PEER-TO-PEER platforms will continue to see strong growth from small business borrowers, according to the Federation of Small Businesses. “P2P has been a very positive story for us,” Ben Baruch, policy advisor for finance, tax and economy at the FSB, told Peer-to-Peer Finance News. “Our latest small business index for the second quarter showed that […]
PEER-TO-PEER loan fund Funding Circle SME Income (FCIF) cheered investors today with news that it will be issuing a dividend of 1.625p per share, in a bumpy year for the sector’s investment trusts. The dividend, which will be paid to shareholders on 31 October, is in line with the company’s previously announced plan to pay […]
UNCERTAINTY over the post-Brexit economy represents an “unprecedented opportunity” for the alternative finance sector to support domestic growth, according to one peer-to-peer lender. Chirag Shah, chief executive of Nucleus Commercial Finance, told Peer-to-Peer Finance News that the P2P sector has a role to play in strengthening and stabilising the economy after the EU referendum. “P2P lenders can […]
LENDING in the alternative finance space – including peer-to-peer – has slowed over the past 12 months, as traditional lenders widen their offering in response to the competition. According to the latest annual report from the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB), lending to small businesses increased by almost 30 per cent to £20.7bn […]
HARGREAVES Lansdown is set to launch its peer-to-peer platform in early 2017, Peer-to-Peer Finance News can confirm. The as-yet-unnamed platform will offer loans to both businesses and individuals, while the firm will target its existing client base for investment. “Our intention is that we will be offering a marketplace-type service where loans will be pooled,” […]
LENDINGCLUB today said it has hired industry veteran Thomas Casey as its chief financial officer. The scandal-struck US peer-to-peer platform lost its former CFO Carrie Dolan last month, following the high-profile resignation of founder Renaud Laplanche as chief executive on 9 May. NYSE-listed LendingClub has seen its share price halve this year, following a probe […]
The UK inflation rate remained unchanged at 0.6 per cent in August, according to official figures released today, despite the base rate cuts earlier that month and the weaker pound. This follows evidence from Hargreaves Lansdown that shows savers are searching for more attractive interest rates. The fund supermarket saw a 50 per cent increase […]
A NEW peer-to-peer loan will allow investors to gain up to 30 per cent tax relief while funding social enterprises. The specialist loan is being offered by Community Chest Business Loans, a social investment venture which was created by the founders of ThinCats. Loans will be made available to community development projects in order to […]
CROWDSTACKER, one of the only platforms currently authorised to offer the Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA), is now seeing half of its investment coming via the tax-free product, its chief executive has said. The company launched in June 2015, making it too late to receive interim permission from the Financial Conduct Authority, but ended up getting […]
CITY veteran Nicola Horlick has said that, despite 33 years investing in the stock market as one of the UK’s top fund managers, she thinks peer-to-peer (P2P) is a “less risky” way to boost your income. Horlick is founder and chief executive of Money & Co, a P2P lending firm that focuses on business loans […]
FINTECH is leading the way in the City by offering flexible working hours to attract and retain staff, according to new research today. 39 per cent of women are now able to work flexible hours in the City – up from 30 per cent last year – and 35 per cent of men, while 61 […]
A LEADING business group has wiped a whopping £43.8bn off its UK growth forecast up to the end of 2018, predicting that Brexit uncertainty will put the brakes on business investment. In its first economic forecast since the EU referendum, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) downgraded its UK GDP growth outlook from 2.2 per […]