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Groupama Banque to Lend 100M via Unilend

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Today p2c lending marketplace Unilend and Groupama Banque announce a partnership wherein Groupama Banque will lend directly 100 million euros to French small and medium enterprises through Unilend over the next four years. This is a first time ever partnership between a French bank and Unilend, a French p2p lending marketplace.

Bernard Pouy, CEO of Groupama Banque, said: “this ambitious partnership will allow Groupama Banque to sustain the growth of French businesses all across the country”. Nicolas Lesur, CEO and co-founder of Unilend, added: “this is a key milestone for Unilend, the marketplace lending industry and the financial sector more generally”.

Through Unilend, Groupama Banque will have the opportunity to lend money directly to the businesses of its choice alongside Unilend’s lenders. Groupama Banque, a subsidiary of mutual benefit insurance company Groupama, counts 536,000 clients all across France. Groupama’s values are social responsibility, proximity and solidarity and ”this partnership with Unilend is just another illustration of these values”, according to Sylvain Burel, in charge of Groupama’s communication.
Unilend has originated 7.5M EUR of loans since inception in December 2013 from 3,000 registered lenders.

Victory Park Capital to lend 150 million GBP via AssetzCapital

In a similar arrangement announced today, US private equity company Victory Park Capital will lend 150 million pound via AssetzCapital marketplace in the next 5 years.

Westpac Banking Corp Invests Into P2P Lending Service Society One

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In Australia Reinventure Group, the new Westpac­-funded venture capital manager, has invested $5 million in p2p lending service Societyone. Society One, which was founded in August 2012 (see related earlier coverage) by Matt Symons and Greg Symons has originated about 200 loans totalling 4 million AUD. The loan book has doubled in the past six months. Westpac’s VC fund will be joined on the SocietyOne shareholder register by Rocket Internet, which is already funding Lendico, and several local investors including the Australian head of global private equity giant KKR, ­Justin Reizes, who said he has invested in Society One in a personal capacity.The 8.5 million capital raising will allow Society One to develop new credit products. It recently launched livestock loans and loans tailored for young doctors which are being offered to sophisticated investors through its internet-based platform.

Barclay’s Bank Africa Acquires 49% Stake in P2P Lending Service Rainfin

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Barclays Africa Group Limited (BAGL) has acquired a 49% stake in South African p2p lending service Rainfin. The investment amount is stated to be ‘tens of millions of rands’. Rainfin says it wants to use the money to grow the business and improve the product.

Rainfin launched in July 2012.

CEO Sean Emery on the investment of BAGL:

We have known for a while that we would need a partner to take RainFin to the next level, and chose BAGL after a loan search because it has a vision that aligns closely with ours. BAGL’s support will enable us to offer exciting new products in areas such as supply chain finance, enterprise development funding, fixed asset purchases and even mid-sized corporate debt. It will also clear the way for us to expand into new markets.

The BAGL investment in RainFin comes at a time when there is a lot of movement in the global peer-to-peer industry from the UK and US to China and India. In the US, peer-to-peer lenders such as Lending Club and Prosper are enjoying triple digit growth and venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital and Blackrock are investing in the industry.

Worldwide, we see banks, hedge funds, and institutional investors all exploring ways to collaborate with peer-to-peer lenders with City Group, Capital one, Bank of Montreal and Deuce Bank buying up loans originated through those platforms. With institutions moving into the market, peer-to-peer loans have truly come of age. BAGL will do the same to make our concept of peer-to-peer lending a mainstream finance option in South Africa.

Whether you’re a lender or borrower, rest assured that our main focus remains on bringing together creditworthy borrowers and smart lenders so that both parties can benefit. Our platform will remain as transparent as ever, and we will continue to put you first as we move forward into the future with our partners at BAGL.

We thank you for your early support of our business and of the early stages of peer to peer lending in South Africa. We look forward to moving into the future with you and with our new partners at BAGL.

Update: An earlier version of this article reported figures which were not up to date. Please see the comment by CEO Sean Emery for recent figures.

P2P Lending Service Moneyauction Wins Savings Bank as Lender

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In Korea, p2p lending service Moneyauction became so attractive for lenders that it won a Savings Bank as a lender. A company spokesman told P2P-Banking.com that the bank evaluated the repayment rate of borrowers on the p2p lending site and found it to be better compared to the rate of it’s own existing customer base even though the p2p borrowers credit scores are lower than the credit scores of their customers. Other financial institutions have expressed interest in utilising Moneyauction or entering cooperations.

Moneyauction is advancing in it’s product development. In March it released the new ‘Automatic portfolio lending’ feature as well as support for mobile bidding via smartphones. Lenders can now bid on loans using smart phones like the iPhone (see picture).

(Source: company management)

Smava Enters Marketing Partnership with Cortal Consors Bank

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Smava has entered a marketing cooperation with Cortal Consors bank. Cortal Consors will promote Smava as a new asset class to it’s customer. Smava will pay Cortal Consors referral fees for referred lenders and borrowers.

Newsworthy is that this is the first marketing deal a bank has entered in with a p2p lending service. The implications of the deal itself are rather unspectacular as the information is buried deep inside the Cortal Consors website where few are likely to see it.

In other news Smava has redesigned the website and changed the slogan a couple of days ago. The former slogan was “Kredite von Mensch zu Mensch” which roughly translates to “Loans from human to human”. The new slogan is “Direkt Kredit” (engl. “direct loan(s)”). The motivation of this change according to Smava was to enhance the message that loans are direct, easy, and competitive. Smava says borrowers had wrong associations with the old slogan, thinking that long negotiations with individual lenders would be necessary.

Published feedback by users (lenders) on the new slogan critisizes that the new slogan resembles those of impersonal financial institutions – an image that p2p lending services aimed to differentiate themselves from.

Caja Navarra Introduces P2P Lending Service CAN

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Spanish regional bank Caja Navarra is the first bank to offer it’s own customers a p2p lending service. Caja Navarra announced the p2p lending microsite. Caja Navarra markets this new peer to peer lending service as one investment option in a letter to its 400,000 customers.

The service allows any customer to place a loan request which can then be fulfilled by a relative, a friend, an acquaintance or a stranger. Caja Navarra says the borrower can benefit by receiving a lower interest rate than in a traditional bank loan. There are currently 3 loan requests listed (if I understand the site right). Continue reading →