In just one year after launch RateSetter has brought in £175 million through their first ISA product; the cash invested...
RateSetter has sold non-performing debt to debt purchaser 1st Credit; source says the sale was for 2.1 million British pounds ($2.6 million) of non-performing loans originated between 2010 and 2015; the sale goes beyond the company's standard plans for default collection and coverage which include support from one of the industry's most well-known provision funds; the RateSetter Provision Fund promises to cover defaults for borrowers and is valued at approximately 22 million British pounds ($27.2 million); with expected losses of approximately 19 million British pounds ($23.5 million) it currently has a coverage ratio of 118%. Source
UK based p2p lender RateSetter has decided to no longer accept unsecured small business lending applications; the company said it will limit commercial lending to property and asset backed loans; “we have a clear framework around which to grow our commercial finance volumes and continue to deliver access to healthy returns to investors,” said Rhydian Lewis, founder and CEO of RateSetter, to AltFi. Source.
In a recently recorded speech, Rhydian Lewis said that the company expects to be profitable in 2018; the p2p lender was previously profitable in financial years 2014 and 2015; the company is also celebrating its seventh birthday and has facilitated £2.1bn in loans, connecting 57,000 lenders with 388,000 borrowers. Source
RateSetter has announced new terms for its lenders which will go into effect on March 1; the new terms provide increased transparency for lending activities; they also give greater flexibility to the Provision Fund through a new stabilization period; changes made to the lender terms since October 2015 can be found here. Source
RateSetter is ending its wholesale loan program after discussions with the Financial Conduct Authority; the Financial Conduct Authority has requested P2P lenders not undertake wholesale lending which provides loan capital to other businesses and financial institutions specifically for the purpose of lending; in 2016, RateSetter reported 114,347,646 British pounds ($142,591,515) in wholesale lending. Source
Some of the £775 million bounty that is the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) competition fund is being handed out...
The Royal Bank of Scotland is closing 158 branches in the UK in an effort to reduce costs; it has continued to struggle since the financial crisis reporting nine consecutive years of losses; the firm has been increasingly integrating automation to cut costs and says it will make a decision on its robo advisory service for mortgage lending by the third quarter; the robo advisory service offers customers advice and insight that helps them decide on a mortgage loan product, also giving them an option to connect with a human advisor at any time during the process. Source
RBS plans to launch a next generation mobile only bank by third quarter 2018; the project is expected to launch with more than one million users from the bank; reports also point to the bank pursuing a marketplace business model which values partnerships over lending as a revenue model; while it looks like it is rumors right now the bank is clearly moving more digital. Source.
The challenger bank will be a standalone digital bank aimed to compete against Monzo and Revolut; according to Sky News, the project is so confidential that very few people are familiar with the project internally; sources state that Mark Bailie, the bank’s former COO is leading the new venture with tens of millions of pounds of backing for the new platform. Source