Today another selection of interesting articles on p2p lending was compiled. A highlight is Dough Roller's comparison between Prosper and Lending Club explaining the differences in determining interest rates for loans.
Kokos – p2p lending in Poland
Kokos.pl launched the first p2p lending service in Poland. I interviewed Dorota Janik, PR Manager of Bluemedia, about the new service.
P2P-Banking.com: Can you please describe Kokos?
Dorota Janik: Kokos.pl is the first p2p lending or social lending system in Poland. It opens new possibilities in e-finance industry and fills a niche between offers of banks and other financial institutions.
The main advantage of Kokos.pl is being able to offer a much more beneficial interest range for both the lenders and borrowers, and a higher level of security than on other web based auction systems.
The most stress has been put on the borrower verification process. Kokos.pl uses Biuro Informacji Gospodarczej (BIG) to check borrowers credit history and to assign their rating in the system. Continue reading
Qifang – p2p lending to Chinese students
In a Techcrunch interview the concept of chinese startup Qifang.cn is explained. To deal with the problem that there usually are no credit histories available in China, Qifang will partner with the schools directly to let them verify the informations. Loan payments will be made directly to the educational institutions instead of the students
IOU central launches p2p lending in Canada
IOU central launched the first active p2p lending service in Canada today. Borrowers can request loans from 1,000 to 25,000 CAN$ and select a term between 1 and 36 months. IOU central allows the borrower to specify a minimum amount at which he will accept the loan, should it not fully fund in the 2 weeks listing duration. IOU Central pulls the TransRisk credit score of the borrower, provided by Transunion Canada. According to the press release, lenders can expect to earn interest rates between 5 and 25 percent.
Borrowers pay a closing fee ranging from 1 to 3 percent depending on their credit score. Lenders pay an annual servicing fee of 0.5 percent of the open principal balance. Only Canadian residents can borrow or lend. The borrower needs to have a Trans union credit score.
Borrowers may have several loans, but the total outstanding principal may not exceed 25,000 CAN$.
Lenders earn interest on deposited money (bank prime rate minus 2.5%). Individuals may lend up to 5 million CAN$. Corporations may lend up to 50 million CAN$. Minimum bid amount is 25 CAN$.
Studying the team of IOU Central I noticed Robert Bialek (VP Technology) and Arkadiusz Hajduk (Product Manager), which were the founders of FairRates.dk, a p2p lending service in Denmark, which now is part of IOU Central. An assumption would be that IOU Central acquired (or merged with) the company, to gain the knowledge and experience made.
The IOU Central launch did beat Communitylend in being first in the Canadian market. Communitylend has long announced to launch a Canadian peer to peer lending service, but has not launched yet.
To discuss IOU central, the lending or borrowing experience or to ask questions on the service you can use Wiseclerk's IOU Central forums.
More p2c lending
German startup Valuna.de wants to help companies to raise capital through loans from private investors without a bank. The first offer is by printing service QuickPrinter which offers 15 percent interest for a 7 year 100,000 Euro loan. Minimum amount for investors is 100 Euro. The platform Valuna offers marketing, but does not handle the financial transactions which are conducted directly between the lenders and the company. More information in an detailed article on the Valuna launch (German language).
The spanish p2p lending market
So far there are no p2p lending services active in Spain. Manuel Ángel-Méndezwrote a comprehensive article on the situation in Spain for El País. Some of the key facts from this article:
- Giles Andrews, of Zopa, confirms: "We have had conversation with several companies in Spain"
- Pol Navarro, director of innovation at Banc Sabadell,thinks that p2p lending will not be a short term threat to banks. "it is to early to tell if p2p lending will be a successul business model in Spain"
- Banking organisations expect, that p2p lending will profit from the introduction of a personal identification number (digital DNI) which will be introduced within the next 18 months. Fernando Alfaro of Bankinter sees to chances for p2p lending services: low costs of entrance (IT costs) and millions of immigants in need of loans, that do not have a credit history