Is P2P lending bucking the hiring freeze trend?

The number of jobs available in the finance sector is currently running at 41 per cent of last year’s average, official data shows, but is peer-to-peer lending bucking the trend?

Data from the Office for National Statistics, based on data sourced through job advert search engine Adzuna, shows the total volume of online vacancies in the UK has decreased from 62 per cent to 58 per cent of its 2019 average as companies freeze hiring during the pandemic.

A sector breakdown shows that listings for jobs in the finance sector are 41 per cent below the 2019 average.

However, the hiring freeze doesn’t seem to be reflected among some of the major P2P lenders.

CapitalRise revealed this week that it has made five new hires in recent months.

Meanwhile, Zopa is currently listing three job vacancies across technology and customer operations.

Rival consumer lending platform Lending Works has two vacancies in technology.

Business lender Funding Circle, which has boosted its collection and recoveries team during the pandemic, has 21 open roles listed on its website mainly in engineering as well as infrastructure, data and accounting.

MarketFinance has two vacancies in technology and one each in sales, risk products and marketing. It is also offering internships.

Similarly, CrowdProperty is offering a summer internship as well as a year in industry. It also has a vacancy for a chartered surveyor.

This suggests that while mainstream banks are cutting thousands of jobs, there is still a market for roles in alternative finance.

Read more: Are P2P platforms reining in their recruitment?