Assetz expects to match 2019 lending volumes in the next six months
Assetz Capital’s chief executive expects his peer-to-peer lending platform to lend the same amount in next six months that it achieved during the whole of 2019.
Stuart Law has predicted that the P2P business and property lender will meet last year’s total lending volumes by the end of the first quarter of 2021.
He added that he expects Assetz to “easily” double its lending volumes year-on-year in the next financial year.
Law attributed this to institutional funding lines and lending under the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS).
He said the platform prepared for the economic downturn by working with the British Business Bank to get accredited for government loan schemes.
Read more: Assetz secures extra £25m from British Business Bank for CBILS lending
“It’s down to the fantastic opportunity our model has taken advantage of during the past seven years,” said Law.
“We prepared and are a business fit for purpose in this type of environment, able to deliver funding to the right people while bringing the funding in. Not everyone who has been accredited for CBILS has the funding lines that we do so it’s a combination of factors.
“The crisis has shown what alternative finance providers should be doing to react to a crisis in a positive way.
“We had to get used to the new environment, but we’ve come out fighting which shows how well prepared we are strategically.
“A number of alternative funders with different models will come out of the crisis several times stronger.”
Read more: Assetz Capital completes £1.5m fundraise using future fund
Law also revealed that Assetz has been hiring new staff and plans to expand its team even more in the near future.
Currently, the lender has three vacancies advertised on its website – a credit manager, a client assets sourcebook assistant in the finance department and a legal counsel for its portfolio management.
Law said the Covid-19 environment makes it difficult to appoint and train new staff, but meeting people is still essential as part of the interview process.
Assetz’s office in Manchester comes under the government’s tier three lockdown restrictions meaning different households cannot socialise but they are allowed to do so for business.
Therefore, Law said the platform’s team has conducted interviews safely in a large air conditioned room with a handful of people siting apart from each other.
Read more: Is P2P lending bucking the hiring freeze trend?
“Our sales, credit, loan processing and legal teams are growing,” he said.
“Everywhere you look we’re planning to expand because the volume of business going through is rising dramatically.
“With remote working and limited face to face contact, hiring and onboarding new people will be a big challenge.
“I think in the economy it will cause more problems for less experienced younger professionals.
“They can’t benefit from face to face conversations in the office, which is a fundamental part of training and onboarding, and many companies will just hire specialists instead, who are generally older.”