Linked Finance heading towards record year of lending
Linked Finance is building towards a record year of lending after hitting its strongest month for loan volumes during July.
The Irish peer-to-peer property lender lent €5.5m (£4.6m) in July, more than treble the level of lending than the same month of 2020 and the highest in the platform’s seven-year history.
The platform said it supported more than 40 different small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with average loan sizes of €136,000 during the month.
Read more: Linked Finance welcomes extension of Irish government loan scheme
Its activity was boosted by involvement in the Irish government’s Covid-19 credit guarantee scheme and Linked Finance’s recently launched Recharge SME loans, which provide pubs, restaurants, accommodation providers, and cafes with a loan of up to €50,000 to help them reopen, restock and rehire as pandemic restrictions are eased.
“We are delighted to report record performance in July, with strong demand for loans from businesses looking to restock and reopen as the economy begins its recovery from the Covid shock,” Niall O’Grady (pictured), chief executive of Linked Finance, said.
“The SME market is now clearly starting the process of recovery, although different categories are at very different stages in their recovery.
“Every SME in the country should have an alternative lender to compare to the banks.”
Read more: Linked Finance reaches €150m lending milestone