Goldman Sachs continues to back Europe’s P2P lending sector
Goldman Sachs made its latest investment into a peer-to-peer lending platform last month, continuing a long track record of support for the sector.
The banking behemoth’s asset management arm has agreed a funding line with Initiative Ireland, which the P2P firm said will bring its lending capacity up to €900m (£767.6m) over the next three years.
This is just the latest inroad that the so-called vampire squid has made into the P2P market.
In 2019, it made investments into London-based P2P platform Lendable and Swedish P2P lender Brocc. The Lendable deal was worth £200m, while the Brocc investment was for an undisclosed amount. Both investments were made via its Goldman Sachs Private Capital division.
And earlier this year, Goldman Sachs was one of the investors who raised $170m (£124m) in growth funding for French P2P platform Younited Credit.
Goldman Sachs has also given its backing to the wider alternative lending space, having made a £50m equity investment into challenger Starling Bank earlier this year.
The US-headquartered firm is yet to invest in any UK P2P lending platforms – publicly at least – but its recent forays into the Irish P2P market and the UK alternative lending market suggest that it is eyeing the sector closely.
Goldman Sachs has traditionally been known for wealth management and investment banking but has moved into the retail market in recent years, with the launch of online consumer lending platform Marcus.
The goal was to diversify its sources of revenue by attracting retail depositors and borrowers, in contrast to its typical client base of institutions and high-net-worth individuals.
Its efforts appear to be working – a report earlier this month from Autonomous Research valued Marcus at between $7bn and $11bn.