Kreditbörsen (the credit exchange), a part of Sweden-based LendyTech , has launched a peer-to-peer lending service for borrowers and investors. The LendyTech group is described as a Fintech group with a global focus. LendyTech currently operates Kreditbörsen, SCG and LendySoft. Each of the platforms forcuses on the credit markets.
Kreditbörsen says it differentiates itself with the way that it controls the lifecycle of credit. Borrowers are offered a simple process for loan applications with risk-adjusted interest rates. The online lender wants to challenge traditional banks in providing credit for SMEs – and eventually consumers.
Founder and Chairman, Stefan Willebrand, commented on the launch;
”As in all our projects we want to build a stable base for the long term before we make any projects public in order to assume the main part of the risk ourselves. Kreditbörsen is no exception, we have built the whole operation from the ground with our own capital since 2011 with a very strong team. We started our lending business because of two things. We have for ourselves seen both sides of the coin. Throughout the years, we have been frustrated borrowers and unhappy investors, with Kreditbörsen we wanted to build a service that we could use ourselves to generate good and fair returns on our capital. All underwriting is associated with a certain level of risk where the interest levels are set in a responsible manner while considering the soft variables for the borrowers. My own background has mattered quite a bit in the creation of Kreditbörsen where I started my career as an entrepreneur in 1998 as a financial analyst, operated my own hedge fund in the US and an online broker in England. The result is an ecosystem within Fintech with Willebrand Invest as a public investment company since 2010, Bricknode as a developer of a financial platform since 2010 and the LendyTech group within financial services since 2011. The launch of Kreditbörsen enables new ways of financing within the ecosystem where we can offer entrepreneurs and FinTech-companies that use the Bricknode Platform various types of capital.”
Willebrand has stated he would like to see a loan portfolio of $35 to $45 million in the next few years.
Kreditbörsen enters the Swedish P2P lending space with a good amount of competition and some questions. TrustBuddy, another Swedish platform, became a poster child for P2P lending risk when it failed due to questionable management practices. Kreditbörsen will be up against Lendify, Savelend, Toborrow, Sparlan, Fundmill and Bynk.