First Mintos Notes Are Live – A First Look

As announced Mintos* launched the first notes today. For an introduction what notes are please refer to my previous article.

To see the new notes listed on the Mintos primary market, investors can toggle a switch on the upper left side

mintos notes primary market
Screenshot May 25th, 2022, click for larger view

Initially there are notes from the loan originators Eleving Group, CashCredit and Sun Finance listed. Notes for more loan originators will be added as soon as they have published the required prospectus.

Clicking on an ISIN brings up the detailed information about the loan set. Most of the offered information mirrors that available for claims, but there are some new parameters, e.g. ‘sink factor’

mintos set of notes
Screenshot May 25th, 2022, click for larger view

Investors have voiced questions and concerns around the shift from the claims to the notes product. Mintos has adressed common questions in this Q&A. One of the most discussed aspects is that Mintos is required to withhold 20% taxes. This amount can be lowered for residents of these countries as soon as they submit a tax residency certifacte from their tax authority to Mintos.

Despite all communication efforts by Mintos it seems an uphill battle. On the German forum in a recent survey 55% of respondents answered that they will stop investing at Mintos as a result of the introduction of the new notes. Another 24% are unsure about it. Similar sentiments can be read on the Czech forum.

If investors will suit the action to the word this might impact Mintos origination volumes in the coming months. Some investors might switch to competing platforms with similar offers, e.g.

It will also be interesting to see if there is an impact on the discounts on the secondary market for claims, as investors might try to sell claims before the secondary market sunset for claims on June 30th. If investors do not wish to hold claims to maturity there might be increasing supply outweighting demand and therefore offered YTMs might rise until June 30th.

 

New Mintos Notes Product Will Launch on May 25th

mintos logoThe long announced and several times postponed Mintos Notes product will finally launch on May 25th, Mintos* said yesterday. The notes are financial instruments and issued under the new investment firm license Mintos received last year. For each loan originator there will be a seperate prospectus (see example). Mintos mentions safeguarding of investor funds and notes under MIFID II requirements and increased transparency as investor benefits.

mintos transition

Until 30 June, investors can buy and sell investments via claims on the Secondary Market as usual. Then, from 1 July onwards, investors will be able to buy and sell Notes only, as a result of regulatory requirements.

The transition will mean two key changes for investors:

  • As the claims cannot be traded from July 1st onwards on the secondary market, investors will have to hold any claims in their portfolio to maturity
  • Mintos is required to deduct withholding tax depending on the investors country of tax residency and applicable double taxation treaties

My take

The transition will mean a major change for the marketplace that could either stiffle or empower Mintos growth. I expect that many investors will shy away from investing in very long term claims on the primary market in the remaining 7 weeks. Also buyer demand on the secondary market will likely decrease for the claims on long term loans. Potentially this will lead to offers with rising discounts before the trading of claims ends on June 30th.

There is some hesitation voiced among investors regarding the upcoming notes due to the withholding tax and surronding paperwork to claim possible reliefs and reductions (Mintos has announced that it will publish more information on the details). Mintos might try to offer some incentives in order for investors to take the leap and embrace the new product. I also imagine that Mintos will step up investor marketing again, once the notes product has launched. Already Mintos is taking a lot of effort to communicate and explain the coming changes via blog articles and newsletters.

This disruption might also increase the trend of loan originators setting up their own, unregulated investor marketplaces in other jurisdictions than Latvia.

 

International P2P Lending Volumes April 2022

The table lists the loan originations of p2p lending marketplaces for last month. Mintos* leads ahead of Peerberry* and Lendermarket*. The total volume for the reported companies in the table adds up to 311 million Euro. I track the development of p2p lending volumes for many markets. Since I already have most of the data on file, I can publish statistics on the monthly loan originations for selected p2p lending platforms.

The following milestones were crossed this month:

  • Investly* originated more than 100M EUR since inception
  • Lendermarket* reached more 250M EUR loan volume since launch

Investors living in national markets with no or limited selection of local p2p lending services can check this list of international investing on p2p lending services. Investors can also explore how to make use of current p2p lending cashback offers available. UK investors can compare IFISA rates.

p2p lending statistics april 2022
Table: P2P Lending Volumes in April 2022. Source: own research
Note that volumes have been converted from local currency to Euro for the purpose of comparison. Some figures are estimates/approximations.

Links to the platforms listed in the table: Ablrate*, Archover*, Assetz Capital*, Bondora*, Bulkestate*, Credit.fr*, Crowdproperty*, Debitum Network*, Dofinance*, Esketit*, Estateguru*, Finansowo*, Finbee*, Folk2Folk*, Geldvoorelkaar*, Heavyfinance*, Investly*, Iuvo Group*, Kuflink*, Kviku.Finance*, Landlordinvest*, Lendermarket*, Linked Finance*, Mintos*, October*, Peerberry*, Proplend*, Reinvest24*, Robocash*, Soisy*, Swaper*, Twino*, Viainvest*.

Notice to p2p lending services not listed: Continue reading