Wells Fargo seeks to disrupt P2P lending sector
Wells Fargo aims to compete with online lenders with its FastFlex loans for small businesses. The platform gives customers fast access to one-year loans of $10k to $35k with funds available as soon as the next business day. The news comes after a series of troubling developments for online lenders and a day after the largest player in the sector, Lending Club, saw its founder and CEO depart after loan irregularities came to light and called into question the sectors business model.

Renaud Laplanche and his crew steered a 105-foot racing boat through New York Harbor one day last spring, its towering sails ripping across the water at 30 knots.

An accomplished sailor and founder of Lending Club, Mr. Laplanche was hosting executives from hedge funds, Goldman Sachs and other banks — part of his effort to win over Wall Street on his plans to upend traditional banking with a faster, more democratic form of lending.

He already had endorsements from Lawrence H. Summers, the former Treasury secretary, and John Mack, the former chief of Morgan Stanley, who joined his board. At Lending Club’s initial public offering in December 2014, the company was valued at over $8 billion.

But on Monday, Lending Club announced that Mr. Laplanche had resigned after an internal investigation found improprieties in its lending process, including the altering of millions of dollars’ worth of loans. The company’s stock price, already reeling in recent months, fell 34 percent.