The peer-to-peer lending market is now funding more than £9 billion of loans across Europe each year with two thirds (67 per cent) of this funding coming through UK platforms, according to a report from our friends at AltFi – an excerpt of the report and details of how to download the underlying research is […]
Moves are afoot to make what’s sometimes dubbed the UK’s “most hated” tax a little easier to avoid. If you give away assets and then survive seven years, the gift becomes free of Inheritance Tax (IHT). If the donor dies before seven years, the gift is partially exempt, depending on the length of the period […]
It is later than you think. This old adage, often found on timepieces, has rarely felt truer than in the world of Inheritance Tax planning. Here’s the scenario: Boris Johnson become Prime Minister, fails to fight of the inevitable vote of no confidence, calls a General Election and loses to Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour. All this […]
Steady as she goes… The peer-to-peer (P2P) sub-sector of alternative finance has suffered some reverses recently. We offer an excerpt from the latest news report from our friends at AltFi, involving a UK fund investing in a troubled French venture, below. Our take on all this is simple: improperly managed risky ventures will fail (and […]
Funding Circle, the biggest player in the UK P2P sector, has announced more bad news, which has been badly received by the market. Its shares are 73 per cent off from the IPO price at the time of writing. The news has caused some to question the validity of the entire peer-to-peer (P2P) business model. […]
Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending is a young and fast-expanding sector embedded within the wider alternative finance sector. It is, then, something of a surprise that the ‘average’ user is predominantly older (over 60 in the case of many platforms from what we hear in the industry) and male. The theory is that in the prevailing […]
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a market study on the credit information sector. The idea is to analyse how the sector bestows the favour of credit on borrowers (and it is bestowed like a favour in many cases). This brings to mind Money&Co.’s own credit analysis. We have facilitated loans of around £18 […]
The language may be emotive but the loss is real. We have over the years often referred to the terribly low savings rates offered by banks and building societies to investors as the Great Savings Robbery. The point is simple: savings rates are consistently low, and borrowers find themselves paying higher rates. See some of […]
Central governments are generally thought of as being off the pace in the cryptocurrency world. Money&Co.’s two ha’pence on the subject is that this perception is broadly true. One thing is sure: the world’s governments and their regulators are set to face a challenge like never before with the advent of Facebook’s own digital coin. […]
We see that a major player in the peer-to-peer industry appears to be moving further away rom individual investors in favour of institutions. We excerpt a news report below. Our comment on this is twofold. First, we remain committed to keeping the crowd in crowdfunding (see earlier articles). Second, all this is fine, if Funding […]