Lending Club announced the result for the 4th quarter of 2015 today. I added the results document here:
(Source Lending Club).
Interview with Gregor Gregersen, CEO of Silver Bullion
What is Silver Bullion about?
Silver Bullion buys, sells, authenticates and stores physical gold and silver. Since mid-2015 we also launched the option for customers to securely lend and borrow to each other using their bullion as collateral.
What are the three main advantages for investors?
Physical bullion buyers receive the best protection possible (in jurisdictional, counterparty and storage risk terms) against systemic crises by being owners of insured physical property under Singapore law rather than bank creditors exposed to financial crises. They also have a long position in gold / silver. They profit from a financial collapse, hyperinflation or foreign nationalizations.
Alternatively, as lenders they receive a safe return (very low risk) by lending their funds to owners of insured and authenticated bullion stored with us. Lender funds are collateralized by a minimum 200% worth of gold and silver and, should during the duration of the loan, the collateral fall to 125% the borrowers will get a margin call. At 110% we will liquidate (sell) the borrower’s silver and gold to ensure the lender’s funds are always fully covered by liquid collateral.
Lenders can offer their funds at an interest rate and duration of their choosing. Borrowers are then free to accept the best rates and vice versa, thereby creating a Bid/Ask exchange which lets lender and borrowers determine their own interest rates. The system is also inexpensive (0.5% fee) and easy to use as borrowers do not need to be rated or scored due to their collateral.
What are the three main advantages for borrowers?
Because the loans involve so little risk (due to collateral) lenders are willing to accept comparatively low interest rates. Therefore borrowers can borrow cheaply (e.g. 4% p.a.) and unlock their bullion liquidity without selling it. The low rates allow for arbitrage opportunities vs. customer in high interest countries.
Because we have an abundance of lenders Borrowers can quickly and easily get a loan whenever they need it, without any usage restrictions and minimal additional paperwork.
Borrowers can choose to easily roll-over /refinance a loan before maturity. So they could roll-over as needed, giving them flexibility and a source of optional liquidity when needed.
Investors are required to open a storage account first. Doesn’t that deter those that only want to invest?
A storage account is required to do our AML and KYC checks and an account number is the pre-requisite to do P2P transactions. A customer / lender does not need to buy or store bullion and there is no cost associated with opening an account. So there is no downside.
What ROI can investors expect?
P2P Lenders have received secure returns ranging from 3.5% to 7% p.a. depending on currency, duration and borrower/lender demand. The nature of the bullion collateral also means are also well protected against both a borrower default and systemic defaults in a crisis.
It depends on the lender whether and how he values this risk diversification.
Is the technical platform self-developed?
Yes. It is highly specialized platform that is integrated with our bullion storage system which stores around 120 million SGD worth of physical bullion.
A word about the people who designed this P2P system might be in order. Gregor Gregersen (primary architect) was a senior data architect for Commerzbank (the second largest German bank), Otbert de Jong headed the global risk advisory department at ABN AMRO Bank and was a partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers and Simon Black is the founder of Sovereign Man, which is one of the best resources on internationalisation and spreading your risk. Continue reading
International P2P Lending Loan Volumes January 2016
The following table lists the loan originations for January. This month Ratesetter led, followed by Zopa and Funding Circle. I added one more marketplace to the list. I do monitor development of p2p lending statistics for many markets. Since I already have most of the data on file I can publish statistics on the monthly loan originations for selected p2p lending services.
Investors living in markets with no or limited choice of local p2p lending services can check this list of marketplaces open to international investors. Investors can also learn how to make use of p2p lending cashback offers available.
Last month these companies crossed significant milestones:
- Ratesetter reached 1,000 million GBP in loan originations since launch
- Lendinvest has lent 500 million GBP since launch
- Bondora has issued 50 million EUR since launch
Table: P2P Lending Volumes in January 2016. Source: own research
Note that volumes have been converted from local currency to Euro for the sake of comparison. Some figures are estimates/approximations.
*Prosper and Lending Club no longer publish origination data for the most recent month.
Note that volumes have been converted from local currency to Euro for the sake 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
Crosslend: Cashback and Dutch loans
P2P Lending Marketplace Crosslend launched last September. The unsecured loans are open for investment for investors in Germany, Spain, UK and the Netherlands.
I gave a short overview in my Crosslend review for investors. So far the couple of Crosslend loans, I invested in, are all current.
In mid-January Crosslend added Dutch loans and I made a bid on the first Dutch loan listing. The majority of loans are still sought by Spanish borrowers. Currently there are over 50 Spanish loan listings available and also a few German or Dutch ones.
10% Cashback
Crosslend currently offers a cashback promotion. New and existing investors get 10% cashback on all successful investments made until March, 31th 2016 (up to a maximum bonus amount of 1,000 Euro per investor; further conditions apply, e.g. minimum investment of 250 Euro during promotion period). Investors contemplating to test Crosslend should consider making use of this cashback offer now.
Update Jan 31th: was informed that this offer runs currently only in the German market; other markets will follow later
Unbolted Partners with H&H Classics
British p2p lending marketplace Unbolted has announced a partnership with car auctioneer H&H Classics. The finance deal will allow auction consignors to access a significant portion of the value of their car or motorcycle well in advance of sale. The supply agreement creates a sale advance facility providing up to 70% of the low-estimate valuation to the consignor where an agreement is struck.
Unbolted lets individuals plus small and medium enterprises borrow against their assets.
The two partners in the project are also developing a new financing solution for buyers to help them capitalise on new opportunities at auction.
Nick Delaney, Business Development Manager of H&H Classics, says: ‘Both types of facility are safe and reliable methods designed to bring liquidity to asset-rich collectors and entrepreneurs, allowing them to move quickly on opportunities rather than missing the boat while negotiating cumbersome and costly credit facilities with banks.’
Investly Launches Invoice Finance for UK SMEs; Raised 600K from Speedinvest
Tallinn based p2p lending marketplace Investly, which recently launched an invoice finance product in Estonia announced the launch of the service for UK SMEs. The invoice finance option will give UK businesses almost instant access to much needed working capital to aid growth.
The launch comes after a successful European launch of the platform in Estonia 18 months ago, and a subsequent investment of 600,000 Euro from Venture Capital group, SpeedInvest.
Until now, invoice finance options – whether through traditional channels or via other peer-to-peer platforms – have been complex and laden with fees and charges.
Investly says it has simplified the product so that, once credit checks have been cleared, SMEs can sell invoices to investors within two days. And therefore assign the money to aid growth, enabling them to be the best they can possibly be without the cash flow worries. Initially, the invoice finance product will be available to any UK SME who passes the platforms sign-up criteria, which includes credit checks and confirming their identity. Further safeguards are put in place such as directors’ checks and potential guarantee.
Ruth Chamberlain, Investly’s UK Country Manager, said: “Long payment terms are crippling for UK SMEs. They are dependent on cash to sustain and grow their business, but as they invest in products and people, they may not get money on work completed a month or even 120 days after issuing their invoice. This is putting many businesses at risk – especially smaller ones and those that depend on payments from one or two key customers.†Continue reading