Proplend achieves record month in number and size of loans

Proplend has shrugged off the Covid-19 crisis to achieve a record month of lending in September, with its chief executive eyeing profitability this year.

Brian Bartaby (pictured), chief executive of the peer-to-peer commercial property lender, said for the past three months the platform’s borrowers had paid interest as they were expected to.

He said the platform is well-managed and has spent a lot of time working with borrowers to ensure they can make their repayments.

“Our lending volumes are below those of our target but there is a very good chance we will be profitable this year,” Bartaby said.

“We haven’t stopped lending, we haven’t closed our secondary market or gated cash withdrawals, we did not introduce any lender fees and we never had instant access accounts that didn’t work.”

This comes as Proplend announced that it had hit the £100m lending milestone this month, despite the pressures on the commercial property sector.

Bartaby has previously backed calls from the British Property Federation for an end to the rent moratorium the government introduced at the start of the pandemic.

In August, he welcomed a proposal for a scheme where the government would pay half of the rent for the commercial businesses worst affected by the coronavirus.

Trade associations were in talks with ministers for a property bounceback grant whereby the government would pay up to 50 per cent of rent and service charges owed by businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors for the six months between March and September.