New P2P business lender launches as Appointed Representative

Newly launched Huddle Capital is piggy-backing off rebuildingsociety.com’s regulatory permissions.

Newly launched Huddle Capital is piggy-backing off rebuildingsociety.com’s regulatory permissions.

Huddle Capital is the UK’s newest peer-to-peer business lender, but its route to market is somewhat different to those that went before it. Huddle launched too late to operate under the FCA’s interim permissions regime, and achieving full authorisation – as even the biggest peer-to-peer lenders have discovered – takes time.

The solution? Huddle has come to market as an Authorised Representative of fully authorised peer-to-peer firm rebuildingsociety.com. Rebuildingsociety.com thus becomes Huddle’s Network Principle, meaning it assumes responsibility for overseeing and monitoring the new lender’s compliance activity.

Huddle produces a monthly report for rebuildingsociety.com, and the two firms are in daily contact in order to stay on top of key processes, such as the handling of client money management and client communications. Rebuildingsociety.cm then reports back to the FCA on the arrangement. Huddle will consider applying for full authorisation after a period of “bedding in and growth”.

“The processes we ensured are in place are assets that will ensure that their business starts from a firm grounding that will allow it to grow more efficiently in the future,” said Kylie Greeff, legal and compliance manager at rebuildingsociety.com.

This isn’t the first time that a P2P firm has fast-tracked its way to market using an Appointed Representative structure. Alternative overdraft firm Growth Street adopted a similar strategy in December of last year, in partnership with Resolution Compliance Limited.

The application process for becoming an Authorised Representative is considerably shorter than the standard FCA authorisation route, and can be completed in under eight weeks. Some of the biggest P2P lenders in the country have only been authorised in the past few months, after around an 18 month wait. RateSetter, one of the “big three”, continues await word from the regulator.