Ablrate enters administration
Ablrate, the asset-backed peer-to-peer lending platform, has become insolvent and entered administration.
The firm had previously entered into a solvent wind-down in July 2022, blaming the economic outlook, “challenges on our loanbook” and the regulatory trajectory.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that Ablrate entered administration on 15 January.
Sean Bucknall, Brian Burke and Andrew Hosking of Quantuma Advisory were appointed joint administrators.
“The directors of the firm concluded that the firm was insolvent and applied to Court for an administration order,” the FCA said.
“The joint administrators are now responsible for the firm’s affairs and must act in the interest of the firm’s creditors.”
The City watchdog said that investors do not need to do anything and will shortly receive an update from the administrators, who are now responsible for the business of Ablrate.
“They will seek to maintain the Ablrate platform, manage loans as normal and make repayments to investors after deductions for their costs,” the FCA said. “Information on the progress of the administration will be posted on the Ablrate platform as it becomes available.”
Ablrate launched in 2014, making it one of the more established players in the P2P space before it decided to wind down its business.
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When the solvent wind-down was announced in 2022, Ablrate chief executive David Bradley-Ward told Alternative Credit Investor that the platform was “absolutely committed to winding down the loanbook in an efficient manner with the best outcome for lenders”.
He said that much of the loan book would roll off naturally over the next 12 to 18 months and he was looking at alternative methods of trading loans that had a longer run-off.
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“The P2P space has been good to us, operating Ablrate has given us the opportunity to work with a fantastic group of clients but also, over the last few years, with other companies and team members who are on the cutting edge of financial technology,” said Bradley-Ward at the time. “This new era of financial technology is innovating everything from debt to equity, funds and beyond and, as such, we think that is the place to be. I am sure, in a few years’ time, that many P2P platforms will be able to benefit from those technologies also as we use our P2P experience to assist building out those technologies.”