P2P lender October unveils lending technology to boost employee engagement
French peer-to-peer lender October has signed up its first business that will use technology the platform has created letting employees support their own company’s projects.
October is providing technology to French utility company Engie through a dedicated platform called i-Deal.
The platform will let Engie staff support company projects and receive interest in return.
The aim is that businesses use the technology to boost employee engagement.
“Engie benefits from October’s six years of technology, credit and digital-lending experience,” October said in a blog post.
“October offers a simple, safe yet scalable end-to-end credit processing tool.
“During the pilot, two projects have been financed and hundreds of employees signed up to the platform.”
Read more: Increasing number of Brits backing European P2P loans
It is the latest initiative from the Paris-based lender.
October €258m (£235m) of funding from institutional investors in September to help support firms hit by the pandemic.
It has secured €20m of funding that will go towards its classic loan products alongside retail investors and has also created a loan for the tourism industry in France using €38m from six major insurance companies and state-backed bank the Caisse des Dépôts.
These deferred repayment loans are part of a French government programme to support the reopening of the hotel and catering industry and tourism companies.
October is also accredited to provide state guaranteed loans under Italy’s emergency coronavirus lending scheme and will deploy €200m from a consortium led by Italian banking group by Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo.
Read more: Continental Europe making better use of fintechs in government loan schemes
