Ablrate considers buying Collateral’s loan book
BUSINESS lender Ablrate is considering buying the loan book of Collateral, the peer-to-peer lending platform that recently went into administration.
Ablrate’s chief executive David Bradley-Ward said he has contacted Collateral’s administrators to find out how it can help.
“If there is a way we can buy the debt, take over the running of the debt or help out on the regulatory side, then this is the time for us all to pull together because there are a lot of worried people out there,” he said.
Peer2Peer Finance News revealed last Thursday that Collateral had fallen into administration. The lender had been unreachable since shutting down its website on 28 February, and it subsequently emerged that its regulatory permission had lapsed.
Bradley-Ward said there is an obvious synergy between Ablrate and Collateral, which are both asset-backed P2P lending platforms.
“We share a number of clients because of our asset-backed nature, so I got in touch with the administrators to see how we can help,” he said. “We’re waiting for them to get back to us.”
The P2P lending industry is still seeking clarification on why Collateral closed.
“We don’t yet know if it is due to a technical issue with their regulatory permissions or a problem with the debts,” said Bradley-Ward.
BondMason, which invests in loans across more than 30 P2P platforms on behalf of investors, has also offered to step in and manage Collateral’s loan book. BondMason has invested 2.48 per cent of its portfolio through the troubled platform.
Ablrate and MoneyThing, another P2P business lender, have both emailed their customers to reassure them about the safety of their platforms. The messages detailed their stability, performance and regulatory requirements that mean they have to hold client money separately and have a “living will” that puts a plan in place should a business fail.