Assetz promises a return to manual lending within months
Assetz Capital plans to return to new lending via its manual lending accounts and access accounts in the coming months, as the platform works to return to pre-pandemic operations.
The peer-to-peer lending platform added that its access accounts have continued to pay target rates or close to target rates throughout the pandemic.
In a note to investors, the platform said that it was still accepting deposits into its Innovative Finance ISA accounts, and remained committed to speeding up withdrawals from its access accounts.
“Whilst we haven’t yet achieved the levels of liquidity that we enjoyed before the pandemic, we are moving firmly towards normalising the access accounts, with the withdrawal queue reducing and the access account marketplace now having no material discounts offered by anyone for early withdrawal,” the platform said.
“We would like to thank you, our investors, for your patience and we’re confident that you should continue to see a marked improvement in the speed of withdrawals over the coming months.”
Read more: Assetz Capital to remove lender fee by June
Assetz Capital’s chief risk officer Chris Macklin added that the platform is ever closer to restarting new lending outside of the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS).
“Whilst there are still uncertain times ahead, the roll out of the vaccine means that there is hope for getting this pandemic under control,” said Macklin.
“Once we can return to some semblance of normality, businesses will be able to better assess their own future and put longer-term restructures in place. In the meantime, we will continue to offer support to our borrowers where it is needed and involve you, our lenders, on the steps that we take.”
Macklin added that the platform has seen a substantial reduction in the number of borrowers requiring forbearance, especially property developers.
Property-backed development loans make up around 50 per cent of the total value of Assetz Capital’s loan book.
Read more: Assetz eyes £100m in new IFISA money
