Ex-City minister shines spotlight on P2P lending secondary markets
LORD Myners has turned his attention to secondary market sales on peer-to-peer lending platforms and has also queried the British Business Bank’s activity in the sector.
The former City minister, who has already tabled several parliamentary questions regarding the role of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the collapse of Lendy and Collateral, has widened the scope of his P2P queries.
He has tabled two parliamentary written questions in the past week.
The first asks the government what steps they are taking to “investigate delays in and take action to speed activity in, and ensure lenders are properly informed about, secondary market sales in P2P lending.”
Another asks whether the British Business Bank independently vets every loan it makes through P2P lending platforms and similar agencies or relies on such platforms for conducting due diligence.
The peer, who was City minister in Gordon Brown’s Labour government between 2008 and 2010, has tabled 11 questions about the sector since July 2017, with most about Lendy or Collateral.
He previously tabled a parliamentary question in June that urged the Treasury to conduct an independent review on how the FCA handled the collapse of Lendy.
A response from Lord Young on behalf of the government appeared to reject the move.
“There is an ongoing FCA investigation into the circumstances that have led to the administration of Lendy,” he said.
“It is important that the FCA rules for P2P lending remain relevant for this evolving sector, and the new rules announced by the FCA reflect this.
“These will help to ensure that investors have the information they need to make effective decisions about P2P investments, without imposing additional costs on borrowers.”
The FCA has since said it authorised Lendy to give investors better protection.