A month-by-month guide to P2P in 2020
2020 has certainly been a year to remember (or forget) with Covid-19. Much has happened in the peer-to-peer lending space, with platforms responding to the crisis to support the economic recovery, while also innovating and adapting to new regulations.
Here’s Peer2PeerFinance News’ round-up, month-by-month.
January
The year started with the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association being disbanded and replaced by new trade body 36H Group.
Elsewhere, ETHLend began winding down its loanbook, weeks after Aave launched its flash loans.
February
Orca closed its investment aggregator platform to retail customers and Wellesley Finance’s first-half results showed that it had swung into the black.
The government defended P2P platforms’ due diligence while the regulator supported its Google adverts campaign that warned consumers that P2P is high-risk.
March
This was the month that Covid panic hit the UK, and the P2P sector responded quickly. Octopus Choice stopped all transactions, Growth Street initiated a liquidity event and Assetz Capital paused withdrawals from its access account. Funding Circle tightened its lending and Zopa offered borrowers payment breaks.
Meanwhile, Shojin Partners’s results showed the platform reduced its losses significantly in the year ending 30 June 2019.
April
Funding Circle became the first P2P platform to become accredited to offer the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS) and the government introduced the future fund for innovative companies.
Innovate Finance hired Mike Carter as head of platform lending, Lending Works implemented a 90-day ban on new lending and Crowd2Fund paused new listings.
Also, two mini-bond providers, Basset & Gold and Blackmore Bond went into administration this month.
May
Peer2Peer Finance News launched its ‘Back Our Industry’ campaign in a month in which Assetz Capital and MarketFinance were accredited to CBILS and Funding Circle began offering bounce back loans.
Assetz introduced a lender fee while RateSetter halved interest rates for investors for the remainder of the year.
June
The City regulator temporarily banned the marketing of mini-bonds to retail investors and both Ablrate and ArchOver released their full-year results.
Also this month, Propifi suspended its P2P platform during the pandemic.
July
This month both LendingCrowd and Folk2Folk were accredited to offer CBILS.
Elsewhere, P2P lenders were blocked from accessing the Bank of England’s term funding scheme, Lending Works was acquired by alternative investment manager Intriva Capital and Growth Street announced it was winding down.
August
RateSetter was acquired by Metro Bank, LandlordInvest said it was looking to make a profit this year and Innovate Finance chief Charlotte Crosswell praised the response from P2P lenders to the crisis.
September
The Treasury first extended applications to its loan schemes around the same time LendingCrowd started lending under CBILS.
Funding Circle’s results showed its total income grew while operating losses widened.
Metro Bank completed its acquisition of RateSetter, JustUs resumed retail lending and Crowd2Fund reopened its platform for loan listings.
October
This month, creditors backed proposals by Wellesley to enter a company voluntary arrangement and Waterfall replaced Pollen Street Capital as manager of the Pollen Street Secured Lending investment trust.
Furthermore, Assetz Capital completed a £1.5m fundraise using the future fund, Lending Works introduced negative interest rates and Ablrate launched its ASMX-powered loan exchange.
November
Funding Circle said it now expects to report a profit in the second half of the year while Rebuildingsociety predicted a modest profit for 2020.
A new P2P lender called Propio said it will launch soon and JustUs announced it will introduce P2P mortgages next year.
December
The end of the year brought with it a succession of company results, including from Zopa, Huddle Capital, LendInvest, Landbay and ThinCats.
Elsewhere, the Treasury extended the deadlines for its loan schemes again, LendingCrowd paused new retail sign-ups and deposits and Assetz Capital said the platform will remove its lender fee from February.
In addition, FundingSecure administrators said that they have recovered £23.5m to date, while Lendy administrators said their process could extend beyond its 2023 deadline.