GROWTH Street is planning to roll out a wider range of data tools for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and a new broker proposition to boost its borrower base. The alternative business lender, which started accepting retail money last December, currently offers its borrowers a free cash flow forecasting tool and other analysis products to […]
MARKETINVOICE has thrown its weight behind a new anti-financial crime initiative, signing up to the UK Fintech Financial Crime Exchange (FFE). The project, launched on Thursday by security think-tank RUSI and financial crime risk management consultancy FINTRAIL, aims to bring together fintech companies to help them detect and counter money laundering, terrorist financing, bribery and corruption, […]
NAVA has hired consumer credit agency Equifax to support its underwriting capabilities, ahead of its imminent launch. The UK consumer lender, which connects institutional investors with individual borrowers, said that Equifax’s solutions would support its credit analytics, credit scoring and applicant ratings. The real-time data which Equifax provides will support the platform with its lending […]
CROWD2FUND launched a new “venture debt” product on Wednesday, which enables early-stage companies to access debt finance. Encroaching on a sector usually dominated by equity crowdfunding, the new offering is targeted at high-growth companies that are not yet cashflow positive. The peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding platform said that venture debt will typically be used for a particular […]
EASY-ACCESS accounts are less lucrative and riskier for peer-to-peer investors, new research claims. A number of P2P platforms offer easy- or free-access accounts, which attract investors who want the option to withdraw their money swiftly. However, lenders who choose these accounts earn nearly two per cent less interest per year and early access is not […]
THIS is the year that the peer-to-peer lending sector will move into the mainstream and become the main challenger to traditional banks, says the co-founder of property platform Lendy. However, in order to do so, Liam Brooke urged P2P firms to continue to build on best practice by undertaking rigorous due diligence and providing excellent […]
UK AND Irish businesses have turned to alternative sources of funding in the decade since the credit crunch, with invoice finance rising by more than £8bn, says new research. There was a record high of £22.2bn of asset-based finance advanced to businesses at the end of the fourth quarter of 2016, up from £14.1bn in […]
MARKETINVOICE has hired former Deutsche Bank trader Neha Mittal as its vice president (VP) of finance and strategy and promoted Gavin Sumner to VP of sales. The peer-to-peer invoice finance provider said on Tuesday that the two appointments would help the business meet its ambition of lending £2bn this year. Mittal spent six years at […]
SMALL British businesses are three times more likely to vote Conservative than Labour in the upcoming general election on 8 June, a survey by Funding Circle found. A vast majority of the 2,300 firms interviewed by the country’s third largest small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) lender are poised to throw their weight behind Theresa May’s […]
GROWTH Street’s interest rates have dropped for the first time since the platform opened to retail money at the end of last year, underpinning a surge in investor demand. The alternative finance platform, which channels funds to small- and medium-sized enterprises, has dropped its borrowing costs by 10 basis points to 6.4 per cent per […]
RATESETTER’S upgraded data disclosure on its loan book and expected losses has brought its transparency to a top-tier level, according to peer-to-peer lending research firm 4th Way. The ‘big three’ P2P platform, which recently announced it was upgrading its expected losses methodology with a new dedicated committee and quarterly reporting, published new figures incorporating the changes on […]
RATESETTER has fully acquired two former wholesale lending partners and bought a stake in another, meaning it can still lend to the firms’ customers without flouting the City watchdog’s rules. The Financial Conduct Authority recently confirmed that it was unhappy with peer-to-peer platforms lending to other lenders and said the activity may be in breach of current regulations. […]
ASSETZ Capital has hired former Barclays business development director Mark Standley (pictured) to oversee its expansion plans in South Wales. Standley previously worked as a branch manager at Handelsbanken Cardiff and Bridgend. Prior to that he was at Barclays, where he led a business development team across South Wales. “With extensive experience in property investment, […]
ABLRATE said it has gained ISA manager approval from HMRC and plans to launch its Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) by the end of next month. The peer-to-peer lender, which specialises in asset-backed business loans, received full authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority at the end of March. Ablrate said on Friday that it is in […]
FUNDING Circle is closing its community forum on Tuesday, as it says that some investors are “asking questions about a narrow range of technical topics” that would be better dealt with through its investor support team. A thread on short-term property loans has now attracted 1,300 replies and more than 59,000 views. Lenders on the […]