UK platforms spot opportunities Down Under
UK-based peer-to-peer lending platforms are increasingly eyeing the Australian market, as demand for alternative lending products soars in the country.
Last month, UK property lender CrowdProperty launched in Australia and P2P business lender Crowd2Fund opened an office there in 2018.
CrowdProperty chief executive Mike Bristow told Peer2Peer Finance News that the Australian P2P lending market shares some similar characteristics with the UK market in terms of bank attitudes, prices, and a lack of centricity for borrowers and lenders.
“Those are the things that our business was built to solve,” he said. “What we also observed is the Australian marketplace lending sector being a number of years behind the UK, and therefore we can say ‘look at what we’ve achieved – we have built an incredible platform and leadership in the UK in just seven years. We can do the same thing in Australia in a shorter period of time’.”
Australia’s P2P lending market is small but showing signs of growth. In November 2020, Plenti – formerly known as RateSetter Australia – became the first Australian fintech to originate more than AUS$1bn (£550m) of loans. Soon after, Australian P2P lending platform SocietyOne said that it had passed its AUS$1bn lending milestone and announced its launch into the secured loan market.
Read more: SME finance aggregator Swoop expands into Australia
“There is a lot of upside for alternative lenders and marketplace lenders in that market,” added Bristow. “Because it’s a relatively small sector at the moment, there are the corresponding pains associated with raising finance from traditional sources such as banks and more nimble fintech alternative lenders can provide that service better, easier and quicker.”