According to the source, when peer-to-peer structures were first set up a decade ago, the rationale was to bypass banks by using enhanced technology to link those who have money to invest with individuals or companies that need it. But as the demand for P2P finance has grown, platforms are turning to large financial services groups to provide funds and spur their growth.
The sector is also attracting high-profile individuals, with Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of Huffington Post Media Group, the latest to join a P2P lender. She has been appointed to the board of Payoff, a US-based technology-enabled financial services company.
Banks are among the institutions that have bought up loans from Lending Club, US-based peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace. In the UK, Santander and Royal Bank of Scotland have struck partnerships with P2P firms.
Aztec, which claims to have sold hundreds of millions of corporate invoices since it was launched in 2013, has said that its platform plugs gaps left by retreating banks and brings trade finance to emerging markets that would otherwise have little or no access to it.
Banks are discussing purchasing corporate invoices ‘en masse’ and repackaging them, the source indicates. The influx of funds from banks, hedge funds and asset managers is driven both by a search for higher-yielding investments and the capability to securitise the assets.
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