LendingRobot, a robo-advisor for alternative lending built for individual investors, launched a new "robo-fund" called the LendingRobot Series.
Designed as an alternative to traditional fixed income investments, the LendingRobot Series is a "unique combination" of a robo-advisor and an investment fund, according to the firm.
The LendingRobot Series combines cloud-based investment automation, fully transparent funds secured by blockchain technology and sophisticated machine learning algorithms to provide "superior, predictable returns" uncorrelated to stock market performance.
The robo-fund was created as one-stop solution for accredited investors looking for a way to easily invest in consumer, small-business or real-estate loans diversified across multiple "peer lending" origination platforms.
"All investors would be well served by diversifying into multiple marketplaces, but that process is tedious, complicated, and requires a high degree of domain expertise to accomplish correctly," Emmanuel Marot, CEO of LendingRobot, said in a statement. "That's why we've created LendingRobot Series: to provide investors that understand the value of investing in alternative lending with the confidence that comes from intelligent automation, easy liquidity and complete transparency."
The LendingRobot is flexible with regards to loan selection and is 100% transparent. Investors decide what kind of risk and time horizon they want, and LendingRobot automatically manages their investments.
The LendingRobot Series charges 1% of assets under management and caps fund expenses at 0.59%.
Based in Seattle, LendingRobot, which is an automated investment service for alternative lending platforms including Lending Club, Prosper and Funding Circle, serves 6,500 clients totaling over $120 million in assets.
AdvisorShares Global Echo Cuts Fees
AdvisorShares announced that the AdvisorShares Global Echo ETF (NYSE Arca: GIVE) will lower its total net expense ratio to 0.99%, capping shareholder costs from exceeding that amount.
The reduction includes decreasing the fund's management fee to 0.80%. As the actively managed GIVE increases its assets under management and becomes more operationally efficient, the total expense ratio would align with the 0.80% management fee.