We are not alone. Although whether the UK and our European friends are heading in the right direction is another matter. We’ve all been taking advantage of government support to get the SME sector through this horrible Covid-19 crisis. Little seems certain, other than that governmental aid has been a good idea – even if […]
Today we bring you a snapshot of the volatile alternative-finance lending sector. Our friends at AltFi run a piece on its recently published market report. One of the outcomes seems to be that Europe is catching up and will soon overtake the UK market: European originations among peer-to-peer and marketplace lending platforms soared by 80 per cent […]
Some major financial institutions (Coutts Bank, for example) have indicated they will not apply negative interest rates, should the Bank of England go that way, to deposit accounts. Others are not so clear What would the fallout be – especially for the alternative finance sector and its players? The Fintech Times looks at the potential […]
Today we bring news of a merger on the euity side of the crowdfunding fence – and add a report offering a cautionary note regarding equity fund raises generally. The UK’s biggest equity crowdfunding raise platforms, Crowdcube and Seedrs, have agreed on terms to merge. AltFi reports: The two firms, who say £2bn has been raised across their […]
Mainstream finance’s enthusiasm for the direct-lending sub-sector of alternative finance has understandably abated after some poor investment experiences. AltFi reports the latest on a long-running saga involving an investment trust that’s been seeking a stable way forward for some time: Pollen Street Secured Lending (PSSL) has appointed Waterfall Asset Management to be its delegated portfolio manager, […]
Regular readers will be aware that we monitor the progress – or otherwise – of major players in our own direct-lending sub-sector of FinTech. We offer the following extended excerpt of a news report from our friends at AltFi without further comment. Samir Desai, CEO and founder of listed lender Funding Circle, has purchased over 163,000 shares in the […]
Mainstream investors are of course paying more and more attention to FinTech opportunities. As part of the continuing theme we offer an extract from entirely uncontroversial opinion piece in AltFi that cites classics, such as “exit routes” as being desirable. Home truths… Research from Innovate Finance shows that investment in UK fintech dropped by 39% in the […]
The ever-changing foment concerning Covid-19 continues. AltFi reports early developments regarding the CBILS extension, which has had a positive-to-neutral effect on the UK equity markets, at least. Back when the government first announced its financial aid package to help SMEs in March, it was first met with a sense of exasperation as it appeared fintechs and alternative lenders had been ignored. Fintechs were initially […]
The latest in a long stream of centralised initiatives – whose current and future success remains to be judged – is reported today by our friends at AltFi. We’re keeping a weather eye on the situation. More, assuredly, is to follow. Fintech industry body Tech Nation has today revealed the newest group of fintechs selected […]
Today, two snapshots of the wild world created by Covid-19. We leave you to decide which scenario you find more credible. First, fine words from the British Business Bank. AltFi reports: Fintechs will be “even more important” coming out of lockdown than they were during lockdown helping smaller businesses return to normality, according to the British Business […]