Despite small decreases, there was still a large number of investments and loans originated in May 2023, according to an update from European investment platform Bondora.
Both were in the €19 million ballpark, which is still “some of the highest monthly amounts they’ve seen recently.” Bondora further noted that collections and recoveries also “jumped sky-high, with over €1.7 million in cash payments recovered.”
As noted in a blog post by Bondora, 987 new investors joined the investment platform in May. In the same month, investors reportedly “earned over €3M in returns, and the total investment amount increased by €18M.”
In May, the loan originations “totaled €19,376,714.” This is “a small 4.2% decrease from April’s €20,216,799.”
All the markets originated less, “except for the Netherlands, which more than doubled to €1,833,049 loans.” Bondora further revealed that this is the first time they’ve “originated over €1M in the Netherlands in a month.”
As mentioned in the update from Bondora, Finland accounted “for most of all originations, with €13,554,166, declining by 8.6%. Estonian originations declined again by 9.6% to €3,835,252.”
The Dutch market continues “to rise exponentially, growing by 106.5%. Spain decreased once again by 40.0% to €154,247.” This is expected, as they’ve temporarily “closed the market to most new originations as they monitor data to change their internal risk-scoring models.”
Finnish loans, once again, “have the majority, with a 70.0% share.” Estonia follows “with 19.8%, the Dutch market with 9.5%, and Spain with 0.8%.”
The average loan interest rate “remained virtually unchanged at 20.2%.”
In May, investments declined slightly “by 4.0% to a total investment of €19,304,598.”
Despite the decline, this is “the third-highest investment figure in 2023.”
This is partly “thanks to the Go & Grow monthly investment limit being raised to €700 in May.”
One of the reasons why investments “were predominantly funded to Go & Grow was due to a technical glitch on their side with the API.” At the time of writing, their team “was still busy fixing it. But they hope to have the API running smoothly again soon.”
Secondary Market
Activity on the Secondary Market decreased once again.
This transaction decline is natural “given that Portfolio Manager and Portfolio Pro have closed, and there’s less need to make these transactions.”
Overall activity “fell by 31.8%, equaling €86,916 worth of transactions.”
The API decreased “by 13.4%, and Manual transactions by 43.5%.”
At a 50.4% share, manual transactions still “have the largest share, but the API is gaining with its 49.6% share.”
Collection and Recovery
May was “an exceptional month for Bondora’s collection and recovery efforts.”
There were increases “across the board, including an overall increase of 2.8% from April. A total of 92,528 loan payments were recovered.” Cash recovery inclined “by a mammoth 100.3% totaling €1,778,801 being recovered.”
Remaining consistent “with previous statistics, most cash and loan payments were recovered from Estonia, with €1,285,210 cash and 42,504 payments being recovered.”
In Finland, cash recoveries “increased by 28.6% to €445,683.”
Spain’s cash recovery figures “also boomed, climbing by 27.2%, totaling €47,907.” There’s been no need “for recovery efforts in the Netherlands.”
The 2014-2023 recovery rate “remained stable with a slight increase, growing from 52.4% in April to 52.9% in May.”
Similarly, 2023’s recovery rate “increased slightly, at 91.2%, compared to 72.4% in April.”
As the year progresses, the recovery rate “will likely decline again unless they continue to see impressive recovery statistics.”