Podcasts about lendinvest

Rod Lockhart CEO of LendInvest PLC.   LSE Listed LendInvest (LINV) is the UK's leading FinTech platform focussed on mortgages.  They offer residential, buy-to-let, short term and development mortgages to intermediaries, landlords, developers and homeowners.   Rod joined LendInvest in 2015 to lead the business' Capital Markets and Fund Management division. Within that time Rod has overseen LendInvest's AUM growth from £100m to £3bn+ and managed the launch of its listed Retail bond and RMBS programmes. Rod became CEO of LendInvest in January 2020. Rod is a Chartered Surveyor with over 20 years' experience in property and property finance. He was previously Senior Director and a board member of the Investment Advisory Committee for CBRE advising UK and global institutional clients managing a range of property and property debt portfolios I sat down with Rod to discuss a broad range of subjects which covered some of the following topics: * How he got into real estate * Early career moves * What is - RMBS & CMBS * LendInvest's product offering * Leveraging technology * The GFC * Opportunities in the market place * Transition to CEO Oh and one last question - who are the People, what Property, and in which Place Rod would invest should he have £500m of capital at his disposal. Catch the full episode, which is live on Spotify, Apple and Youtube NOW! The People Property Place Podcast

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive our weekly bulletins and stay ahead of what is shaping the super prime property market.Overseas buyers are expected to show increased interest in London's housing market despite the mortgage crisis, potentially boosting prices. The value of homes owned by foreigners in the capital is currently £55.2 billion, with certain boroughs like Westminster and Kensington having higher proportions of foreign-owned properties. Foreign home ownership levels have risen by 3.2% in the past year, driven by individual buyers. Foreign buyers often purchase with cash and find UK borrowing costs favorable compared to their domestic markets. Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is criticized for hindering personal and labor mobility, and MP Craig Mackinlay proposes positive tax incentives to address the housing crisis. Mandarin Oriental Bankside's luxury hotel and branded residences offer an elevated living experience in London's vibrant South Bank. The Canary Wharf Group aims to diversify the district beyond banking and create a vibrant live-work-play environment, attracting life sciences and healthcare businesses. Savills reports resilience in London's prime property market, with stable prices due to cash buyers and a price-sensitive environment. LendInvest introduces a new buy-to-let range with reduced rates, supporting landlords. Despite mortgage challenges, overseas-owned homes in London are expected to increase in value.

Our expert hosts, Kate Moody and Benjamin Ensor, are joined by some great guests to talk about the most notable fintech, financial services and banking news from the past week. We cover the following stories from the fintech and financial services space: QED closes on $925M to back fintech startups globally - 5:10 UK banks shortchanging savers with ‘measly' rates, says Which? - 17:10 Klarna's losses halve as Swedish fintech predicts return to profit - 30:00 Plenty's new wealth-building app targets couples blending finances - 39:45 Property fintech LendInvest sells £243m buy-to-let mortgage portfolio following financing deals - 49:50 HSBC opts for Innovation in rebranding of Silicon Valley Bank UK - 51:30 Amazon ditches Alexa's celebrity voices and will issue refunds upon request - 53:30 This week's guests include: Jason Mikula, Publisher, Fintech Business Weekly Mike Carter, Head of Platform Lending, Innovate Finance With soundclips from: Emily Luk, CEO, Plenty This episode is sponsored by Thredd Global Processing Services (GPS), the payments platform trusted by the leading issuers to process billions of transactions a year, has changed their name to Thredd. Why Thredd? Thredd, because their tailored payment processing solutions are the thread that connects payments innovators of the future. Thredd, because they are true partners, becoming part of the fabric of your business as it grows. And Thredd because it just feels right. Find out more at Thredd.com. (https://www.thredd.com/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=bitesize+thredd&utm_id=11fs) Fintech Insider by 11:FS is a podcast dedicated to all things fintech, banking, technology and financial services. It's hosted by a rotation of 11:FS experts including David M. Brear, Ross Gallagher, Benjamin Ensor, and Kate Moody - as well as a range of brilliant guests. We cover the latest global news, bring you interviews from industry experts or take a deep dive into subject matters such as APIs, AI or digital banking. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe and please leave a review Send us your questions for the Fintech Insider Mailbag here (https://11fscompany.typeform.com/to/kBMan5qL?typeform-source=t.co) Follow us on Twitter: @fintechinsiders where you can ask the hosts questions, or email podcasts@11fs.com! Special Guests: Emily Luk, Jason Mikula, and Mike Carter.

This week, Janine Hirt, CEO of Innovate Finance chats to Rod Lockhart, Chief Executive Officer at LendInvest, where they discuss Rod's background, LendInvest's mission and vision and much more! Tune in for new episodes every Friday! Catch up with Series 1 here and Series 2 here. Do you have something to say? Apply to take part here. IFGS is next week! Find out more. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/innfin/message

Bridging is a short-term method which has raised numerous doubts on costs and how it works... Thankfully, we have Peter from Lendinvest, a multi award winning company offering short-term, development and buy to let mortgages to intermediaries, landlords and developers across the UK, who is going to break down how it works, when bridging is typically used, and the costs associated. LendInvest have been running since 2008, have lent over £3 billion of mortgages, yes billion! They have also helped put thousands of new or improved homes into the UK housing market. Today, Lendinvest funders and investors include pension funds, insurers and global institutions like HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Citigroup and National Australia Bank. And in 2019 became the first UK Fintech to securitise a portfolio of buy-to-let mortgage. If you're a Landlord, thinking of investing or have an interest in the property market but want to expand your knowledge, then make sure you don't miss this episode. We created this show because we noticed there was a lack of property investing podcast's that weren't just backhanded sales funnels. This podcast is full of free advice from specialist property guests, which include business coaches, accountants, lenders, mortgage advisors, commercial finance specialists, ARLA reps, auctioneers, and new homes experts, to name but a few. If you work in property and want to come on the show as guest or have a property related question, then please contact us on our socials @TheLandlordPage We will always update our subscribers with industry breaking news, letting legislation changes and market trends. So, make sure you hit that subscribe button ladies and gents. Your hosts are Tristan Lee, Mike Robson & Ian Macbeth

This special live edition of the Uncover podcast was recorded at London's Royal Institution in front of a live audience of more than 300 members of the ComplyAdvantage team from the UK, United States, Singapore and Romania.   Our guest for this special discussion is Christian Faes. Christian is the co-founder and Executive Chair of LendInvest, a property finance marketplace that has lent more than £4 billion to support house building in the UK. Prior to founding LendInvest, Christian was a real estate lawyer in Australia and the UK, co-founding the company in 2008. Christian is also a prominent advocate for FinTechs, serving as Chair of FinTech Founders. 

Today's blockchain and cryptocurrency news Brought to you by ungrocery.com Bitcoin is up .5% at $35,850 Ethereum is up .5% at $2,504 and Binance Coin is up 1% at $386 Shiba Inu, up 15% Fantom up 15% Harmony up 16% Tennis legend Serena Williams joins Sorare as board advisor Kim Milosevich is rejoining a16z from Coinbase Bitcoin mining difficulty rose by over 9% LendInvest's Christian Faes is looking to start crypto mining in Texas.

Short-term lending, development and buy-to-let mortgages for intermediaries, landlords and developers across the UK. We had the pleasure of speaking with Director of Buy-to-let at LendInvest, Andy Vigo. Andy shared his insights into the current funding market and how they are still helping property investors fund their deals. For more information feel free to contact the team on enquiries@ramsayandwhite.com. Your home is at risk if you do not keep up the payments on your mortgage. Most Buy-to-let mortgage products and other alternative finance are not regulated by the FCA.

Today, Rebank co-host Aman Ghei is joined by Seb Wallace, an investor at Triple Point, an early stage UK venture capital firm that has invested in companies including LendInvest, Credit Kudos, CountingUp and many more. In this conversation, Aman and Seb discuss strategies for remote seed investing, the skew they’re observing in terms of how venture money is flowing, startup opportunities Seb sees in insurance and capital markets and more. To subscribe to the Rebank newsletter, including insights, essays and written transcripts of all new episodes, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com. Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Seb Wallace and Aman Ghei

Show Notes Behind The Facade is dedicated to exploring the mental game and essential mindset critical to success in property investment & development. Hosted by veteran real estate entrepreneur Gavin J Gallagher, whose own career spans 25 years across a full spectrum of international assets and projects, the podcast aims to impart valuable insights and actionable strategies for building wealth in a structured and sustainable manner. Delivered through a combination of guest interviews and Gavin's own uniquely authentic and personal war stories of both his successes and failures, each week the show will cover a topics through the lens of innovation, inspiration or impact. This week 4 of my 10,000 burpee challenge in support of charity: water - find out more about the challenge or donate to the charity HERE David Jelly is the Founder of PropertyBridges.com which is a peer-to-peer (P2P) funding platform aimed at the Irish property market. Some of the startup supports discussed today include Enterprise Ireland and the NDRC where you can get match funding and business guidance. Some of the UK based P2P funding platforms mentioned are LendInvest and Zopa. If you have any questions you'd like answered on the show please make a voice recording and send it to podcast@behindthefacade.fm If you would like to join the Facebook Group you can find it here - Behind The Facade Community - inside Gavin posts daily live videos answering questions, providing insights and advice or just letting you tag along as he goes through his day at work. We also have a Behind The Facade Facebook Page where you can find a link to each episode and comment directly on it. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode and connect with Gavin on social media (FB Page, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram). You can learn more by visiting Gavin's website www.gavinjgallagher.com/go and subscribe to his YouTube channel PropTechTV for additional content. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gavinjgallagher/message

Show Notes Behind The Facade is dedicated to exploring the mental game and essential mindset critical to success in property investment & development. Hosted by veteran real estate entrepreneur Gavin J Gallagher, whose own career spans 25 years across a full spectrum of international assets and projects, the podcast aims to impart valuable insights and actionable strategies for building wealth in a structured and sustainable manner. Delivered through a combination of guest interviews and Gavin's own uniquely authentic and personal war stories of both his successes and failures, each week the show will cover a topics through the lens of innovation, inspiration or impact. This week 4 of my 10,000 burpee challenge in support of charity: water - find out more about the challenge or donate to the charity HERE David Jelly is the Founder of PropertyBridges.com which is a peer-to-peer (P2P) funding platform aimed at the Irish property market.  Some of the startup supports discussed today include Enterprise Ireland and the NDRC where you can get match funding and business guidance.  Some of the UK based P2P funding platforms mentioned are LendInvest and Zopa. If you have any questions you'd like answered on the show please make a voice recording and send it to podcast@behindthefacade.fm  If you would like to join the Facebook Group you can find it here - Behind The Facade Community - inside Gavin posts daily live videos answering questions, providing insights and advice or just letting you tag along as he goes through his day at work. We also have a Behind The Facade Facebook Page where you can find a link to each episode and comment directly on it. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode and connect with Gavin on social media (FB Page, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram). You can learn more by visiting Gavin's website www.gavinjgallagher.com/go and subscribe to his YouTube channel PropTechTV for additional content. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gavinjgallagher/message

Christian is the co-founder of LendInvest, the marketplace platform for property finance, and one of the leading Fintech businesses in the UK. The business has raised well over £1 billion in debt and equity, from institutions such as Atomico, the European Investment Fund, Citibank, HSBC, and the National Australia Bank. Christian comes from a legal background having practised as a real estate lawyer in Australia at Allens Arthur Robinson, and then in the UK with Clifford Chance and Deutsche Bank. In 2008, Christian co-founded the business with Ian Thomas, initially seeing an opportunity in the short term mortgage market. Christian is a keen advocate for the Fintech sector, and sits on the Government’s Fintech Delivery Panel; he also founded and chairs the Digital Finance Forum. He is an active supporter and early investor in several startups, including Seedrs, Crowdcube and Onfido.

Welcome everyone, to Season 3, Episode 9 of #DefenderCast! Episode 9 is hosted by Nick Russell of TAB. Lending and Beth Fisher of Bridging & Commercial. In this episode, we are also proud to present Ian Boden (Sales Director) at LendInvest. LendInvest - "Helping investors build more than just income; borrowers more than just homes. We believe property finance should be better for investors, developers, landlords, homeowners – everyone. It should be fast, online and work for all. We’re bringing technology to the mortgage market to make that happen. Our platform makes it possible, for the first time, for all types of investors – from individuals to global institutions – to invest in property-backed loans, supporting UK homebuilders while earning attractive returns. Since 2008, our investors have invested over £1.5bn in loans to borrowers who have bought, built or renovated over 5,000 properties across the UK." Ian is currently the Sales Director for LendInvest but has been in the financial sector for most of his career. Previously he held positions of Head of Commercial Mortgages and Portfolio Management and Head of Direct Group Mortgages at Aldermore Bank. Also Sales Director at Lloyds Bank and HSBC. The trio speak about LendInvest, Ian's whole career in financial services and how the industry is changing. The trio also speak about how propelled growth in the industry will drive a market shift. Stay tuned for the video podcast, which will be uploaded onto this channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB5YHbp_9xpewlHWeTiqB8w As always we follow a theme of Business, Property and Positive thinking! Stay tuned for more podcasts like this. Feel free to share with a friend or two and as always, thank you for listening. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Key Links: https://www.lendinvest.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-boden-72b09210/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-russell-41a57b13/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethany-fisher-10243790/ https://www.instagram.com/duncankreeger/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/duncan-kreeger-0395a45/ https://www.instagram.com/tabldn/ https://www.facebook.com/tabldn/ https://twitter.com/tabldn https://www.linkedin.com/company/tabldn/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Reinventing the Capital Stack for Lending Platforms When building a lending platform with a long-term, sustainable future, it is not enough to focus on just one or two types of investors. In this lively session you will learn from one of the fintech industry pioneers as he reveals how they have built a truly diversified investor base using a variety of different capital structures. Christian Faes, LendInvest Moderator: Oliver Smith, AltFi

Is Securitization About to Take Off in Europe? Rod Lockhart, LendInvest Jonathan Kramer, Zopa Lisa Macedo, Moody's Marion Delille, Crosslend Moderator: Jeremiah Wagner, Latham & Watkins

Eddie and James bring you a round up of the latest PropTech news, events and an in depth interview with Christian Faes, CEO of LendInvest

This week, we're joined by Husayn Kassai, Founder and CEO of Onfido, and Christian Faes, Founder and CEO of LendInvest. Onfido uses machine learning in customer authentication, validating users' identity documents and comparing them with facial biometrics. LendInvest is a property lending and investment platform which has originated over £1bn of loans since launch.   Both companies are regularly named among the top European fintechs and show no signs of slowing down. As always, connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or on our website at bankingthefuture.com.   If you like today's show, please subscribe on iTunes, or your podcast platform of choice, and leave us a review.

  Over the past few weeks, we have been covering FinTech in particular. So, this week, I plan to wrap up the FinTech theme based on much of what came out of my discussions with Ray from UnMortgage, Ishaan from Trussle and Ian from LendInvest. However, I shall also add in some extras from my […] The post Series 4 PropTech: FinTech Wrap Up appeared first on The Property Voice.

Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

There is global movement in fintech to disrupt real estate lending or, as they call it in the UK, property lending. Taking out a mortgage loan has been a dreadfully inefficient process and entrepreneurs have attacked different parts of the ecosystem. The short term bridge loan space has been the first niche of choice for […] The post Podcast 152: Christian Faes of LendInvest appeared first on Lend Academy.

There is global movement in fintech to disrupt real estate lending or, as they call it in the UK, property lending. Taking out a mortgage loan has been a dreadfully inefficient process and entrepreneurs have attacked different parts of the ecosystem. The short term bridge loan space has been the first niche of choice for […] The post Podcast 152: Christian Faes of LendInvest appeared first on Lend Academy.

Once upon a time P2P was a simple thing. Now it's more accurate to see it as online lending and borrowing. Models vary, regulation varies, the most successful platform was started by a bank, direct lenders have wholesale flows in funding retail or corp...

Once upon a time P2P was a simple thing. Now it's more accurate to see it as online lending and borrowing. Models vary, regulation varies, the most successful platform was started by a bank, direct lenders have wholesale flows in funding retail or corp...

I am joined on today's show by Ian Thomas, Co-Founder of LendInvest, the alternative lending platform for property developers and investors. Starting a lending company in 2008 might have sounded like a risky thing to do, but as we shall hear, there was an opportunity to fund some decent deals in the void of lending […] The post Series 4 PropTech: FinTech and Learning & Development – with Ian Thomas from LendInvest appeared first on The Property Voice.

I caught up with Dan Hughes after he was awarded the coveted #1 Influencer 2017 title. We were joined by Lendinvest's Ian Thomas

Christian Faes - Jazz Shapers with Mishcon de Reya

LendInvest Company Demo at LendIt USA 2016

I am delighted to be joined by Peter Renton to discuss some key highlights from the Lendit Europe 2015 conference, especially for those of you who weren't there and even for those of you who were as in the afternoon it split into two streams. Peter was back on the show in LFP015 way back in last December wearing his Lend Academy hat relating to us the amazing story of the development of P2P in the US – something he saw from it's very origins when it was scarcely noticed. Today he is joining me wearing his Lendit Conference hat. Lendit now runs by far the world's largest P2P conferences – some 2,500 in Lendit US 2015, 500 in Lendit China 2015 and yesterday around 750 in Lendit Europe. In this episode we have an off-the-cuff conversation about what leaps out to us as the really interesting things happening in P2P in Europe right now.  It's a great way to get up the curve fast and we discuss a wide range of topics: - the story of the Lendit conference - from original idea through to global domination in just two years and the important entrepreneurial lessons and steps along the way - Lendit also have an excellent policy of allowing online viewing at the time for free and make available videos of the presentations (also for free) - highly praiseworthy! :-) - Funding Circle's landmark purchase of Zencap making them now the undisputed global leader operating in five countries worldwide - Oligopolisation - Rupert Taylor's presentation The Impact of Institutional Investors - What Does the Data Tell Us? showing, inter alia, that the top-three are pulling away in terms of increasing their market share as well as the returns at a detailed level within the industry - Who would have spotted TrustBuddy in advance? Varying standards of due diligence by institutional investors in P2P and historical precedents - Regulation in #oldFS and #newFS and associated doubletalk. The question isn't "do we need regulation?" but "what kind of regulation do we need?" - Institutional capital as being reintermediation and the new funds to be launched by P2Ps (eg zero-fee (?) ~ETF by Funding Circle and LendInvest's rumoured fund) as anti-reintermediation - diversity of funding in P2P - will institutions eventually crowd out the retail investor? - can institutions outperform given the improvement in pricing algorithms by the P2Ps? (&Rupert Taylor's presentation above contains data in re) - Cormac Leech's presentation "3hours compressed into 20minutes" - a whole host of must-know points as well as speculation (Europe to overtake the UK?) and advice for the Bank of England :-) - We discuss the Risk in Alternative Finance panel session that I chaired - whilst good on qualitative risk P2Ps still find it very hard to come up with a clear and simple quantification of what the risk to investors is. Is this related to the fact that growth in retail funds (as per Cormac's presentation) is coming in terms of more from the same people rather than a great expansion of the retail investor base - We discuss simple ways of communicating risk and I learn that Lending Club have already implemented one of my key proposals [a button whcih shows the risk of a new investment in t...

LendInvest Company Demo

Property Presentation: LendInvest

Presentation: Building Scale for Real Estate by Christian Faes, CEO & Co-Founder of LendInvest. This presentation was given by Christian Faes, Co-Founder and CEO of LendInvest. They are a short-term real estate debt lending business in the U.K. The U.K. mortgage market is $325 Billion, compared to $1.2 Trillion for the U.S. In the U.K., mortgage lending in 2014 was less than half the volume compared to 2007, the average mortgage takes three months from application to draw down, and the entire mortgage process is offline. In terms of current headwinds to building scale, there were several topics mentioned. First, it is harder to automate mortgage lending decisions. Second, the mortgage completion process is more involved. Third, the mortgage market is very intermediated, and finally, mortgage fraud is still a big issue. Successful scaling will require attacking these challenges head on, and LendInvest sees opportunities given these challenges.

Residential Real Estate Platforms at LendIt USA 2015 with Nav Athwal of RealtyShares; Brett Crosby, of PeerStreet; Christian Faes, of LendInvest; Jason Fritton, of Patch of Land; Matt Humphrey, of LendingHome; and moderator Jorge Newbery, of American Homeowner Preservation.

P2P (online lending and borrowing) is plagued by media (old and new) descriptions in terms of what are often just metaphors - "P2P disintermediates banks", "P2P directly connects borrowers and lenders" et al. Furthermore with a number of different models emerging (which isn't always obvious to the "paying public") it gets less relevant to say "a P2P does X" as some of them might "do X" and some of them might not. Two key models are the more ~marketplace one (eg Lendinvest in LFP013) and the Ratesetter model which is a more savings-like ~fund (the FCA has kittens with those words but that's their problem not mine :-D), stable return backed by a provision fund. In this special (ie super-long) episode we move "beyond the metaphors" to discussing what actually happens in P2P.  In FS that means getting into payment flows, bank accounts, legal contracts and the like.  The kind of thing that has been drawn on whiteboards in the City ever since they existed (funnily enough I don't recall blackboards being there before whiteboards?!). As an example of where metaphors are misleading, despite reading masses about Lending Club pre IPO, it was only this year that I stumbled on the fact that Lending Club doesn’t do the lending! [The actual loan is made by Webbank headquartered in Salt Lake City (and then assigned)]. Rhydian Lewis is a real star guest to discuss these issues with, as, as he explains, his first scribblings on P2P predate P2P itself by several years so he was a genuine fore-runner.  He worked at Betfair (a P2P betting exchange) and as a Corporate Financier at Lazard so has real experience of tech P2Ps and hardcore FS apart from also having co-founded Ratesetter, invented the idea of a provision fund in P2P and having taken Ratesetter from a startup to the largest P2P in terms of monthly originations at present. We discuss a whole variety of topics: - Rhydian's background, what lead him to thinking of doing P2P, and how Ratesetter started - they are driven by doing something they genuinely see as good [for society as a whole] - the essence of P2P as being that the ultimate risk lies with the lender [unlike with a bank] - banks' interest in keeping money in bank accounts (which isn't threatened even slightly by P2P which "just" (at this level) is involved in a chain of transfers between bank accounts) - Ratesetter's system is anonymised (ie you do not know who you lend money to), potentially [in general] this might be de-anonymised if the platform fails [although in Ratesetter's case it would not be] - FCA requirement of a run-off plan, backup-servicers as a "passing the buck" in Rhydian's view who prefers the more "winding down/run-off plan"; a number of models out there in the market about what is planned for these circumstances - P2P's inherent strengths as it does not give guarantees or safety - it's all done on a "best efforts" basis - thus is a more manageable arrangement [cf banking where regulators are trying to make it "safe" - which ends up being incredibly costly].  "Ratesetter focuses on value not safety" - putting the above into context so far their "best-efforts" basis has shown brilliant returns - no-one has lost a penny - contracts - comparing buying an equity, depositing money in a bank or lending/borrowing through P2P - their motivation being to focus on the rate setting process (hence the name...) - interest rates are normally being set by markets to which consumers have no direct access; the motivation in Ratesetter was to create a market between people where people set the rates - this fundamentally changes the relationship with the customers.  Banks on the one hand just tell their customers what the new rates are.  On the other hand P2P are a marketplace where the players set the rates - it was this motivation which drove the provision fund - not a desire to be different, nor to create a ~savings product,

LendInvest company demo at LendIt Europe 2014 by Director & Co-Founder Christian Faes.

Property Investing: The Next Frontier at LendIt Europe 2014, with Christian Faes, Co-Founder & Director of LendInvest; John Goodall, Co-Founder & CEO of Landbay; Luke Jooste, Head of Real Estate Finance at Funding Circle; Stuart Law, Co-Founder & CEO of Assetz; Graham Wellesley, Chairman & Joint CEO of Wellesley & Co.; and moderator John Corey, Founder of Property Fortress.

For me Alternative Finance is the most exciting sector in Fintech by far in terms of near term impact as competition for the “Old FS” and as choice for both borrowers and lenders. In this episode I am delighted to be joined by Christian Faes CEO of Lendinvest. In the world of Fintech froth that has been 2014 Lendinvest and Christian are the real deal. In this episode we “kick the tyres” of P2P and have an organic conversation exploring some key angles in the sector right now.  There is plenty of “linear” content out there (eg this concise YouTube explaining Lendinvest), and conference panel discussions (eg this LendIt one with Christian on the panel) – and they are all great.  However as usual on the podcast I aim more for the kind of conversation that one might have with the insiders in the bar after the formal conference. This is also a special episode in being rather longer than normal – there is so much to be discussed as the sector is very active right now and the future is busy taking place with lots of seismic shifts happening beneath our feet. We discuss a whole variety of topics as we kick the four tyres around the car – Lendinvest; penetrating the subsector’s opaque/confusing terminology; understanding the risks; and the future of the industry. In editing the podcast (which means I listen to it many times) I progressed my own thoughts on how I see the risk in P2P and how to describe it simply.  So for the avoidance of doubt I put the risk thoughts in a “Postscript” section down below to make it obvious that these are my afterthoughts and language (Christian’s comments are in the podcast).  However I think that the terminology will be helpful in listening to the podcast so it’s not an “unrelated” mini essay Lendinvest In the AltFi awards Lendinvest was ranked as the best UK fintech-real estate platform (which has done over £166m of deals to date). Recently I heard a leading Fintech analyst describe them as the best dark horse bet for London’s first major fintech IPO. They have grown organically from being a “non-digital” real estate lending business to the world’s largest real estate platform. And all of this without raising any VC money. Since 2008 they have returned (in one incarnation or another – more on that in the show) over 6% to investors via secured short-term bridging loans (1mt-1yr) with LTV’s (loan-to-value ratios) of around 60% and no capital losses. More recently they have added a 1-3yr buy-to-let mortgage product. Lendinvest also have a (relatively?) unique twist to their business model in that their (financially separate) fund management company Montello pre-funds/underwrites the deals they list on their platform.  In other words they put their money where their mouth is – if no investor buys that asset Lendinvest’s sister company is left holding it “themselves”. For the borrower this means there is no uncertainty as to whether a loan will be funded (whereas on a typical platform they have to wait to see if it gets funded). For the lender its a whole extra dimension of confidence above and beyond “we rate this X” – rather it’s “our sister company has already bought this asset – that’s how much confidence we have in it”. A recent bank line application led to the bank’s Head of Credit saying that Lendinvest’s credit quality procedures (that the bank audited) were better than the bank’s Towards the end Christian explains more about, not just Lendinvest’s history, but also their direction going forwards – in particular their investment in tech to improve deal origination, credit and the time it takes to offer a buy-to-let mortgage (currently around two weeks, hoping to move it to a matter of days (which is of course tremendous compared to the banks processing time)) Opaque Terminology Shakespeare may have been right about the fragrance of roses for more abstract matters naming is everything – the words we use condition our thinking – a point marketers spend years studying in degree courses. If I said to you “do you want to lend money to dozens of folks you have never met so they can splash out on a new car, have a fancy wedding, get a house extension etc, and you will have no security?”, you might think one thing. If I said to you “do you want a team, who are incredibly motivated to make a success out of your investment, and who have got a brilliant credit track record over a decade, including one of the worst recessions ever, to invest your money in consumer finance and get you a return ten times what you get from a bank?”, you might think another. So words are important. What else do we speak and write with? In LFP010 “The 3,000 feet overview of Alternative Finance”, Rupert Taylor mentioned how he dislikes jargon which serves only to (1) form a barrier between insiders and outsiders and (2) a block to understanding. He also mentioned that there is no commonly agreed definitions in the sector (I am sure I saw the FSA include P2P within crowdfunding recently (?!)). Language also (3) leads to groupthink (which is a factor in many FS risk disasters in the past decades/centuries). Peer-to-peer is originally a tech phrase which describe a de-centralised network (in contrast with client-server architecture all “peers” are both “clients” and “servers”). Napster was really peer-to-peer in this sense. If you look up “P2P” on Wikipedia right now it doesn’t have any reference to Alternative Finance! [Note to P2PFA edit that wiki page?! :-)] As if to make matters worse, following on from using phrases like peer-to-peer, the sector is now taking up the (very tech, very VC) term of “marketplace lending”.  This is in large part a “valuation play” – “marketplaces” are more highly rated and there are billion dollar IPOs coming in the US .. so the #OldFS hype machine is busy. Now once again I don’t feel that this is a widely comprehensible term, nor do I feel it’s accurate – eBay is a marketplace – which to me means that plenty of folks can come and sell their stuff and plenty of folks can come and buy.  We discuss this term – Christian is a fan and I am not.  You can form your own opinion Another term we don’t discuss (but it came to me many times when I was when editing the audio) is “exchange” [and coincidentally today I heard Ron Suber President of Prosper describe themselves as “an online exchange for consumer credit” which I thought clear, simple and with the right implications (after all compare and contrast two exchanges – the London Stock Exchange and AIM – it’s clear which is a more reliable market)]. Most importantly I don’t think any single term can cover the disparate models in P2P right now (see below in the Risk comments).  For investors my advice is both to dig below any label and not to read too much into any label. “Alternative Finance/Online-lending&borrowing” is something that (a) never existed before (hence no vocabulary to fit it) and (b) is evolving over time (hence a label that worked last year might not next). THE FUTURE – Where the P2P Industry is Heading The US model is much more institutional and “marketplacey” – hedge funds for example being well able to make their own credit decisions (assuming they can “see through” to the asset).  The UK has to date been much more of a “savings substitute” design (lower yielding, minimal losses on the top platforms). In the US the market has been heavily regulated (enabling a few platforms to grow very large and their owners very wealthy (sound familiar?)). Lending Club alone is forecast to do perhaps $10bn of business next year – more than the entire UK P2P industry put together. In the UK regulation has been light touch, it’s easy to enter (maybe even “from your bedroom”). Both the government and the London Mayor’s office have been a major part of the 2014 promotion/hype – talking of vocab … take your pick – of Fintech as a whole.  The government has been a heavy supporter not just in terms of considering including P2P assets as viable ISA investments but also in terms of investing tax payers money in deals via some platforms. In the UK there are a lot of players ~150 in the P2P Finance Association – even Christian who is full-time in this sector and attends many conferences doesn’t know many of them. A “Goldilocks” growth curve is very important – not too hot, not too cold. P2P is still a tiny portion of the market (eg the UK mortgage market is £1.6trn) and therefore unlikely to be constrained in terms of quality asset acquisition in the near term. So “external” constraints aren’t that significant right now. However internal constraints are always significant – Fintech is not Tech – you are dealing with people’s money.  There will be a spectrum across P2P of how automated the process can be  – more automatable in consumer-P2P due to big data? less in real estate as one needs “boots on the ground” eg re valuation.  Where there is manual intervention – especially around credit (far more common in the UK than in the US) – you can’t “just add another server” – “adding another person” takes longer to do well. To wrap up the show Christian outlines the rosy scenario, the downside scenario and his central scenario – you’ll have to listen to find out the details but his conclusion is “there is a rough ride ahead but the long-term viability of the concept is very real”. Everyone has an important job in deciding how the market evolves. Platforms; regulators/industry associations; the government and last but not least the investors – caveat emptor – plenty of real opportunities out there for great risk;returns – but be wise! Personal Afterthoughts – Rewording the P2P Risk Debate These comments are all my own – even if all being inspired by listening to our conversation.  Whilst we touch on a number of these topics in the episode these are my afterthoughts. The industry is very focused (correctly) on credit analysis. However personally – as an outsider (mind you if I am an outsider I wonder what the average member of the public is) – I feel it is less easy to ascertain all the risks the investor takes. In a sense this is a question of evolution. Historically the main platforms have done an excellent job of risk management – I don’t wish to question that for one minute. However going forward – especially given the possible ISA flood – can we be certain that all platforms will do as good a job?  My view of FS as a whole is that on the one hand much of #OldFS needs to wake up to an epochal shift.  On the other much/most/all of #NewFS needs to get ever more professional/solid/reliable over time. What happens, post ISA-flood when a hundred or more platforms are listed on a consumer “price comparison website”?  Hard to see how one avoids a whole tsunami of unsophisticated investors being attracted to the biggest headline rates rather than assessing quality. On a price comparison site one could see headline rates and volumes perhaps. But what about the platform risk/quality?  Clearly not all platforms are as strong/good/reliable – you name it – as each other. How would one even assess a simple red/amber/green measure? In LFP006 I discussed this problem over the lack of quality assessment on price comparison sites in the insurance marketplace. Price comparisons websites are just that – they compare the prices of your insurance. They do not compare the quality of the insurance (you only find that out when you claim). That the public is rate-driven we know – witness in 2008 how many people had money with Landsbanki in the UK (as it had had the “best” rates in the market). Few folks are able to assess the risk of banks or platforms.  Even banking analysts don’t have a great record of predicting demises .. just to name a few – Barings, Bankers Trust, Lehmans, Landsbanki were all (as far as I recall) unheralded by the analysts. RISK I/II – Asset Risk (Principal) vs Platform Risk (Agent) What the use of the term P2P is trying to convey is that the investor ends up with a direct exposure to the underlying loans. I get that.  However there are less obscurantist ways of doing that Arguably the “peer-to-peer” phrase itself distracts one from the central role of the platform. To me this is the most important point – vocabulary apart – AltFinance-borrowing&lending is absolutely not “disintermediated”.  The role of the platform as an intermediary/agent is absolutely central, absolutely vital. As Christian says all of the (sensible?) platforms have segregated client bank accounts (and one assumes a settlement mechanism re investing in the loans which means you are not on risk to the platform (not discussed)).  So you shouldn’t have a direct cash-asset risk on the platform. However even though you end up with a principal exposure to the specific loan-asset(s) you also have an agency exposure to the platform. What do I mean by agency exposure? Well let’s assume you have a holiday home abroad which you rarely visit. The general solution is to have some agent looking after it for you. And if they do that well your asset remains in good shape.  However if the agent goes bust or disappears your asset is more exposed to deterioration as any problems that arise aren’t  addressed immediately etc. This agency role is far more vital than say an estate agent – when you buy a house you see it, you decide if you want to buy it and you get an independent survey, valuation etc – so you have little exposure to an estate agent as such (and none post-purchase). All (?) platforms accept their agency responsibilities – and will live or die by their ability to – source quality deals, filter out fraud, service payments flows, chase late payments, work out defaults etc etc etc. Owning assets (secured (0.00001% of 1 Park Lane or unsecured loans (£70 to Mr Bloggs1-100)) is one thing if you have a platform there fulfilling all the agency responsibilities. Even if technically your asset exposure doesn’t change if a platform disappears your asset servicing (“agency”) exposure certainly does. It would become a huuuuuge hassle to start collecting yourself on all those loans etc – in fact in the general case it would be inconceivable (and by definition you couldn’t do it as well as the platform, especially as, in most cases, you would become just one of many many tiny creditors). If we fast forward many years to the first platform to fail, in practice the “book”/”portfolio” would have to be transferred (/sold) to another platform to fulfill the agency duties. Maybe this agency risk is obvious to some of you (it wasn’t to me despite watching a whole host of conference videos!).  However as Christian points out whilst the industry (of course) loves volume figures and does publish loss rates, all too often it doesn’t publish and measures of platform profitability or other measures of financial viability/longevity.  So how can you assess this agency risk? This is clearly key.  Especially now loan terms are increasing (out to 5yrs) I, having worn a number of FS Risk hats, certainly would not invest any money of that term without assessing my agency risk exposure over that time horizon to the platform. And don’t forget these platforms are not covered by the Bank Deposit protection scheme, nor do they have an industry guarantee scheme (unlike eg travel agents and ABTA/ATOL). If you are an investor who is considering investing in all 100++ P2Ps but first you want to select which ones to rule in and rule out, it is essential to measure this “agency risk”. Firstly what is the chance of the platform running into financial problems? I absolutely don’t know myself – but generalising from Fintech as a whole – most Fintech startups are not going to survive. Secondly what is their equivalent of “banks living wills”? That is, in the worst case of the platform falling over, do they have a new agent lined up?  I believe in Lendinvest’s case Montello Capital (a related but separate company with experience of loan servicing/agency duties) would step in as the fallback/”safety net” agent. Based on a quick straw poll of P2P websites I just checked “not everyone” (being polite) has such arrangements.  Some P2Ps merely have vague comments saying the servicing fee should be enough for you to pay for someone else to service your assets. I am not making these points merely to be critical or to throw rocks at other people’s greenhouses. Rather I am: (a) trying to help lenders understand the risks they are taking and flag up due-diligence issues to consider; and (b) trying to help the evolution of Fintech as a whole, but in this case P2P by flagging up my perception of how to make them even more solid and robust than they are right now. RISK II/II – P2P Two Main Subtypes – YOU select your asset(s) or THEY select your assets Revisiting the vocabulary point – no single term right now meaningfully covers all of Fintech hence the subsectors. Nor does any term now cover all the “P2P” subsector. There are many models within P2P.  If we ignore the “shades of grey” and simplify into a black and white schematic we could say that “P2P” (the debt subsector of AltFinance) has bifurcated into two main subgroups. Both approaches are perfectly valid – however they are sufficiently different to explain the fact that no single term fits both. One type of “P2P” is the P2P/You-Select subtype (eg Lendinvest).  They are (somewhat) like a marketplace – or perhaps more like a shop that sources all the things it sells. The platform’s main role re principal risk is, like a stock exchange perhaps, to be a quality control on the individual assets “sold in the shop”. The other main subtype one might call P2P/They-Select. They are (somewhat) like a fund (albeit neither structured nor regulated as such).  In this case your agency exposure is much greater as they are making your principal investment decisions for you. One key difference with a fund is that in some cases there is no transparency – ie you may legally own a bunch of loans (or rather parts-thereof) but you have no knowledge of them, and no auditing that you would get if you invested in a fund. There are further bells and whistles in that some “P2P-They-Select”s may run provision funds, take out insurance, run “rolling 1mt investments”, have “rate promises”. There is a further agency wrinkle that touches on principal (which we don’t go into) around liquidity – how easy is it on various platforms to get your cash back before the term of the asset?  The agency role there gets very close to your principal risk bone if you need to rely on the agent to (effectively) re-sell your asset.  One for another day – and I have written faaaaar too much lol – am sure next to none of you made it this far – but wearing my old bloodhound hat I would want to sniff some of those quite hard to ensure that principal risk on any given platform hasn’t slipped back in. Did anyone read all of this? Say hi if you did

Christian Faes is the Founder of LendInvest, a P2P lending platform focused on the property industry in the UK