LendingCrowd, a UK alternative finance lender to the SME market, is readying to launch an Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) during Q1 of 2017, said to be one of the first launched in the UK alternative finance sector. The launch follows a record year for LendingCrowd during which it became the UK’s second P2P platform and the first P2P lender to SMEs to move from interim to full authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
“While we are not the biggest P2P platform in the UK, the investment made in our people and technology combined with the FCA approval has positioned LendingCrowd right at the front of the market when it comes to alternative financing of UK SMEs,” LendingCrowd CEO and Co-Founder Stuart Lunn explained. “We intend to build on this position of strength in 2017, continue to innovate for the benefit of our clients and will be updating the market on plans to launch our ISA during Q1.”
Since launching in 2014, LendingCrowd, reportedly Scotland’s only headquartered P2P lender, has facilitated loans totalling over £9M and has over 2000 investors signed up to its platform. Platforms deals range in size from £20,000 to over £1M. In 2015 LendingCrowd helped Diet Chef complete a £1.5M debt finance transaction.
Additional LendingCrowd highlights from highlights:
Effective on 1st November 2016, the FCA authorization translates to LendingCrowd meeting the stipulated “rigorous statutory standards” and paved the way for the launch of an ISA product.- In October, LendingCrowd partnered with the Scottish Investment Bank (SIB), the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise, in an initiative that will see £2.75 million invested in Scottish SMEs across the LendingCrowd platform. It is expected that the move will stimulate loans of up to £35 million for SMEs while leveraging significant private sector investment.
- Also in October, LendingCrowd announced a market-leading offer to investors in relation to adding P2P to their investment strategy. By investing £5000, investors received a 2.5% joining bonus allocated to their accounts and access to a lending platform that achieved an 8.1% rate of return over the last twelve months.