Stuart Law of Assetz Capital Declares Nesta Predictions as “Worst Case Scenario”.
In a release responding to the just released Nesta predictions for the growth of alternative finance, which includes crowdfunding, Stuart Law, CEO of Assetz Capital, one of the UK’s fastest-growing peer-to-peer lending platforms, stated,
“The report’s projections are actually extremely low, and I’d be stunned if growth didn’t substantially exceed them – especially for P2P lending. The report’s authors concede that their growth forecast is based only on historic averages, whereas we believe that the next year will continue to bring exponential growth based on a number of factors.”
“2014 brings a ‘perfect positive storm’ for P2P lending platforms: not only will FCA regulation lead to increased consumer confidence in the industry, but there are strong rumours that steps will be taken to make P2P lending more tax efficient in 2014, such as inclusion in ISAs and SIPPs with the resulting increase in capital deployed in P2P lending.
“We currently anticipate that we’ll facilitate loans worth £100m by the end of 2014, but if more tax-efficient measures are incorporated in to P2P alongside our rapid growth in attracting lending capital we’d expect to have lent £1bn within 3 years ourselves – with the market multiplying in size accordingly.”
The UK based company has funded well over £9 Million in loans since commencing operations. The platform posts a current average rate of return of 11.8%. The company facilitates financing for SMEs and property developers. They will also loan to individuals seeking £25,000 or more when appropriate security is available.
The company was founded a group of entrepreneurs including Law. The other founders include Andrew Holgate, David Penston and Chris Mellish. Each founder has deep experience in finance, banking and project management.