Bricks Finance gains FCA authorisation
BRICKS Finance, a development finance peer-to-peer lender, is hoping to boost its partnerships with brokers after receiving full authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
While many P2P platforms have used full FCA authorisation as a step to achieving ISA manager status, Bricks’ co-founder Jerry Rihll said the firm was not planning to launch an Innovative Finance ISA.
“This was really about our dealings with intermediaries and becoming a trusted provider. The full FCA authorisation helps with that,” he told Peer-to-Peer Finance News.
The Exeter and East Devon-based platform specialises in short-term bridging loans and loans for commercial property developers. It started lending in May 2015 and currently has a loan book of more than £5m.
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Rather than purely communicating online, investors and borrowers have to meet directly with the firm to discuss their options.
The platform also announced on Friday that it has launched Bricks Bond, a short-term bond for wealth managers and their clients that offers returns of five per cent for six months or six per cent for 12 months. Investors place their funds alongside the funds of the Bricks founders, to finance local property development.
“To be authorised by the FCA is a significant achievement and reassures our investors that we have the appropriate regulatory and operational infrastructure in place,” founder Clive Banks said.
“It is independent proof that Bricks is a trusted and professionally run company.”
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Bricks Finance’s announcement follows a slew of recent FCA authorisations for the sector. On 9 January, Octopus Choice revealed that it had been given the regulatory green light and in December, Landbay, LandlordInvest, Folk2Folk and CapitalStackers all got full authorisation.
