JustUs plans to launch its Small Business Interruption Loan Service (SBILS) by the end of August and has called for the government to take part and lend alongside the crowd. On 13 July, the peer-to-peer lending platform announced it will use its technology to launch a platform aimed at businesses which are not eligible for […]
New mortgage approvals rose by 330 per cent between May and June, in a sign that the mortgage lending market is starting to recover from the impact of lockdown. According to the latest money and credit statistical release from the Bank of England, 40,000 residential mortgages were approved in June – up from a record […]
Peer-to-peer lending platforms have called for the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS) and bounce back loan scheme (BBLS) to be restructured. Last month, a report from the Recapitalisation Group, EY and lobby group TheCityUK found that up to £36bn worth of government-backed business loans could become toxic by March of next year. Read more: […]
Almost half (43 per cent) of all households spent an average of £3,169 on home improvements during lockdown, a new Zopa survey has found. This represents a 13 per cent year-on-year increase on spending per household. A further 44 per cent of respondents said that they plan to make their own home improvements by the […]
Default management is built into the ecosystem of each and every peer-to-peer lending platform. But for banks, it is a different story. Access to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and the recent availability of government-backed business loans means that banks have a substantial safety net in the event of a defaulted payment on a […]
Starling Bank has delivered over £654m in loans under the bounce back loan scheme (BBLS) to over 24,000 companies. The bank, which has partnered with Funding Circle to lend £300m to small firms through the ‘big three’ peer-to-peer lending platform, delivered the majority of its BBLS funds to firms in London. In the capital, Starling […]
Lenders have delivered more than £49bn to almost 1.2 million businesses through the government’s emergency loan schemes, new figures from the Treasury have revealed. The banking and finance industry has provided 57,000 businesses with £12.7bn through the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme and £33.7bn to more than 1.1 million small and micro businesses through the […]
ComplyAdvantage, a technology company that detects financial crime, has closed a $50m (£38.8m) Series C funding round to expand across the United States, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The group, which uses machine learning and language processing to help regulated firms manage risk and prevent financial crime, has received $88m in total investment. As well […]
Peer-to-peer lenders conducting fundraising rounds on Seedrs may benefit from changes to the crowdfunding platform’s secondary market. Seedrs has introduced variable pricing on its secondary market so buyers can now purchase shares at a discount or a premium from today. The new terms are intended to boost liquidity for platform users. “The introduction of variable […]
Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex is launching a new peer-to-peer lending tool in the first week of August. The tool – called Lending Pro – will allow users to manage lending based on their own specifications and market conditions. “Once customers have to input their preferred settings, Lending Pro will use those settings and market conditions to […]
Peer-to-peer lending platforms have called on the government to extend the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS) past its deadline of 30 September. So far CBILS, which has an 80 per cent government guarantee and provides loans up to £5m, has delivered £11.5bn to 53,500 small- and medium-sized enterprises. Read more: ‘Skin in the game’ […]
An increased risk of online fraud could speed up the digital transformation of the UK’s business community, credit experts have claimed. As more and more people are working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, Equifax has warned that third person impersonation is rising, and the full effects may not be seen for some time. The […]
Irish peer-to-peer lending platform Linked Finance has called on Ireland’s government to extend the country’s €2bn (£1.83bn) credit guarantee scheme to P2P and other non-bank lenders. In an echo of the early weeks of the UK’s coronavirus loan scheme rollout, alternative lenders in Ireland have been critical of the decision to initially make the SME […]
Some alternative finance platforms may be unable to participate in government emergency loan schemes due to a shortage of institutional funding, industry stakeholders have warned. Andrew Holgate, chief executive of fintech consultancy Equitivo said that Covid-19 caused institutional funding to dry up, and now institutions are losing appetite for government emergency loan schemes. Read more: […]
Covid-19 has led to an annual drop in fintech funding in the first half of 2020, but funding is still up from the second half of last year, new research has found. Innovate Finance, the industry body representing UK fintech, found that investment in fintech during the first half of 2020 fell by over a […]