Assetz Capital aims for £1bn of annual lending
Assetz Capital is set to hit £1bn of lending this year and £1.5bn in 2023.
A bullish impact report from the peer-to-peer lender said the platform is scaling up property lending and aims to be responsible for funding a quarter of small – and medium-sized enterprise (SME)-created homes in the UK over time.
The report, highlighting the role the platform and its lenders plays in society, claims around £2.5bn of new housing has been funded by Assetz companies since 1999, helping 1,100 SME.
Of this, £1.5bn has been funded through Assetz Capital.
The report adds that Assetz Capital provided £330m of loans to UK SMEs under the coronavirus business interruption scheme.
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It said there are now also 40,500 retail lenders registered on Assetz Capital and its property crowdfunding platform Assetz Exchange.
The report said the platform and investors are helping revive the SME housebuilding community from a low of 2,500 businesses to 10,000 and beyond, while also supporting employment and the creation of 50,000 extra supported living and care properties through Assetz Exchange.
Stuart Law (pictured), chief executive of Assetz Capital, said companies within the group have seen three periods of “great challenge and change in the property, financial and business markets” since 1999.
These include diminishing interest rates on savings and pensions, growing inflation, a reduction in bank business and housing shortages.
“Each economic cycle has brought a shifting of the foundations of our world; of institutions and conventions that had previously gone unquestioned,” Law said.
“Against that backdrop, time has offered an opportunity to reconsider the ways that we live which no longer serve us.
“That’s part of Assetz group’s agile DNA as a business – we’ve always sought new, better ways of working. We were born out of a desire to solve these important social problems and we exist to connect investors with businesses to help address those challenges and achieve fairer growth for all.”
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