Most mature European P2P markets also have highest GDP

The countries with the largest economies in Europe by nominal gross domestic product (GDP) are also home to 70 per cent of continental European peer-to-peer lending platforms, according to research from Robo.cash.

The Croatia-headquartered P2P platform said that the top three countries in the continental European P2P sector are France, Germany and Italy, with 41 per cent of the continent’s P2P platforms currently registered there.

“The high number of platforms in these countries reflects the size of the local economies, which are the largest on the continent,” Robo.cash said.

Read more: Europe prepares for influx of newly licensed P2P and crowdfunding firms

The second group is made up of the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and Estonia, where almost 30 per cent of continental platforms are registered.

“Switzerland, the Netherlands and Spain lag behind the leaders, again due to the smaller size of their national economies,” the platform noted.

“Interestingly, in Estonia, as well as other Baltic countries, the P2P industry development is ahead of the national economy. Many platforms here initially have a cross-border nature, that is, they are focused not only on the domestic market, and, as projects, are highly attractive among European investors.”

Read more: Robo.cash: It’s vital investors understand effects of inflation

The third group is characterised by countries that are not developed in terms of P2P due to legislative restrictions, among other reasons, including Poland, Romania and Turkey.

In total, 424 European P2P platforms from 30 European countries were included in Robo.cash’s sample.

The sample does not claim to be a complete representation of all companies operating in the P2P industry in continental Europe, but Robo.cash believe it is sufficient to conclude that GDP is a defining feature of market maturity.

Read more: Eurocrowd supports German accelerator Gateway49