The people at the top of P2P trade bodies
There are plenty of peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding platforms across the UK and Europe but who are the people representing them?
There are three main trade and lobby groups representing the P2P and crowdfunding sector.
The UK has Innovate Finance offshoot the 36H Group, as well as the UK Crowdfunding Association (UKCFA), while the European Crowdfunding Network (Eurocrowd) is the body representing alternative lenders on the continent.
Here are the people in charge of giving the sector’s its voice and representing its interests to government and regulators.
36H Group
The 36H Group was launched in January 2020 to replace the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association.
It sits within fintech trade body Innovate Finance and members include Assetz Capital and CrowdProperty.
Carter was appointed as head of platform lending in April 2020.
Carter has extensive experience in the alternative finance sector and the wider financial services sector, Innovate Finance said said at the time.
Following a career in investment banking where he advised financial services companies on strategy and raising, he has been closely involved with platform lenders for several years as a board member, adviser, angel investor and lender.
He is also executive chair of The Money Platform and has previously been a director of Rozes Invest, which backs early stage alternative finance companies.
UK Crowdfunding Association
The UKCFA was launched in 2013.
Its members include crowdfunding platforms such as Seedrs as well as P2P lenders including Rebuildingsociety and CapitalRise.
The UKCFA has two founding directors, Bruce Davis and Atuksha Poonwassie.
Davis is joint managing director of Abundance Investment and was a member of the founding team that launched Zopa.
Poonwassie is managing director and co-founder of property lender Simple Crowdfunding.
The UKCFA has also launched its own P2P lending committee this year that is called the 36H Group.
European Crowdfunding Network
P2P and crowdfunding lenders on the continent are represented by Eurocrowd.
Giacomo Bertoldi was named as the new chair of its non executive board earlier this week.
He is a co-founder and chief executive of Italian crowdfunding platform Walliance, which lets investors back real estate projects.
Eurocrowd’s executive director is Oliver Gadja, who launched the organisation in 2013.
He is a former journalist and has worked in venture capital, microfinance, technology and social entrepreneurship roles.
Gadjas was also a co-founder of Lendery, which launched in 2014 and connects institutional investors and marketplace lending platforms.