What is happening in peer-to-peer lending - Market Commentary –2nd February 2015

Totals lent to date (2^nd February 2015)

Assetz Capital - £55 million plus

Funding Circle - £508,077,680

FundingKnight - £10,328,000

FundingSecure - £4,154,003

Lending Works - £5,299,337

Money & Co –  £4,125,000

Rebuildingsociety - £5,130,430

ThinCats - £90,598,000

Zopa - £734,000,000

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Assetz Capital  

Assetz Capital's investors have so far funded £55 million plus of loans (Exact figure not available).

Two interesting press releases in the last couple of weeks that should help bring further business to Assetz Capital: -

1. Victory Park Capital, a registered alternative investment advisor, is to partner with Assetz Capital making even more funds available for the benefit of UK businesses approaching the later.

2. RBS is to refer SME's to Assetz Capital and other alternative finance providers that they have been unable to provide loan finance for to see if they can support them. Let us hope this does not have a negative impact on the quality of their lending book.

There is certainly a lot of activity with 12 loans available to invest in with various companies. So, take a look at the opportunities in their loan book.

Funding Circle

To date, it has processed loans totaling £508,077,680 – an increase of 3.38% in 2 weeks.

RBS is to refer SME's to Funding Circle as mentioned above under the Assetz Capital section.

Over 7,000 businesses have borrowed over half a billion pounds through Funding Circle in 4 and ½ years. Interestingly, approaching £100 million was lent in the 4^th quarter of last year so that just goes to show how peer to peer lending has progressed.

FundingKnight

To date, it has processed loans totaling £10,328,000 – an increase of 9.26% in 2 weeks.

They have had a busy couple of weeks having processed their first bridging loan for £340,000 as well as their first venture into renewable energy by arranging a wind turbine loan for £450,000.

They also have an interesting loan still available in their auction. It is for Green Screen Productions Ltd. The company develops and produces films with the £150,000 being for working capital and to assist in the pre-production of a series of Shakespeare adaptions of Macbeth to celebrate the 400^th anniversary of his death in 1616.

FundingSecure

FundingSecure has administered advances totaling £4,154,003 – an increase of 8.20% in 2 weeks.

Over £300,000 in loans drawn down in the last 2 weeks. It would appear that no sooner are these loans appearing for auction than they are being fully funded. There is currently one loan available to invest in for £60,000 with the security being some pieces of modern art valued at £180,000 so an excellent LTV.

Lending Works

Lending Works has arranged loans totaling £5,299,337 – an increase of 5.66% in 2 weeks.

Another good couple of weeks with almost £300,000 lent.

Money & Co

The amount lent so far is £4,125,000.

There are currently no new loans to invest in although there are some opportunities to invest in existing loans in their "Loans for Sale" section.

rebuildingsociety

rebuildingsociety's loan book stands at £5,130,430 – an increase of 8.99% in 2 weeks.

Currently, there are 2 loans available. One is for £25,000 for a spa to carry out maintenance work, do some marketing and replace machinery. The other is for £50,000 for a building services company to take on additional staff for new contracts.

ThinCats

The amount lent so far is £90,598,000 – an increase of 1.08% in the last 2 weeks.

The 3 loans available to invest in are, interestingly, all involved in some way in renewable energy. They are for £500,000, £300,000 and £180,000.

Zopa

To date, it has been involved in loans totaling £734 million – an increase of 1.66% in 2 weeks.

Zopa's loan book grows steadily.

Zopa has been awarded the Best P2P lender in the MoneyWeek Readers'Awards 2014.

We trust that you have found the above to be of interest.