Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending to UK businesses and consumers reached a staggering £1.2bn in 2014, taking total lending by the industry to £2.18bn – more than double the figure at the end of 2013.<\/p>\n
The new data, published on Friday by the P2P Finance Association (P2PFA), reported a 90% increase in the number of British firms using P2P lenders in 2014; rising from 73,700 at the start of the year to 139,749.<\/p>\n
Similarly, the findings also showed an increase in the number of P2P providers with the number of lenders growing from 86,000 to 114, 697 across 2014.<\/p>\n
The P2PFA gathered the data from its member companies which includes MarketInvoice, Funding Circle, Ratesetter, Zopa, LendInvest, ThinCats, Lending Works, Landbay and Madiston LendLoanInvest.<\/p>\n
The news marks yet another boost for the alternative finance industry and follows Santander and RBS’ recent commitment to refer businesses rejected for a bank loan to alternative providers such as Funding Circle and Assetz Capital.<\/p>\n
RBS previously estimated that the P2P market contributed 1% of total lending to small businesses but said it was growing by 200% year on year.<\/p>\n
The milestone figure also coincides with news from small business finance portal Alternativebusinessfunding.co.uk, a site launched in 2014 by leading alternative funders, that an estimated 2,500 small and medium-sized business have found funding through its platform to date – representing strong demand for alternative finance solutions.<\/p>\n
Christine Farnish, chair of the P2PFA, commented:<\/p>\n
“These figures demonstrate the growing impact peer-to-peer lending is having on the market. Last year showed continued and solid growth in the consumer market and a significant increase in lending flow to businesses. Invoice finance and peer-to-peer finance within the property market are also growing.<\/p>\n
“2015 will be another important year for our industry. The government has agreed that peer-to-peer lending should become part of the ISA tax-wrapper, a decision we warmly welcome. Our strong view is that government should establish a new ‘Lending ISA’ category to enable consumers to understand the difference between peer-to-peer lending, cash savings and stocks and shares investments.”<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending to UK businesses and consumers reached a staggering £1.2bn in 2014, taking total lending by the industry to £2.18bn – more than double the figure at the end of 2013. The new data, published on Friday by the P2P Finance Association (P2PFA), reported a 90% increase in the number of British firms […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63583,"featured_media":63001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3008],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n