Ablrate “may not be able to offer” secondary market again
Ablrate may not be able to reopen its secondary market again after it closes on Friday due to a regulatory dispute.
Earlier this week, David Bradley-Ward, founder and chief executive of Ablrate, told Peer2Peer Finance News that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) had raised questions about the operations of the platform’s secondary market, as part of an industry-wide investigation into secondary market liquidity.
In a new message to investors, Bradley-Ward said that while the platform will be making its case to the FCA and hopes to reopen its loan exchange soon, the regulator will have the final say.
“As much as we will be putting our position to the FCA, the regulator has the ultimate veto on regulations,” said Bradley-Ward.
“We have received a lot of criticism of the FCA but in many respects they do have a thankless task and, as an organisation, have come under increasing pressure due to recent and not so recent events inside and outside of the P2P market.
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“So while we are clearly not happy about their position we do understand that they have a job to do and they can’t be criticised for that. We hope that we will be able to reach an agreement with the FCA quickly.
“We feel that our position is very strong and as such we feel that the market should be allowed to trade again. However, this is not guaranteed and we may not be able to offer our loan exchange again.”
The exchange is due to close at 10am on Friday 8 April.
Before then, investors have been encouraged to cancel any standing bids and offers and return funds from the loan exchange to their Ablrate account.
While the loan exchange is closed, investors will not be able to buy or sell any loans from other lenders. Furthermore, the platform will not be able to switch loans from IFISA accounts to standard accounts due to HMRC rules which state that they must be moved through an ‘open market’.
Bradley-Ward added that the FCA has asked Ablrate to pass on any ‘lender sentiment’ related to the closure. He invited investors to contact the platform or the regulator directly to share their views.
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