Consumer credit grows by £900m while mortgage approvals hit two-year high

DEMAND for personal debt remains strong, with consumers borrowing an additional £900m in July while mortgage approvals hit a two-year high.

The growth in consumer credit is broadly in line with the £1bn average over the past 12 months according … Read More

Goldman Sachs boosts foothold in consumer credit market via P2P lenders

GOLDMAN Sachs is making inroads into European peer-to-peer consumer lending with investments in Lendable and Brocc, despite a slowdown in consumer credit growth.

The US investment bank this month invested an undisclosed amount into Swedish P2P lender Brocc, and in … Read More

Assetz Capital warns inflation is ‘quiet threat’ to investments

INVESTORS could see a reduction on their returns after inflation rose above the Bank of England’s two per cent target, peer-to-peer business lender Assetz Capital has warned.

The Bank of England’s preferred indicator of inflation, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), … Read More

Business borrowing soars in June

UK BUSINESSES raised £3.3bn in finance in June, primarily from high street banks, but lenders have warned of an imminent credit crunch due to Brexit uncertainty.

New Bank of England data showed that UK businesses borrowed £2.5bn from banks and … Read More

Consumer credit growth hits a five-year low

CONSUMER credit growth hit a five-year low during May, Bank of England data shows.

Figures from the Bank show consumer credit borrowing grew by 5.6 per cent in May 2019, the weakest rate this year and the slowest since April … Read More

Bank of England backs data platform to boost SME financing

THE BANK of England said it will consult on developing a data platform that will store financial information from small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and help them access funding.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said the traditional metrics for … Read More

P2P investors sceptical about interest rate rises

MORE than half of Assetz Capital’s peer-to-peer investors are not convinced that more frequent Bank of England interest rate rises are on the way.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney (pictured) said in May that interest rate rises could be … Read More

Defaults rise “significantly” on unsecured loans in first quarter of 2019

DEFAULT rates on unsecured loans increased “significantly” in the first quarter of 2019, according to the latest Bank of England credit conditions survey.

The rising default rate was largely driven by missed credit card payments among consumers and businesses.

Lenders … Read More

P2P to have strong presence at Innovate Finance Global Summit

FOUNDERS of the ‘big three’ peer-to-peer lenders are among the confirmed speakers at Innovate Finance Global Summit (IFGS), which takes place next month at London’s Guildhall.

Giles Andrews of Zopa, Samir Desai of Funding Circle and Rhydian Lewis of RateSetter … Read More

Brexit blamed for slowdown in consumer lending

UNSECURED consumer lending has slowed to its lowest level since 2014, as Brits scale back their spending amid Brexit uncertainty.

The latest Bank of England Money and Credit statistics also found that the total number of mortgage approvals fell from … Read More