Assetz Capital’s rate hike attracts £10m in three weeks
ASSETZ Capital has seen more than £10m of new money invested in its 30-day access account in just three weeks, thanks to its promotional interest rate hike that ends on 11 May.
The peer-to-peer lender bucked the industry trend of falling interest rates last month by hiking returns on the account for a limited time period due to a surge in borrower demand, an offer it told Peer2Peer Finance News it looks to repeat in the future.
The platform, which channels funds to small- and medium-sized enterprises and property developers, gave investors from 13 April until noon on 11 May to take advantage of 4.75 per cent returns for up to 90 days after they put money into the account.
After this deadline, the 30-day access account will return to its original rate of 4.25 per cent.
“Due to strong borrower demand we decided to temporarily raise the target rate on our 30-day access account,” said Stuart Law, chief executive of Assetz Capital.
“This has gone against the grain in a period where many P2P platforms have been dropping rates. It’s been a roaring success as new investment in peer-to-peer loans has flowed into the account.”
Assetz Capital has over 19,000 registered investors and lent more than £245m to date, earning investors over £21m in interest.
“The start of 2017 has been an incredibly successful one for Assetz Capital and both our investor and borrower demand is increasing exponentially,” said Law.
“We expect to facilitate £250-350m worth of lending this financial year and will be funding £30-40m per month shortly.”
In contrast, other P2P platforms such as Landbay, RateSetter and Zopa have cut interest rates in recent times due to an influx of investor money that could not be matched straight away. Growing awareness of the sector and historically low interest rates have attracted an influx of yield-hungry investors, with many P2P platforms now facing the challenge of how to originate more loans.
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