The Peer-to-Peer Finance Association’s members have now lent over £500m in 2014, with new lending jumping from £247.4m in Q1 to £272.7 in Q2. The current growth trajectory will see the member platforms lend well over £1 billion this year alone.
Christine Farnish, Chair of the P2PFA, commented:
“Peer to peer lending is consolidating its position as a good value and reliable form of funding for credit worthy consumers and small businesses, and more and more consumers are turning to p2p lending as a good way of putting their spare cash to work. As we continue to grow we are committed to maintaining the highest standards of business conduct and are working with the FCA to ensure a smooth transition to statutory regulation.”
The graph below highlights the growth in active lenders for member platforms in recent times:
Giles Andrews, Co-Founder and CEO of leading UK consumer lender Zopa, also weighed in:
"Being on track to lend £1 billion in 2014 in the UK alone is a huge achievement for the peer-to-peer sector, made possible only by the British consumers willing to lend and borrow from us. Zopa has lent almost £600 million pounds to date, and our mission is to deliver every saver and borrower in the UK better rates and service, as they deserve. By cutting out the banks and offering returns of over 5% (compared to bank savings rates typically under 1%) we are rewarding people for being sensible with their money. Consumers continue to distrust banks and many see alternative financial models, such as peer-to-peer lending, as more trustworthy, ethical and sustainable than the banks as well as providing better value."
Perhaps the most impressive division of the peer-to-peer lending spectrum in 2014 has been the peer-to-business lenders – four of which are P2PFA members (Funding Circle,ThinCats,LendInvest and Wellesley). AltFi Data published its monthly volume index at the start of July, and weighed in on the flourishing P2B sector:
“With such a plethora of serious operators, could we soon see the peer-to-business sector (£556,178,261) rival the consumer lending space (£830,707,265) in terms of scale? The latter sector exhibited a growth rate of 5.50% throughout June, compared to a 10.40% figure for the business lending field.”
