Wednesday’s News story on the figures from British Bank underscores the difficulty governmental organisations have in stimulating small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). So perhaps the European Commission’s recently published “SME Strategy for a sustainable and digital Europe” should be read in this light. It looks to us a worthwhile strategy for a potentially massive marketplace. The […]
The new Chancellor has announced a government review into the UK’s FinTech sector with the apparent purpose of supporting its growth and competitiveness. P2P Finance News takes up the story. The review was unveiled during Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak’s first Budget. It will be conducted by Ron Kalifa OBE, executive director of payment […]
Cliche, truism, hoary old chestnut? Take your pick, but the truth remains: there’s no profit without risk. We constantly stress the importance of understanding risk. It’s a precondition of lending – the attractive yields our lenders have achieved (over eight per cent across more than five years) comes at the price of the risk to […]
Here’s some of the fallout from the IPO of platform lender, Funding Circle, as reported by our friends at AltFi. US asset management giant T. Rowe Price has built at 7 per cent stake in Funding Circle following an all-time low for the marketplace lender’s share price. Rowe Price, which is also a very significant […]
There are more hostilities in the investment trust takeover battle at Pollen Street Capital. See the detail of the bitter struggle, reported by our friends at AltFi, below. Regular readers will know that we have strong reservations about the way mainstream finance has rushed to invest – or should that be “throw money”? – at […]
Lending to our carefully vetted borrowing companies is not a one-stage process. Investors who buy a fund or make a cash deposit into a building society account have done all the process they need to. With lending, depositing money is just the first part. After that, you have to choose a company and then deploy […]
Today, we return to the important subject of spreading risk in investment. Excellent commentary on the topic is offered by the Money Advice Service (MAS), an independent organisation funded by levies on the financial services and pension industries. MAS is chaired by former top City regulator, Sir Hector Sants. We set out highlights from this […]
We are following an old-fashioned takeover battle in the FinTech sector. A market-listed investment trust investing in alternative finance, particularly the platform-lending sub-sector, is the subject of a hostile takeover bid. As asset valuations for this investing in the sector via this route continue to fluctuate, an alternative route looks more and more attractive. Investors […]
One of the recurring themes of the alternative finance sector is the difficulty it has had in making a connection with small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Yesterday, we brought you news of self-funding by many in the sector. Today, we offer an excerpt from a This is Money report on the limited success of the […]
A recurring theme of our news coverage is the transition of alternative finance to the mainstream. P2P Finance News reports on another aspect of the evolution of the sector – the continued use of self-funding by the owners of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). This something that platform lenders such as Money&Co. approve of – […]