UK P2P goes global
We are in the global age of technology, from the internet to peer-to-peer lending and cryptocurrency. As a result, many platforms operate across borders and more seem to be looking at expansions.
Here Peer2Peer Finance News summarises some of the UK lending platforms that operate in multiple countries or plan to do so.
CrowdProperty Australia
The most recent, notable entry was when CrowdProperty launched into Australia in May.
The P2P property lending platform aims to support Australian developers in the same way it has provided a non-banking alternative in the UK small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) development market.
The team, which will be led by one of CrowdProperty’s founders David Ingram, is looking to raise AUS$1.25m (£665,000) in seed funding this month to scale up the business.
Plenti
Australia must be a busy P2P market- RateSetter launched there back in 2014.
In August of last year, the Australian side of the business rebranded to Plenti, just after RateSetter’s UK business was acquired by Metro Bank.
The following month, Plenti started trading on the Australian Securities Exchange after completing its AUS$55m (£30m) initial public offering and this month it completed its first securitisation, issuing $306.3m of notes to investors backed by secured automotive loans.
JustUs
In May, JustUs revealed its plans to launch into the US next year and will pursue a crowdfunding raise there to support this move.
Founder and chief executive Lee Birkett has said the P2P lending will be rolled out on a state-by-state basis, while the cryptocurrency side of its sister company Moneybrain, which allows investors to exchange their funds into its BiPs cryptocurrency, will likely launch in the US the following year.
Funding Circle US
The Funding Circle brand is one of the giants of P2P – both at home and abroad.
The platform’s US arm, which extended its lending partnership with Congressional Bank this month, deployed more than $700bn through the Payment Protection Program to SMEs in the US.
In May, the group as a whole said that its loanbook is stable and performing better than expected so far this year but predicted some credit stress as the UK and US economies reopen.
The platform said that loans under management and originations over the course of the full year will depend on how quickly the economies recover in the UK and US.