Peer to peer lender Assetz Capital is “optimistic” following the decision by UK citizens to depart the EU. The leave vote has, in their opinion, created an opportunity;
“Brexit will create a big opportunity for Assetz Capital’s investors as bank interest rates on business loan are likely to rise – making banks less competitive,” states Stuart Law, founder and CEO of Assetz Capital. “Banks lending volumes are now reduced and at the same time, they are likely to lower their savings account rates even further. This will allow us to continue to grow strongly and deliver more lending to quality businesses who can provide us with solid loan security and also deliver more interest to our lenders.”
Seeking to assure existing investors,. Law stated;
“We have already lent more than £120 million to the British economy backed by what is principally strong property security at modest loan to value, and as a result our lenders have earned approaching £12 million of interest since 2013. We expect this to continue but the credit team will be even more careful on the quality of businesses we lend to as we navigate the inevitable wobbles created out of the Brexit. Hard security on loans will be even more important but then that is our speciality. We have never lent on overpriced housing developments in the prime London market as we had expectations of this type of set-back however we will continue to work with experienced developers of modestly sized and priced schemes in normal locations from London suburbs all the way out to the provinces.”
While global markets stutter and fall, there will be many questions as uncertainty creates risk. It will take a bit of time for markets to stabilize but in Law’s opinion, secured debt based investments will weather the storm quite well.