Avant Crosses the £100m Mark in UK Loans

A short update on AvantCredit UK, which has now lent a grand total of £100 million to UK consumers to date.

Following the closure of a $325 million Series E round last September, the Chicago based consumer lending platform Avant has now has announced that it has lent £100 million to UK consumers since launching in the UK in October 2013.

The announcement was made at the LendIt Europe conference on Tuesday by Mr Raj Singh, Avant’s UK Managing Director, who is delighted with the achievement. Having issued nearly 35,000 loans in UK to date, it’s clear that Avant is now beginning to make substantial inroads into the UK consumer credit space.

Mr. Singh commented:

“Achieving £100 million in loans in the UK demonstrates the success of AvantCredit, and the widespread demand from middle income consumers who are seeking a clear transparent loan product using an exceptional efficient online service. Our success to date is down to our appreciation of customers as individuals, with unique credit situations and histories – rather than simply credit ratings. It’s our ability using cutting edge technology to price risk better than anyone else in this segment”.

Avant reached the $1bn milestone in loan originations worldwide last May, and it expects to originate over $2 billion in loans by the end of the year. The platform employs advanced technologies in the form of machine-learning algorithms which leverage big data to more accurately assess the creditworthiness of borrowers. Avant operates a hybrid business model, lending both off its own balance sheet and via third-party, institutional investors. The balance sheet feature allows the company to fund consumer loans more quickly – and provides the platform’s borrowers with a sense of assurance that successful loan applications will be swiftly funded.

The UK’s mightiest P2P consumer lenders – Zopa and RateSetter – have between them lent a little shy of £2bn to date, according to the Liberum AltFi Volume Index UK. While Avant is a long way from challenging either platform for volume at present, the company's rapid growth is undeniably impressive. It must be noted, however, that Avant doesn’t play in quite the same market segment as its peer-to-peer rivals. Zopa and RateSetter have historically honed in on the prime/super-prime consumer space, but Mr. Singh tells us that Avant borrowers typically occupy slightly lower tracts of the credit spectrum.