After 10 years the era of Ratesetter UK investing ends for good for all retail investors as Ratesetter has announced today that Metro Bank will purchase the loan portfolio.

The announcement reads:

RateSetter announces that Metro Bank is purchasing the loan portfolio

Today we are announcing that Metro Bank is purchasing the RateSetter loan portfolio in line with Metro Bank’s strategic objective to grow in consumer loans.

Metro Bank has been funding all new consumer lending following its acquisition of RateSetter in September 2020, since when the investor loan portfolio has been in run off. Today’s announcement follows the subsequent sale of RateSetter’s residential property development portfolio, a line of lending which is not an area of focus for Metro Bank, and was made possible by Metro Bank’s recent sale of a 3 bn GBP residential mortgage portfolio, which freed up capital for the purchase. The performance of the consumer loan portfolio has allowed the purchase to be at full value, despite the ongoing economic uncertainty.

The portfolio purchase means that all RateSetter investors will receive their money back in full and the investing side of RateSetter will close. In line with our Investor Terms we are providing two months’ notice of account closure and so this will happen on 2 April 2021.

What happens now?

All invested money will return to investors’ Holding accounts from 2 April 2021, as will money on market. This process is expected to take five days. Naturally, no investment release fee will apply to money retuned to investor’s Holding accounts from the purchase. Invested money will continue to earn interest until then and repayments will continue to be treated in line with investors’ account settings until then too.

Thank you for being a RateSetter investor

We launched over ten years ago and grew to be the UK’s most popular P2P platform, attracting over three quarters of a million investors and borrowers. We are proud to have delivered an average annual return of 4.4%, while our credit management and pioneering Provision Fund ensured no investor ever lost a penny of capital – a unique track record that has been maintained throughout the current time of economic uncertainty and through to the purchase we are announcing today.

Going forward, RateSetter will focus on being a market-leading consumer lender consistent with Metro Bank’s strategy to grow in consumer finance.

We are committed to continuing our customer service. If you have any questions or require any further assistance, please contact our Investor Services team

This will set free about 450M GBP in April, which could result in a surge of deposits on other UK p2p platforms.