No government inquiry into FundingSecure collapse
THERE will be no government-led inquiry into the failure of peer-to-peer lending platform FundingSecure, the Earl of Courtown, deputy chief whip of the House of Lords, has confirmed.
In a written response to a question posed by Lord Myners in the House of Lords on Thursday, Courtown said that there will be no government inquiry into FundingSecure’s collapse, and referred any further queries to the regulator.
“The government does not intend to establish an inquiry into the failure of the peer-to-peer lending platform Funding Secure [sic], which entered into administration on 23 October,” Courtown wrote.
“The government monitors the P2P lending sector on an ongoing basis and engages regularly with P2P platforms and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), who are responsible for the regulation of the sector.”
According to Hansard, the former City minister Lord Myners asked the government what plans they had to establish an independent inquiry into the failure of FundingSecure and on which date they first became aware that the firm was experiencing difficulty.
Courtown added that the second part of the question has been passed on to the FCA, and the regulator will reply directly to Lord Myners by letter. A copy of that letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Myners has previously grilled the government on its response to the Lendy collapse, and on its approach towards P2P platforms’ secondary markets. On the latter point, Courtown again referred Myners to the FCA.
Read more: FundingSecure investors still in the dark about administration process