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.

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