RateSetter hits $200m lending milestone in Australia
PEER-TO-PEER lending platform RateSetter has hit a cumulative lending milestone in Australia, having facilitated loans totalling A$200m (£114m).
The firm, which is the only Australian peer-to-peer lender open to retail investors, has doubled lending volumes in just over six months.
It attributed its rapid growth to poor returns on traditional investments and escalating attention on banks’ conduct and profits.
Daniel Foggo, chief executive of RateSetter Australia, said the P2P industry is reaping the benefits of Australians’ frustrations with the banks, with record numbers of investors and borrowers seeking out better-value alternatives.
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Research by the platform suggests 56 per cent of its investors withdrew money from bank savings accounts and 17 per cent reallocated money from term deposits into RateSetter’s platform.
Millennials make up the greatest proportion of investors at 58 per cent, but they invest the least, at an average of just A$9,454 (£5,369).
Pre-retirees and retirees invest the largest amounts in the platform, at A$66,118 (£37,549) and A$64,427 (£36,590) respectively.
In May, RateSetter launched Australia’s first green loan marketplace, supported with a A$20m cornerstone commitment from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC). This was the first partnership between an Australian peer-to-peer lender and the Australian government.
RateSetter was established in Australia in 2012 and launched to the Australian public in 2014.
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