UK

Relendex launches its Innovative Finance ISA

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P2P lending platform Relendex today launches its Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA). Relendex is fully-authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).  The UK Government introduced the IFISA in April 2016 and was created to sit alongside existing Cash, Stocks & Shares and Lifetime ISA products.

The Relendex ISA will work in a similar way to its regular accounts.  Lenders will decide which loans to invest in and can build their own diversified portfolio of loans. Through this IFISA, lenders will enjoy tax-free returns on loans secured against UK property.

The Relendex IFISA product has been added to the P2P-Banking ISIFA comparison database today.

Michael Lynn, founder and CEO of Relendex explains why the Relendex IFISA is a viable alternative to other ISA products on the market: “Many people have built up a significant nest-egg in their tax-free ISA but in the low-interest environment Cash ISAs are only earning around 0.5% pa and Stocks & Share ISAs are potentially quite volatile and therefore investors’ capital is at risk.  A secured lending P2P ISA is the best of both worlds.  The yield is good at between 6 and 10% pa, tax-free and there is considerable capital protection in the form of security over independently-valued UK property assets.  Of course property values can fall, but since our average Loan-to-Value is around 60%, the property concerned would need to fall 40% on average before any loss would result.

So if ISA investors are thinking of using this year’s Annual ISA Allowance or transferring existing ISA funds to a Relendex IFISA Account, they can build a diversified portfolio of good quality loans and achieve a good yield.  They can also reinvest the gross interest, to achieve compound growth and build their capital.”

The Relendex ISA is a non-flexible ISA. This means that all new subscriptions made during a tax year will count towards your subscription limit for such tax Year and cannot be replaced. Michael Lynn, explains:

“Our lenders see us as a longer term investment, although we do provide a secondary market if they decide to sell on early.  A non-flexible ISA recognises this longer-term demand and allows us to offer the ISA without any fees. Also, ISA holders are responsible for adhering to the HMRC annual ISA Allowance, so we track their subscriptions so they don’t inadvertently exceed their annual allowance with us.”

While there is an annual limit for new ISA subscriptions of £20,000 (for 2017-18 tax year), there is no maximum statutory limit to the amount that exitsing ISA money can be transferred across to a Relendex IFISA account (although we set a £10,000 minimum transfer value).  Transferring ISA investors will need to complete a Transfer Authority Form.  There is no need to get in contact with your existing ISA Manager as the Relendex specialist team will handle the entire process for you.”

Asked by P2P-Banking.com about the sales expectations regarding the IFISA product Lynn replied: ‘We will be disappointed if we don’t bring in at least 1 million GBP in the first month subject to how fast transfer-ins of existing ISAs will flow through from ceding managers.  Longer term it’s difficult to put a hard number on it but our conservative target is at least 10 to 15 million GBP in the first year.‘

Further questiones whether he expects deposits to come mainly using this tax year’s allowance or rather as transfers from amounts from the previous years, Lynn answered ‘The high base of existing ISAs (with over £200 billion sitting in Cash ISAs alone) strongly favours transfers.   But we also expect all transferring holders to utilise their current year annual allowance.’.

P2P-Banking also asked: ‘Should investors consider moving money from an S&S ISA to the Relendex IFISA?’. Lynn said: ‘We are not in the position to advise on individual portfolio allocations but do believe that we offer an attractive product on a risk/return basis.  Obviously secured lending at relatively conservative Loan to Value and diversification does provide a good degree of capital protection for investors and a good yield. The good news is that S&S ISAs and IFISA are not mutually exclusive, so investors may consider allocating to both.’

To date Relendex states it has experienced no defaults and has maintained an average yield of 8.78% pa.

 

Transferwise Borderless Accounts Allows To Set Up Free UK Account and Free EUR Account

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I have written several times about how useful it would be for international p2p lending investors if they can setup a free UK bank account or a free EUR account in the SEPA zone. My last article on this topic was here. Now it seems the final solution has arrived. Transferwise just announced that they offer a new Transferwise borderless account which will hold up to 15 currencies and offers local bank accounts in GBP, EUR and USD. The account is advertised as free (no setup fee) and without any monthly fees. See below though.

This is a viable solution for p2p lending investors that are investing on p2p lending marketplaces outside their home currency and seek an account to withdraw money to in order to transfer it to a different p2p lending marketplace without converting the money in the process.

Transferwise borderless account

Screenshot: Transferwise borderless account

Transferwise does charge fees per local transfer. 0.50GBP or 0.60EUR for each transfer.

Irish Linked Finance secures full approval from UK regulator FCA

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Linked Finance announced yesterday that it secured full approval from UK regulator:

I’m delighted to announce that we recently gained full authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. This approval is the culmination of a rigorous 2-year application process and a lot of hard work.

In the absence of any regulatory framework in Ireland, we originally began this process as a way to demonstrate our commitment to operating Linked Finance in line with best practice from the much more developed UK market.

This UK approval also opens several exciting avenues to us in terms of our plans for future expansion. It gives us the opportunity to attract lenders form the UK to support Irish SMEs. It would also allow us to start supporting SMEs north of the border, as well as paving the way for a full UK roll-out.

The P2P industry in the UK is the largest in the world on a per capita basis and platforms there are originating more than €1 billion in lending each quarter. It would be a logical next step in our evolution.

That said, our primary focus remains on Ireland and helping to grow the sector here as market leaders.

This authorisation in the UK won’t have any major impact on how you use Linked Finance but you may see some slight changes and modifications on the site, as we look to implement some of the various requirements, such as warnings and disclaimers, that would be required when operating in the UK.

The fact that we have gained full authorisation from the FCA should simply serve to underline that Linked Finance has developed the type of management processes and controls that are in line with industry best practice.

The timing couldn’t be better too.

This announcement comes as the Irish government have launched a public consultation in relation to regulating the sector here.

It’s a move that we wholeheartedly welcome. We believe that all platforms who want to operate in Ireland should be required to operate to the same high standards as Linked Finance.

Obviously, this approval from the FCA demonstrates that we are well ahead of the curve in the Irish market and we are encouraged that the Department of Finance is now considering a similar set of rules here.

We recognise that the development of P2P lending in the UK owes a lot to the introduction of government initiatives that promote the industry, including tax-free Innovative Finance ISAs and direct government lending to SMEs, via the British Business Bank, on platforms such as Funding Circle and RateSetter.

We would love to see the same type of support here and we will be using the current public consultation as an opportunity to promote similar initiatives in Ireland.

For our Irish lenders, this approval from the FCA in the UK should serve as further evidence of our commitment to developing a strong and stable platform that will continue to deliver healthy returns while providing much need credit to great local businesses.

Interview with Filip Karadaghi, Managing Director of LandlordInvest

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What is LandlordInvest about?

LandlordInvest is a UK-based peer-to-peer lending platform for residential and commercial mortgages. We launched in December last year after becoming fully FCA authorised. In January this year, we made bit of P2P history as we launched the first residential mortgage backed Innovative Finance ISA, ahead of major players such as LendInvest and Funding Circle.

What are the three main advantages for investors?

  1. Security – we believe that loans should be asset-backed as it creates a form of security for investors if a borrower defaults. I personally would not invest in unsecured loans given the risks and the potentially very lengthy enforcement process to reclaim part of the capital, if any at all.
  2. Returns – We offer returns of up to 12%, although we recently funded a loan with a rate of 19% to investors. The loan was arranged with a trusted bridging lending partner and is secured over a flat in Chelsea, one of London’s most prestigious areas.
  3. Diversification – We offer investors the possibility to invest in both relatively low-risk buy-to-let mortgages and more risky bridging loans. Investors can build their portfolio according to their risk appetite and other considerations.

What are the three main advantages for borrowers?

  1. Manual underwriting – we are more pragmatic in our underwriting than most high-street lenders and assess each loan on its merits. For us, the most important part of our assessment is that the borrower has a verifiable track-record and that the security is enforceable in the event of the default.
  2. Speed – we recently assessed a loan, had it fully funded and completed in two days. It was for a borrower that was let down by his exiting lender for an obscure reason at the last minute and approached us.
  3. Online application with a simple online control panel – A borrower may apply for a loan through a simple online form and keep track of the status of their application, loan schedule, loan payments in a easy to use control panel.

What ROI can investors expect?

We aim to offer returns between 5-12% per annum, depending on the product.

You recently launched an IFISA product. How has the investor uptake been so far and was it a big advantage to be in the forefront of approved providers?

The demand for our IFISA has been good. IFISA account holders, although only around 20% of the total registered investors, account for 50% of all funds on the platform. As such, IFISA account holders usually deposit more than non-IFISA account holders and also invest more.

I believe that the main advantage of being one of the first platforms able to offer the IFISA is that we have managed to establish a presence in the industry. If it was not for the IFISA, we would probably be less known than we currently are, given our relatively recent launch.

It remains to be seen what happens when the major players are able to offer the IFISA, but I believe it will be a benefit for us as it will make the IFISA a more mainstream product, benefiting everyone in the P2P industry.

Is the technical platform self-developed?

Filip KaradaghiA prototype of the platform was developed overseas, but the final platform in use today was developed in-house by our tech team, led by our co-founder and CTO Joe Vallender. We continue to make all further developments in house, and are releasing new features regularly.

What was the biggest challenge in launching LandlordInvest and what have been challenges since?

The biggest challenge has been operating under a “real” P2P model, i.e. no pre-funding of loans. As we were one of the first platforms operating under this model, some investors did not fully understand how it works, as many were used to the pre-funding model operated by many players within our niche. One of the drawbacks with a “real” P2P model is that a loan does not start to accrue interest until a loan is complete. This means that there is a certain cash drag. However, one of the benefits with a “real” P2P model is that lenders lend directly to the borrower(s) and the servicing fee charged by us is usually lower than what platforms that operate a pre-funding model charge. This means that we pass on more interest to the lenders.

How is the company financed? What background does your team have?

LandlordInvest was initially entirely financed by the founding team and have recently raised financing from business angels. We’re currently in discussion with several private and intuitional investors to raise another round, which will help us to further ramp up our capacity.

Which marketing channels do you use to attract investors and borrowers?

We use a multichannel approach including, establishing good relations with the press, having an interactive presence on various forums and blogs, affiliate marketing programs and social media presence.

We still believe that the best marketing is doing what we set out to do as the best marketing channel is always word-of-mouth. If we are able to satisfy the platform investors, then there is a high chance that they might recommend us to someone else.

Is LandlordInvest open to international investors?

LandlordInvest does accept overseas residents, subject to KYC and AML checks.

However, it is a requirement that investors must have a UK bank or building society account to be able to invest on our platform.

I hear you are planning a secondary market? Will that work with premium and discounts or at par? What other features do you plan to roll out this year?

We are indeed developing a secondary market and expect to launch it in the beginning of May this year. Investors will only be able to sell loan or loan parts at par. Investors will also be able to sell parts of loans.

We are always developing the platform as we want to deliver the best experience investors can have when investing our platform.

We welcome feedback from investors and have implemented a number of features following direct conversations with investors, and will continue to do so.

Where do you see LandlordInvest in 3 years?

We have established ourselves as one of the leading platforms within our niche and delivering good risk adjusted returns to the platform investors. This has also been our aim since we founded the company and we will do our utmost to reach that aim.

P2P-Banking.com thanks Filip Karadaghi for the interview.

Flender – new p2p lending marketplace in Ireland

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Flender, which recently soft launched a p2p lending marketplace in Ireland, received full FCA authorisation last week, saying it took two years of consultation with the FCA and the legal team to achieve approval. This will be needed for the launch in UK, planned for later this year.

Limited time offer: Cashback: 10% cashback on any investment over 1,000 GBP for P2P-Banking reader.  Sign up to use. (Update Aug. 2017: the cashback offer has been extended to August 31st, the minimum investment requirement is now 2,500 EUR)

Flender offers both SME and consumer loans on the marketplace. The main points for investors are:

  • no fees for investors
  • 50 Euro minimum bid
  • open to international investors (prerequisite is a bank account in the European Union)
  • interest rates of the currently listed loans range from 8.1% to 10.4%
  • reverse auction bidding (though at the moment, loan supply outstrips lender demand, therefore I don’t expect any underbidding soon). currently no autoinvest

Flender charges origination fees for business loans from the borrower. While there are no origination fees for borrowers for consumer loans, Flender does have a margin income on those (same with business loans).

Once the UK operation launches, investments can be made cross-border. An interesting aspect is that the borrower will take the FX charges.

Flender does have big plans. On the list are an IFISA offer, several features for investors and borrowers to customize the experience and mid term a secondary market. Flender currently has a team of 7 employees.

I published an interview with the CEO of Flender in the end of 2016, when they raised 500K GBP through equity crowdfunding on Seedrs. Flender will likely be back on Seedrs to raise another round later this year.

As my experiences with another Irish p2p lending marketplace are good so far (it has low default rates), I registered on Flender too. There are currently 4 business loans listed seeking a total amount of about 150K Euro.

Flender marketplace
Screenshot of Flender marketplace loan listings (excerpt)

International P2P Lending Volumes April 2017

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The table lists the loan originations of p2p lending platforms in April. Funding Circle leads ahead of Zopa and Lendinvest. The total volume for the reported marketplaces adds up to 445 million Euro. I track the development of p2p lending volumes for many countries. Since I already have most of the data on file I can publish statistics on the monthly loan originations for selected p2p lending platforms. This month I added Nucleus.

Milestones reached this month are:

  • Younited Credit crossed 500 million Euro loan volume since launch

Investors living in national markets with no or limited selection of local p2p lending services can check this list of international investing on p2p lending services. Investors can also explore how to make use of current p2p lending cashback offers available. UK investors can compare IFISA providers.

p2p lending statistic April 2017
Table: P2P Lending Volumes in April 2017. Source: own research

Note that volumes have been converted from local currency to Euro for the purpose of comparison. Some figures are estimates/approximations.
*Prosper and Lending Club no longer publish origination data for the most recent month.

Notice to p2p lending services not listed: Continue reading →