FICO taps into a new niche

Article Excerpt

FAIR ISAAC CORP. $45.03 (New York symbol FICO; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (415-472-2211; www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 35.5 million; Market cap: $1.6 billion; Dividend yield: 0.2%) will now provide credit analysis software to Yooli.com, a popular Chinese crowdfunding website. Crowdfunding is a relatively new way for small or start-up businesses to secure debt or equity financing over the Internet, by attracting small commitments from hundreds of individual investors, without the need for costly and time-consuming securities registrations and intermediaries like brokers. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). is still determining the rules for crowdfunding in the U.S. because of the risk of fraud and manipulation. It is likely to issue final guidelines sometime this year. Crowdfunding is already underway in various ways and places around the world. At Yooli.com, individuals and small businesses can post loan applications, and site users decide if they want to fund the loan. So far, crowdfunding provides a tiny opportunity for Fair Isaac in China. But…