Property Bridges gains EU licence

Property Bridges has secured authorisation from the Central Bank of Ireland to operate as a crowdfunding service provider across the EU.

The European Crowdfunding Service Provider Regulation (ECSPR) was introduced in November 2021 to harmonise peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding across the bloc.

The Irish P2P lending platform said that receiving the pan-EU licence marked “a significant milestone” for the business.

“This means we can now seamlessly connect investors from the 27 EU countries with Irish homebuilders unlocking a brand new source of non-bank finance,” Property Bridges said.

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“We hope this is a pivotal moment in the crowdfunding industry that will allow platforms like Property Bridges to expand our services all across Europe.”

The European Securities and Market Authority (ESMA) has now authorised 73 crowdfunding platforms, according to Property Bridges, 20 of which focus on property lending.

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All nationally licensed crowdfunding and P2P lending platforms in the EU had to attain an ECSPR licence by today.

Authorised platforms include Sweden’s SaveLend, Lendahand in the Netherlands, HeavyFinance in Lithuania and Crowdcube Europe – the Spanish subsidiary of UK-based Crowdcube.

Earlier this year, Tara Cantwell, legal and compliance manager at Lendermarket, said she considers the ECSPR to be “more robust” than UK equivalent regulations due to their additional requirements around borrower due diligence.