Finance Magnates is preparing for its 4th consecutive London Summit to be held in early November. The event organizers state that over 1500 FinTech and FX executives will convene to discuss the financial industry and the fast pace of change with the advent of internet finance.
According to Finance Magnates, in the world of alternative finance, a question emerging is how much this new industry of equity crowdfunding and marketplace lending is affected by stock market changes. They see the answer as being mixed.
“In much the same way that gas hitting $4/gallon generates interest in hybrids and electric cars, the more volatile the stock market, the more attractive alternatives become.” Barken added, “Although offerings on equity crowdfunding platforms may have significant risk, many investors are questioning the inherent safety of traditional investing options,” stated Lee Barken, CPA at Haskell & White, LLP.
Of course a big difference between many traditional asset classes and alternatives, is the lack of liquidity to exit positions, with investments needing to be viewed as multi-year positions. They believe this differentiator, and the ability for investors to be able to participate in a new type of asset class is shielding crowdfunding from overall weakness in traditional stocks.
There has yet to be a slowdown in the equity crowdfunding market in the UK. In the US things are beginning to pick up with the addition of Regulation A+ but is still somewhat dampened by the lack of rules surrounding Title III of the JOBS Act or retail crowdfunding.
There is also the debt side of the equation, dominated by marketplace lending and real estate crowdfunding platforms.
With London evolving into a leading FinTech hub, Finance Magnates expects to cover alternative asset classes and other hot topics which are set to disrupt traditional finance.
