Prosper commits to retail P2P amid LendingClub exit
American peer-to-peer lender Prosper has committed itself to retail investors, after its rival LendingClub announced plans to exit that segment of the market.
The P2P personal loans platform, which was the first to launch in the US in 2005, has said it is committed to growing its retail offering.
“As one of the largest online marketplace lending platforms, Prosper offers institutional and individual investors a unique opportunity to invest in the consumer credit asset class,” Prosper said.
“In light of recent news that LendingClub is closing its platform, investors can be assured that Prosper remains committed to growing its retail notes offering.
“Prosper provides an attractive fixed-income investment option in this low interest rate environment.”
Read more: LendingClub to refer small businesses to Funding Circle
Prosper has a loanbook of $17bn (£13.1bn) and its average return for investors is currently 5.2 per cent.
LendingClub revealed last week that from 2021 it will develop new products as a bank holding company, including a high-yield savings account that will be initially exclusively available to its existing retail investors.
The US P2P lending platform has filed an 8K with the Securities and Exchange Commission stating it will stop offering retail notes as of the end of 2020.
It has applied to the Federal Reserve to become a bank holding company after entering into a plan to acquire Radius Bancorp in February in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $185m (£143.7m).
Read more: LendingClub’s bank acquisition ‘credit positive’
