Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose money. This is a high-risk investment. You may not be able to access your money easily and are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 minutes to learn more.

The Assetz Capital platform is no longer open to investment from individual investors. No new investments into peer-to-peer loans are possible and, as a result, no new funds should be deposited. The existing loan book relating to the Retail platform is now in run-off and this will, over time, deliver the return of capital to investors. Full information can be found here . Existing Retail lenders can still log in, view information regarding their account and loan holdings and operate their account in accordance with the information regarding the run-off provided on the link above. Please see this important message regarding the currency of the information on the pages on this website.

How Your Money Can Boost British Businesses

How Your Money Can Boost British Businesses

This demand for accessible credit has lead to rapid growth in P2P lending. The good news for investors is that the rise of P2P offers the potential for higher gross returns to those willing to accept the associated risk.

Intro: What is peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending?

Peer-to-peer lending involves lending at fixed rates of interest to businesses (via secured or unsecured loans) and/or individuals (via unsecured loans). Gross returns for P2P lenders typically range from 3.5% to 7.5% a year (before tax and any loan losses not covered by loss-provision funds). Generally speaking, the higher the lender interest rates on offer, the riskier P2P loans will be.

Warning: As peer-to-peer lending is investing and not saving, your money is not 100% safe and you might get back less than you put in. Also, P2P lending is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). This government-backed safety-net protects 100% of the first £85,000 of cash on deposit per person per UK institution, but not P2P loans.

Why British businesses like P2P lending

During the Global Financial Crisis of 2007/09, British banks drastically slashed their lending to smaller businesses, fearful of adding to already-enormous bad debts and losses. Even seven years on, lending to businesses these days remains far below its pre-crash levels, creating a sizeable 'loan gap' for UK firms.

With banks reluctant to lend or only willing to offer credit at uncompetitive rates, more and more British businesses are turning to P2P lending to help fund their working capital, acquisitions and expansion plans. Many businesses are attracted to P2P lending because it can offer:

  1. Access to funding for smaller and overlooked organisations.
  2. Increased transparency for both borrowers and lenders.
  3. Faster access to much-needed cash.
  4. Shorter, simpler application processes.
  5. Fairer interest rates (usually more cost-effective than, say, invoice discounting).
  6. Greater flexibility for repayment options.

Indeed, according to figures released from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, alternative finance (including P2P lending) now accounts for almost an eighth (12%) of lending to UK small businesses. Hence, as P2P lending expands, this modern form of finance is increasingly moving into the mainstream.

Why British investors like P2P lending

With the Bank of England's base rate at an all-time low of 0.25% a year, many accounts pay negligible rates of interest, with few beating inflation (the rising cost of living) after tax. That's why UK investors are keen to find new ways to improve the returns their cash can generate.

P2P lending offers investors the opportunity to earn fair yields, while at the same time helping to diversify their portfolios away from traditional asset classes, such as equities (company shares), bonds (fixed-income securities) and property.

More reasons to consider P2P lending

Other benefits for investors of lending to UK businesses via Assetz Capital include:

  1. Potentially inflation-beating gross returns (before tax and any loan losses not covered by loss-provision funds).
  2. Being able to lend securely against tangible assets, such as property or land.
  3. Lending to carefully vetted British businesses (companies, entrepreneurs, property developers and other ventures).
  4. Choosing to build your own self-selected portfolio of P2P loans, or investing in one of four accounts that automatically diversify your funds for you.
  5. The ability to reduce the risk of losses by investing via accounts backed by loss-provision funds, which aim to reimburse lenders.
  6. Being able to start lending today with as little as £1, with no lender fees to pay.
  7. The choice to reinvest your capital repayments and/or income into new P2P loans, via auto-relending or manually.
  8. Access to an aftermarket that allows investors to buy or sell loan parts to each other, again without any auction fees, subject only to other lenders wishing to purchase those loan parts.
  9. The option to hold P2P loans inside a tax-free pension plan known as a SIPP (Self-Invested Personal Pension).

A word from our CEO

Stuart Law, co-founder and CEO of Assetz Capital, comments, "Since our launch in March 2013, Assetz Capital has arranged over £214 million of secured funding from more than 17,400 individual lenders to over 300 business borrowers. What’s more, our platform won 'Best Peer-to-Peer Lender' at the Credit Today 2016 Awards and holds a five-star rating from independent financial analysts Defaqto for the second year running, one of only 2 providers to have achieved this. These awards support our view that Assetz Capital is a market leader in UK P2P business lending!"

RISK WARNING: "As with most forms of investment, peer-to-peer lending carries a degree of risk to your capital; in this case, if borrowers were unable to repay their loans. At Assetz Capital, we seek to reduce this risk to our investors by taking asset security on every loan, with the added benefit of a discretionary Provision Fund for some of our investment accounts."

- February 14, 2017

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