Record Year for Assetz Capital as £108 Million lent to Small Business in 2016.
Assetz Capital, a peer-to-peer lending platforms, has announced having originated £200 million in loans since launching in 2013. The alternative finance platform targets small and medium-sized UK businesses and also helps property developers acquire funding. Assetz Capital says it is now originating secured loans totaling up to £26 million per month. In Q4 of 2016, Assetz Capital lent over £45 million.
The milestone caps a record year for Assetz Capital, in which over £108 million was lent in 2016. Investors earned a total of £17 million of interest since the platform launched. Assetz Capital states that more than £500 million is now available to lend through the platform to credit-worthy British businesses. Assetz Capital points to data provided by AltFi indicating it is now the third largest peer-to-peer business lender in the UK.
“Assetz Capital’s growth has been exponential over the past year as a result of the funding shortage for SMEs and the low-interest rates on offer from banks and the fact that we’ve lent an incredible £108m last year is credit to our hard-working and experienced team,” said Stuart Law, CEO of Assetz Capital. “Another core reason to our success is our business model, which ensures all loans are backed up by property or other tangible assets.”
Law said he believed that secured loans are the best investment model for investors as they result in minimal losses.
“With a default rate of 6% but losses running at just 0.8%, Assetz Capital is proving their mettle when it comes to protecting investors interests.”
Law was quite bullish on the online lending sector;
“Confidence is growing in the peer-to-peer sector, as more investors look for higher risk-adjusted returns in a time of low-interest rates and more borrowers see the advantages of dealing with peer-to-peer lenders. In August 2016 independent analysts Defaqto assessed the sector. Assetz Capital was one of only five platforms to achieve a 5 Star Defaqto rating in the first “Loan Based crowd funding” category.”
Law said he was delighted with the success of his P2P lending platform to date calling it “no small feat”.
“…we have our sets set even higher in 2017. With around one-quarter of all our lending to date being carried out just in quarter 4 of last year, it’s going to be a big and important year for both Assetz Capital and the wider P2P sector.”