September Slowdown for Some - A look at last month's UK P2P volumes

The Liberum AltFi Volume Index paused for breath this month. With originations totaling £156.8m over the course of September, the industry narrowly missed out on setting a third successive record breaking month. That said, the Index is rarely devoid of standout individual monthly performances – and the month of September was no exception.

The marginal slowdown in the rate of growth is mainly due to a quieter month being reported by the P2P business lending sector. The broad range of platforms within this sub-sector of alternative finance means that it has a consistently meaningful impact on the performance of the industry as a whole. The sector's 'challenger' platforms – Wellesley, Lendinvest and Assetz Capital – posted uncharacteristically steady months.

Perhaps this is the delayed effect of an August that saw fewer businesses arranging finance over the holiday period? Or a feature of a more nervous property market? Whatever it was, Funding Circle, the incumbent P2P business lender, bucked the trend, posting a new record month for itself with £27.9m lent – smashing its previous best effort by almost 25%!

RateSetter capped off a big month that included a website and brand refresh as well as four triumphs at the AltFi Awards by posting a new monthly record for UK P2P lending. In doing so, the platform shattered its own record – which was set last month – by a whopping £5.9m. With £32.8m lent throughout September, RateSetter grew 21.9% on last month and has now posted new record volumes for each of the last 5 months – a highly impressive feat. The Platform also passed the £200m mark on year to date loan originations, the most of any UK P2P Platform. 

Other notable individual performances this month include:

• Market Invoice continues its growth with £22m of invoices financed this month, making it the third largest UK platform by monthly volume. This happening in a month that saw them overhaul their branding and website and leave the Quarter Billion Pound mark in the rear view mirror.

• Folk2Folk, the South West based P2P property lending Platform, set a new platform record with £3.7m loaned, over £1m more than its previous best month. The platform also announced major expansion plans to roll out its unique branch network into more towns in the South West. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see this innovative platform top its £3.7m record before long.

• Saving Stream, the property and asset backed loan specialist, topped their previous record month in style, lending £3.3m in September – almost a third of cumulative life to date volume. That’s a huge achievement and an indication that things are really ramping up at Saving Stream. 

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