International P2P Lending Services – Loan Volumes December 2013

wiseclerk 1 Comment

December was a month with mixed developments. While the US services and selected other services continued to grow, other services – especially the UK ones – had a slow month with decreasing volume. Of course this is influenced by the Christmas holidays. I do monitor development of p2p lending figures 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.

Table: P2P Lending Volumes in December 2013. Source: own research
Note that volumes have been converted from local currency to US$ for the sake of comparison. Some figures are estimates/approximations.

Notice to p2p lending services not listed:
If you want to be included in this chart in future, please email the following figures on the first working day of a month: total loan volume originated since inception, loan volume originated in previous month, number of loans originated in previous month, average nominal interest rate of loans originated in previous month.

This month I added 3 more UK services to the table and removed Squirrl, Continue reading →

Auxmoney Now Sets Interest Rates Based on Own Score Classes

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Auxmoney introduced a major change to the way interest rates are set. Instead of letting borrowers select the interest rate they are willing to pay, p2p lending service Auxmoney sets interest rates based on self-computed credit scores starting today. Auxmoney says it uses over 300 factors to grade borrowers either AAA, AA, A, B, C, D, E or X. The model now resembles the models Lending Club and Prosper use to set interest rates. In an earlier article I had compared different models p2p lending services use to set interest rates.

Near-term I expect borrower demand to rise due to this change since for most borrowers interest rates will be lower. However lower interest rates will lessen attractiveness for lenders and probably reduce funding percentage (in the weeks before this change approx. 30 to 40% of loan request got funded).

(via P2P-Kredite.com)

My P2P Lending Portfolio at Isepankur 12/2013 & Isepankur to add Slovakia

wiseclerk 15 Comments

It’s been 14 months now since I started a p2p lending portfolio at Isepankur. I feel confident now, that I understand fairly well how to get above average results. During the first months I usually logged in at least daily and watched bidding patterns and resale activity to learn how the other lenders made use of the instruments. I also did a lot of micromanagement at that time. Lately I think I could satisfy my information thirst by logging in once or twice a week. Some of my automated bidding profiles have been running unchanged for weeks or months. I do still spend a big amount of time on p2p lending related news & forums (but not limited to Isepankur).

I have deposited 10,000 Euro (approx. 13,500 US$) since starting in the end of 2012. I hold over 600 loan parts – the diversification achieved is very good. Together the loans add up to 11,399 Euro outstanding principal. Loans in the value of 347 Euro are overdue, meaning they (partly) missed one or two repayments. 208 Euro are in loans that are more than 60 days late. I already received 3,559 Euro in repaid principal back (which I reinvested).

Chart 1: Screenshot of loan status

Right now I have 290 Euro cash in the account which is much more than my usual cash position. 165 Euro are tied in bids on current loan listings and will originate in the next few days.


Chart 2: Screenshot of account balance

Return on Invest

Currently Isepankur shows my ROI to be over 27% (see chart 3 ). In my own calculations, using XIRR in Excel, I currently get a 24.4% ROI. In the first months there was a considerable gap when comparing these differently calculated ROI figures. As my portfolio ages, the gap is closing. The statistic section tells me, that I am currently the lender with the 5th best ROI (counting all lenders that have invested for at least 12 months and at least 10,000 Euro).

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Finmar Launches P2P Loans to Business Owners

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In Germany p2p lending service Finmar launches, offering loans from 2,500 to 25,000 Euro for loan terms from 6 to 60 month to business owners. Nominal interest rates range from 6 to 11 percent and are set by Finmar depending on the Schufa credit grade of the business owner. Finmar charges a 5.95% origination fee for the loan. Lenders can invest starting with bid amounts of 250 Euro and are not charged any fees. Only residents of Germany can borrow or lend. Finmar cooperartes with Fidor Bank to comply with regulation.

The approach

While most p2p lending services emphasize that the identity of borrowers is not revealed (in public), Finmar wants the borrower to activly use it and build on the reputation the business / or the business owner has. The idea is that established businesses could broadcast their loan purpose and convince suppliers, business partners and customers to become loan creditors. To do this Finmar asks loan applicants to post a video to illustrate the loan request and to reach out to their community. If this approach is successful local and regional loans will frequently occur on Finmar, a thing that is not common on other p2p lending services where location of lender and borrower usually play no or minor roles.

The company

I have been following the progress of the founder Clas Beese since the idea phase 2 years ago. The founders opted for bootstrapping rather then raising capital. Before the launch there was a closed beta in the past weeks. I am curious to watch how Finmar does as it is the first p2p lending service in Germany focussing on p2c lending.


Press “CC” to turn subtitles into english language.

P2P Lender Lendico Launches in Germany

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Today Lendico opened its p2p lending doors to lenders and borrowers in Germany. The Berlin startup is funded by Rocket Internet the venture fund of Samwer brothers. Said to have been developed in 6 months the site now competes with Smava, Auxmoney and Isepankur for the German audience. The startup is said to plan an expansion into several other European markets with Germany only the initial step. To comply with German regulation Lendico partnered with Wirecard Bank.

Borrowers can apply for loans from 1,000 to 25,000 Euro and loan terms of 2,3,4 or 5 years. Much like Lending Club Lendico assigns differents grades to the loan request and sets the interest rates depending on grade and loan term. Interest rates (nominal) range from 2 to 11 percent which might give Lendico a hard time to attract lenders considering the 1% service fee plus expected bad debts of up to 9.9% (in grade E).

The management team of Lendico consists of Dominik Steinkühler, Clemens Paschke, Philipp Petrescu and Christoph Samwer. Steinkühler said the company targets borrowers that have no loans from banks so far, not borrowers that cannot get loans anymore and are looking for alternate sources.

P2P-Kredite.com has a detailed write-up with screenshots from a lender’s perspective.