terms are stricter and their lender returns are lower than what these online platforms can provide. It’s a brave new world in finance, and it looks like the changes are here to stay!

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