UK

P2P Lending Marketplace Relendex Receives Full FCA Authorisation

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Relendex logoP2P lending marketplace Relendex, which does commercial real estate lending directly connecting creditworthy borrowers to investors, has full authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The regulation will allow Relendex to launch its new Innovative Finance ISA giving retail investors  tax efficient lending to the U.K. commercial property market. Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Relendex Michael Lynn, said:

“FCA full authorisation marks a fantastic start to 2017 for the Relendex team and platform which will further encourage and facilitate investment in commercial property from both our UK and foreign investors. The appetite for P2P marketplace lending in the property sector continues to grow at an incredible rate with the advances in technology resulting in further market share being taken from the high street banks. Receiving full authorisation will further accelerate this growth and demonstrates that Relendex’s robust operational infrastructure has met with the highest standards demanded by the FCA, bringing increased transparency and confidence to our customers. Relendex, an early mover in security-backed commercial property lending for investors, specialises in innovative finance through its nimble P2P marketplace lending platform technology and ultimately improves accessibility of established and secure asset classes into the direct retail and institutional investor market. The … approach and automated secondary market provides much needed liquidity to lenders.”

Relendex says it has sustained zero defaults on its loan book to date.

Obtaining ISA manager status on the back of this full FCA approval is the next step for Relendex allowing them to be one of the first movers in offering the Innovative Finance ISA to retail investors – the tax free wrapper and P2P investments that is forecast to propel the industry into the mainstream.

Moneything Gains Full FCA Authorisation

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Moneything logoMoneything announced  today that have been fully authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Moneything see this as a significant milestone for our business and the result of just over 18 months’ work that involved the scrutiny of every aspect of our business.

In the announcement Moneything says

Many platforms in the P2P industry are working hard to gain their full permissions and we are one of the first few platforms to be granted full authorisation, ahead of some of the largest P2P companies.

This will help to give our lenders and borrowers confidence that we meet high standards in the way we operate, based on the regulations set by the FCA.

We have had some extraordinary assistance along this journey from our compliance consultants and our legal advisors who have helped us to navigate the complex regulatory landscape. We would like to thank them and the MoneyThing team who have all contributed to our authorisation.

There will be a few changes as a result of our authorisation. Significantly, we are no longer able to pre-fund loans and we will be introducing new lender terms for new loans. A full update on the changes and how they will affect lenders will be provided shortly.

Now we are authorised we can look towards launching an IFISA offering to lenders. This will be subject to HMRC approval and we will release further information in the coming months.

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International P2P Lending Statistics February 2017

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The table lists the loan originations of p2p lending marketplaces in February. For many companies it has been a slow month. Funding Circle continues to lead ahead of Zopa and Ratesetter. The total volume for the reported marketplaces adds up to 408 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 Klear, Viainvest and Bitbond.

Milestones reached this month are:

  • Funding Circle reaches 2 billion GBP in originations since launch
  • Fellow Finance crosses 100 million EUR since inception
  • Geldvoorelkaar hits 100 million EUR since inception

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.

P2P Lendng Statistic 02/2017
Table: P2P Lending Volumes in February 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 →

Rebuilding Society Receives Full FCA Authorisation

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Rebuilding Society LogoP2P Lending marketplace Rebuilding Society just announced that it has received full FCA authorisation.

Rebuilding Society has been awarded full authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority in recognition of our compliance with sector-specific regulations.

We are very excited to share news of this major achievement and important milestone with our community. Authorisation means that we meet the rigorous standards set by the FCA and that we can soon start to offer the Innovative Finance ISA.

Although we have been operating under FCA rules on Interim Permission since April 2014, being granted full authorisation helps us to continue building on the important relationships of trust we have with all our clients. We are proud to have achieved this milestone ahead of many other platforms, which we believe is testament to our small but dynamic team, systems, processes and controls.

It has been a long journey, consuming considerable energy and investment, since we applied for full authorisation in November 2014. We have continued to grow as a business and improve on our core processes throughout. The regulatory landscape is continuously changing, and we will make sure we stay abreast of developments that arise from our post-implementation review.

We are committed to delivering a top-quality service to all our customers, to assist investors by providing multiple investment options and to assist our borrowers in finding business finance that is more than just a financial transaction. We are now taking pre-registrations for the IF ISA and will confirm once we can on-board new accounts. Please look out for further updates; we know that many of you are keen to benefit from frequent, compounded returns.

Landbay Launches IF ISA Offer Today

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Today secured by property p2p lending marketplace Landbay launches its Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA). The IF ISA offer carries an interest rate of 3,69%. The minimum investment amount for this product offer at Landbay is 5,000 GBP. There is no account opening fees, no ongoing fees and no transfer-in fee. There is a 50 GBP transfer-out fee.

Investors can make use of the current annual tax‐free ISA allowance of 15,240 GBP. In the next tax year the allowance will rise to 20,000 GBP.

Why I Joined The Money Platform, a Short Term P2P Lender

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This is a guest post by Kevin Allen, CRO at The Money Platform

It’s important to work for a company that you respect and provides a product good for its customers. It’s classic dinner table question, “what do you do for a living”.  Mostly I’ve always worked for large blue chip companies including Standard Chartered Bank, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Centrica, FICO, MasterCard and Lloyds Banking Group. So although I wasn’t going to set any dinner party conversations alight, I didn’t have to admit I worked as an estate agent, politician or worse. Then I worked with RateSetter and I became actually proud of my employment, what’s not to like about working for an internet start-up in something funky called “peer-to-peer”. I was helping to provide a better product to a new type of investor called a “lender” in a new asset class that was providing fair and consistent returns. We were bringing a new lexicon to banking and innovations such as the Provision Fund. Borrowers also got a better deal from a company with excellent customer service, not disdain. I wasn’t a banker anymore, I was working in the “sharing economy”, a financial hipster….

Kevin Allen, The Money PlatformHowever I’ve been lucky to have these employment choices. I’ve been the first cynic to sit on his pedestal and mock those that worked for less altruistic companies. And when I met people working for high-cost short-term lenders, I never let them forget it. I wasn’t a supporter of the football clubs that took their money to advertise a terrible product on their shirts. This is especially personal as I have a family interest, someone that isn’t so financially literate (and to be blunt, who was in dire straits) that borrowed 300 GBP, and ended up having to pay back 1,200 GBP within nine months. As far as I was concerned the sub-prime pay-day loan industry had a poor reputation for a reason, some lenders were exploitative. I mean, can anyone really defend 5,000% APRs? So why have I agreed to work for a short term lender, The Money Platform. A few of my friends are already looking down on me from that moral pedestal that I previously sat upon. Continue reading →