Mintos completes transition to regulated notes
Mintos has completed its transition to regulated notes, meaning that its customers can no longer put funds into the old loan investment product or trade those investments on the secondary market.
The European lending marketplace launched its regulated notes on 25 May, which give investors better protection and transparency. It offered a transition period until 30 June, whereby Mintos customers could invest in both the old loan investment product and the new notes.
“As we announced recently, the transition to regulated financial instruments (notes) on Mintos is complete,” the company said in a blog post on its website. “From today, you will only be able to invest in notes.
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“Please note that all investments made by acquiring claims [the old loan investment product] before 30 June remain unaffected and will run as usual until the respective loans are repaid.
“Due to regulatory requirements the secondary market for investments via claims is now closed. From today, investors can only buy or sell investments in notes.”
Mintos had been working on transitioning its loan investment product into loan-backed securities since it secured its investment firm and electronic money institution licence in August 2021.
Under the new, regulated structure, Mintos investors will be protected by the MiFID II investor protection framework. They will also have access to in-depth prospectuses about the notes, giving them increased transparency.
They will be protected by the investor compensation scheme, which provides compensation if Mintos fails to return financial instruments or investor funds to investors, up to a maximum of €20,000 (£17,200).
Mintos previously said it was on track to launch the notes in the fourth quarter 2021 but this was delayed because of the limitations of local tax and institutional systems in some EU countries that “were not fully adjusted for new fintech products”.