UK labelled the “gold standard” of P2P lending
The UK’s peer-to-peer lending sector has been labelled as the “gold standard” of P2P, despite recent platform exits and changing regulation.
Although Funding Circle, Zopa, Lending Works and Connective Lending have all announced their P2P exits over the past few months and the Financial Conduct Authority has proposed tougher marketing rules for the sector, Lee Birkett, founder of JustUs, called the UK’s P2P sector the “gold standard”.
Birkett noted that P2P lending started here with Zopa’s launch in 2005 and said that the UK has mature regulations for the sector.
More European platforms are looking to launch here than vice versa, he added. For example, Estonia-based P2P platform EstateGuru launched here earlier this month.
Furthermore, German asset manager NordIX AG is actively seeking out investments in UK P2P platforms through a new allocation with a minimum commitment of €5m (£4.19m) per platform.
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“The UK is still the gold standard for P2P lending,” said Birkett.
“P2P lending started in the UK and is the most mature here.
“I think more European trying to enter the UK than vice versa, because the regulation is more mature here while it’s still in its infancy in Europe.”
Meanwhile, Filip Karadaghi, co-founder of LandlordInvest, agreed that the UK is the gold standard from the regulatory viewpoint, but said it is not necessarily leading in terms of platform quality.
“From a regulatory point of view, it’s definitely the gold standard and has been at the forefront for many years, but it is trailing on the international standard, I think that’s because of short-term thinking from the management teams of UK platforms,” he said.