RateSetter hails Brexit boost for the P2P sector
BREXIT has had a positive effect on the P2P sector, RateSetter has said, in the latest indication that Britain’s withdrawal from the EU may be good news for alternative lenders.
“We’ve had a lot of success in the aftermath of the Brexit with the base rate cut prompting people to look at their options,” said Luke O’Mahony, PR manager for RateSetter. “We think we’re well positioned to prosper in any kind of environment. We were founded in a difficult economic environment and we continue to prosper in it.”
O’Mahony added that the firm has no short-term plans to expand into the EU and brushed off concerns that Berlin may vie for London’s fintech business after the Brexit process is complete.
“It would make no sense for us to move our business to Germany, for example, but one of the broader points we can make is that the government has had a really good record of backing fintech in the past,” he said. “It’s very easy to be negative about Brexit and say that this is the end of fintech and business will leave, but we believe that there’s plenty to be positive about.”
RateSetter has already benefitted from an influx of new customers following the base rate cut, while a number of P2P lenders have been on a hiring spree in recent months despite concerns over the negative impact that Article 50 could have on the UK’s growing fintech sector.
“We were founded in a time of massive disruption and so were other companies like us,” said O’Mahony. “Obviously there will be some big changes but there’s opportunity in change and if anyone’s going to make the most of it it’s going to be fintech companies.”