Assetz Capital to continue offering RLS but at a limited capacity
Assetz Capital will continue offering recovery loan scheme (RLS) loans but at a limited capacity following the changes to the scheme.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Autumn Budget announced that the scheme will be extended until 30 June, but the finance available to businesses will drop from up to a maximum of £10m per company to a maximum of £2m, and the government guarantee will be reduced from 80 per cent to 70 per cent of the value of each loan.
On the day of the announcement, Stuart Law (pictured), chief executive of Assetz Capital, said the peer-to-peer lending platform was reviewing whether it would continue participating in the RLS following the changes announced in the Budget.
Law now said that Assetz Capital will continue offering RLS loans but at a limited capacity, as there are fewer relevant opportunities.
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“We expect to be using it in some way to a limited degree as the country recovers and exactly how is still in the final decision,” said Law.
“We’d like to use it a lot but it isn’t quite an expansive product now with the changes that have happened.
“It’s a significant part of what we have been doing but we a lot of other lending going on and I think with the changes, such as the £2m maximum loan amount, to the scheme there will be fewer cases to apply it to.
“Most loans are more than £2m and will involve some other solution. I think we will reduce it but think it’ll still have a place but at much more limited degree due to the changes made.”
Last week, Law said that Assetz Capital has restarted retail lending across all cohorts of loans, having resumed development lending.