Global index for crowdfunding and marketplace finance launches
A NEW index tracking global crowdfunding and marketplace finance trends has launched, with the aim of becoming the main barometer for alternative finance.
The Crowdfunding and Marketplace Finance Index (CAMFI) was created in a partnership between Cambridge-based intelligence firm TAB, China-focused data firm BBD, the Hangzhou Ling Hao Technology Company and the Academy of Internet Finance (AIF) in Hangzhou.
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It analyses more than 4,800 global platforms to assess the monthly trends of the alternative finance sector and creates a single metric.
The latest CAMFI figures found that the industry experienced an overall downward trend in June, with the index dropping from 103.40 in May to 87.95 in June, a decrease of 14.9 per cent. However, TAB’s chief executive Emily Mackay said that this was likely due to the holiday season and the global macro-economic climate, and expressed optimism for the long-term health of alternative finance.
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“CAMFI is a true world first in distilling the overall health of the alternative finance market down into a single number, and will be the single measure by which the world identifies trends and patterns, and assesses the strength of the industry,” said Mackay.
“With the holiday season beginning it is not unexpected that June would be a lighter month than May, with raises slowing up across the globe and in the northern hemisphere particularly. This also fits with the wider global economic picture, the long-term health of alternative finance is strong and we look forward to quantifying this in CAMFI.”
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Going forward, CAMFI will produce a monthly index, combined with a report which will analyse metrics across the three dimensions of scale, efficiency and transparency.
“CAMFI means there is now a whole market measure including sub-indices, a powerful tool in trend tracking and informing the global market about this emerging asset class,” added Emily Mackay.
“Online finance is a sector that overall is showing considerable growth globally year to year, and CAMFI is a major development in assessing this sector for public bodies, financial analysts, academics, SMEs, corporates and other interested parties.”