Assetz Capital’s wait is finally over. After nearly two years of labouring under interim permissions, the secured P2P lender has been granted full authorisation by the FCA.
The platform says it is in the final stages of completing work on its Innovative Finance ISA, which it says will be rolled out in the fourth quarter of this year.
Assetz Capital is one of the largest peer-to-peer lenders outside of the “big three”. The business lender has lent over £317m to date, including more than £122m in 2017 alone, according to AltFi Data. Its unique selling point to investors is that all of its loans are secured against and a range of assets, predominantly property.
Another secured business lender named ThinCats, which is not dissimilar to Assetz in terms of size and focus, was authorised at the start of August.
Assetz was founded in 2013, putting it among the older secured P2P platforms. Stuart Law (pictured), CEO of the company, said that its cautious approach is essential for “investors’ peace of mind”.
“Our focus remains to ensure the growth and security of our lenders’ investments, as well as the success of our borrowers’ businesses,” he said. “Our team has done fantastically well to deliver such success to all of our stakeholders over the last few years and yet there is also so much more to achieve ahead of this milestone and we are all excited about the continuing journey.”
The majority of the UK’s biggest peer-to-peer platforms are now authorised. RateSetter, which lends to businesses, individuals and property developers, is a notable exception.
