By Sam Griffiths on Thursday 5 March 2015
The big story in the UK Liberum AltFi Volume Index for February was the obliteration of the previous industry monthly volume record by 21% (£35m). Over £200m was originated by UK platforms in a single month for the first time ever. The previous record was only set in January, meaning that we have now witnessed four consecutive record origination volume months – the industry continues to grow at a phenomenal pace.
At the end of 2014, based on the growth trajectory at the time, AltFi Data predicted industry growth of 85%. With £372m originated in the first 2 months of 2015, growth continues to accelerate and at the current run rate, the industry is on track to double its 2014 lending in 2015.
The strong industry performance was made up of several impressive individual platform performances. 6 platforms had a record month of their own, including Funding Circle (£38.4m), SavingStream (£5.3m), Folk2Folk (£6.7m), LendInvest (£39.5m), Landbay (£1.3m) and Crowdcube (£9.5m).
LendInvest’s performance was particularly impressive, originating the most within the industry over the month. The platform also eclipsed its previous best origination month, set in July last year, by almost 50%. The timing is particularly good for LendInvest, with the platform announcing its intention to IPO earlier in the month. Perhaps the spike in transactional flows has been spurred on by the decision of the platform to lower its minimum investment amount, effectively opening it up to a wider pool of investors.
Second place in terms of monthly origination volume was hotly contested, with Funding Circle and RateSetter both lending just over £38m and RateSetter just squeezing into second place by less than £150k
This month also saw a new inclusion to the index in the form of Landbay, a secured property lending platform with big ambitions. In tandem with Landbay’s inclusion in the Liberum AltFi Volume Index, the platform announced a new standard of transparency. Landbay is now providing a depth of data that matches the level of disclosure that is required for inclusion into the Liberum AltFi Returns Index. For this, Landbay should be applauded – it’s a brave move for such an early stage platform, but one that we believe will build trust with their customers and catalyse the platform’s growth. We hope to see more platforms follow Landbay’s lead.
