Publications

Peer to peer lending is a dynamic market that is much more mature than many give it credit for. It is fully regulated, home to significant institutional investment and provides excellent inflation-beating, fixed income diversification opportunities. But, it is a relatively new asset class with a range of platforms and operating models, not to mention regulations.

This guide is intended to help financial advisers and planners to get to grips with how P2P can fit into their service offering and what it can do for their clients.

HM Treasury has referred to the IFISA as a way to, “provide ISA holders with greater choice over how to invest and will support the crowdfunding sector to continue to grow as a source of alternative finance for businesses.” The inclusion of additional consumer protections which must be present in the P2P and debt based securities investments that are IFISA eligible can only be reassuring for potential investors. But there are a number of other considerations as well as the everyday practicalities. Our goal with this guide is to give advisers an understanding of these so that they build the confidence to make the best use of the opportunities that the IFISA presents for their clients.

As with many of the investments we cover, the case for investing in debt based securities is compelling. They can provide yield and genuine diversification at a time when both are at a premium among conventional assets, with lower levels of volatility than equities.

Innovative online lender to borrower matching has given peer to peer lending platforms a cost advantage over the larger and less nimble traditional finance institutions, leading to very attractive rates for those looking to invest and those looking to borrow.

The Alternative Finance Industry Report 2015 provides a view of the asset class through the eyes of retail financial services professionals, giving them the answers they require if they are to successfully engage with the sector.

The report outlines and defines what alternative finance is, where is sprang from and where it is today. The report assesses some of the risks of investing and dives deep into the surprisingly diverse alternative finance investment universe.

It also looks at some of the big developments and give our view on these changes.

The Peer-to-Business Report 2014 takes a detailed look at peer-to-business (P2B) lending and offers a balanced introduction to the Alternative Finance market – analysing the performance and growth of crowdfunding, real estate lending and peer-to-peer lending. This report helps investors and intermediaries’ understand P2B lending and which investment opportunities are suitable and appropriate.

Real estate crowdfunding is a relatively new concept, which builds on real estate investment and the rapidly growing crowdfunding movement. With the global real estate market worth over $19 trillion per year, there is a huge opportunity for crowdfunding to exploit. With low entry levels and as an alternative to mainstream financial products, you can see why crowdfunding has proven popular with investors. As a result of this growing trend, we have produced our first report dedicated to real estate crowdfunding.