Issue #12 of Net Interest, my newsletter on financial sector themes. Welcome to 571 new subscribers who joined since last week, particularly those from the equity research community who gave me great feedback on last week’s note. Every Friday I go deep into a topic of interest in the sector and highlight a few other trending themes underneath. If you like what you are reading, please share and invite friends and colleagues to sign up. I appreciate it!

Online Lending: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

They were founded in an era of low rates and benign credit conditions. So for as long as they’ve been around, people have been waiting to see if online lenders can withstand the impact of an economic downturn. Now we have one, and the results are mixed.

• The Good. Newspapers report that Affirm, a US-based point-of-sale lender, is looking to IPO at a valuation of US$10 billion.

• The Bad. Monzo, a UK neobank, filed its annual report. It noted, “material uncertainties that cast significant doubt upon…