Regulators approve Fellow Finance and Evli Bank merger
Fellow Finance has moved a step closer to exiting peer-to-peer lending after receiving regulatory approval for its merger with Evli Bank.
The combination is scheduled to go live on 2 April.
Under the agreement, Evli Bank will form a new asset management group Evli Plc that will be listed.
Finland-based Fellow Finance will merge into this and carry on the banking services as Fellow Bank.
The platform announced earlier this month that it will cease intermediating new P2P and crowdfunded loans.
From the beginning of April, customers will be offered a possibility to sell their loan portfolios to Fellow Bank and to open an interest-bearing bank accounts and fixed term deposit accounts, the announcement said.
Fellow Bank is aiming to be a digital bank focusing on serving private and business clients while also offering attracting savings products.
The brand has also expanded into the buy-now-pay-later market.
It comes just a week after Funding Circle announced its exit from retail P2P lending in the UK.
The platform will instead focus on areas such as embedded finance.
The world’s oldest P2P lender Zopa has also closed its P2P lending arm to focus on its banking brand.