The alternative finance market continues to power ahead in terms of support provided to businesses and individuals. The latest figures released by the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association (P2PFA) reveals that the peer-to-peer lending industry lent £750 million which brings the total lent by its members to just under £10 billion.

The P2PFA was established in 2011 as a representative and self-regulatory body for peer-to-peer lending in the UK. There are 8 members of the Association being Crowdstacker; Folk 2 Folk; Funding Circle; Landbay; Lending Works; Marketinvoice; Thin Cats, and Zopa.
The Association has reported that new member’s lending to businesses and individuals has grown by almost £100 million quarter-on-quarter over the last year.

To demonstrate how peer-to-peer is now going mainstream, the Association has highlighted that net lending (defined as total lending minus repayments) of £191 million over the same period was greater by £60 billion than the combined net lending of the major high street banks which stood at £130 million.

On average, three quarters of the lending support UK small businesses. The disparity between the P2P lenders and the traditional High St banks is further highlighted by the latest figures from UK Finance which show that in the 12 months to August 2018, bank lending to businesses fell by 2.1%.

The P2P sector continues to fill a gap being left by the banks and no doubt has been a lifeline for many small businesses.

A year after a Competition and Markets Authority report on transparency in the finance services market, lenders to small businesses are now required to quote an APR on lower value loans. Will it help boost competition?

More evidence that businesses are beginning to feel the strain with the latest Red Flag Alert report from Begbies Traynor revealing a jump in businesses classified as being in ‘significant financial distress’.

One sector that is doing well is Peer to Peer lending. The figures on volume of lending done by members of the Peer to Peer Finance Association in Quarter 2 2017 show that businesses are continuing to take advantage of finance from this source.

If you would prefer to listen to the podcast version you can click below or download to listen to later via our Soundcloud, Stitcher or itunes channel.

Have you ever thought what would happen to your business if something befell you or a key employee? In this edition of the Business Finance Bulletin we look at this question posed by Aldermore Bank in a recent survey. Are you at risk and if so how can you mitigate the impact?

The rise of the alternative lenders as a credible source of finance continues. We review the latest figures from the Peer to Peer Finance Association which reveal new highs in terms of money being lent out by Association members.

How does a 3 minute loan sound? If you’re a Nat West small business customer looking for a loan of less than £35,000 then we have news of how you may be able to take advantage of their soon-to-be-launched online application platform.

If you would prefer to listen to the podcast version you can click below or download to listen to later via our Soundcloud, Stitcher or itunes channel.

We open the latest edition of the Business Finance Bulletin with a look at two surveys from the Federation of Small Businesses and Barclays Bank. The question asked of small businesses is how Brexit will impact those trading overseas and whether confidence has taken a knock. What are our SMEs thinking?

We take our regular look at how the alternative finance sector is performing following the release of the last quarter 2016 statistics by the Peer to Peer Finance Association. Lending to both businesses and individuals continues to remain strong.

Scale-ups appears to the latest ‘new thing’ with the news that the government has appointed a Scale-Up Champion. What is the government looking to achieve?

If you would prefer to listen to the podcast version you can click below or download to listen to later via our Soundcloud, Stitcher or itunes channel.

In the latest episode of the Business Finance Bulletin we share news of the launch of Peer Funding, a new player in the Peer to Peer finance world. What do they have to offer growing businesses in need of finance?

Regional loan funds are a growing source of finance for small businesses and those operating in Worcestershire will now benefit from a new loan fund. We look at how the fund is designed to help those local businesses which aren’t getting support from traditional lenders.

Turning back to the alternative finance world we look at the latest statistics from the Peer to Peer Finance Association on how the sector performed in terms of money lent in the 3rd quarter of this year.

If you would prefer to listen to the podcast version you can click below or download to listen to later via our Soundcloud, Stitcher or itunes channel.

In this episode of the Business Finance Bulletin finally an edition packed with good news.

We take a look at the latest figures from the Bank of England which show an annual growth in bank lending to small businesses (but not such good news for the larger businesses though).

In the crowdfunding world an update from the Peer to Peer Finance Association confirms that crowdfunding had another strong year in 2105 in terms of money lent, and an increase in the number of private investors and borrowers.

Staying with crowdfunding, there’s positive news from Assetz Capital which has announced a significant pot of new money to lend out to SMEs and details of the launch of a new equity crowdfunding platform, GrowthDeck.

And to round-off the crowdfunding theme of this edition, a clip from a seminar in which Rob Warlow from Business Loan Services outlines the history of crowdfunding.

If you would prefer to listen to the podcast version you can click below or download to listen to later via our Soundcloud, Stitcher or itunes channel.

In the latest episode of the Business Finance Bulletin Rob Warlow looks at a new product launched by Market Invoice, the online invoice discounting provider. The new product called Contract Finance will help businesses release previously locked-up cash from contracts delivering regular income.

According to a survey from Bibby Financial Services business confidence amongst SMEs has taken a dent and bucked the recent trend of a rise in more confident businesses. Why is this?

Rob reveals the sources of finance business owners are turning to as featured in a survey carried out by Santander Corporate and Commercial Banking. Which source is proving surprisingly popular?

In the crowdfunding world, the latest lending figures from the P2P Finance Association show that its members are reaching new highs in their support of growing businesses. Rob looks at how SMEs are benefiting.

And in the Business Finance Tip of the Week, Rob shares a calculation you can make from your Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Accounts which can help pinpoint a problem in your stock control.

If you prefer to listen to the podcast version you listen in below or download it via our Soundcloud or itunes channel.

The latest update from the Peer to Peer Finance Association shows that crowdfunding continues its stellar growth. Figures for the 1st Quarter of 2015 reveal that the industry lent out £459,000,000, compared to £346,000,000 in the 4th Quarter of 2014

That’s an increase of 33%… growth rates the banks can’t touch!

But let’s look closer at what else is happening.

Let’s start with the lenders… the people who are handing over their cash. At the end of Quarter 4 2014 there were 105,101 lenders. At the end of March 2015 there were 111,255

That’s an increase of 6%.

What about the borrowers?

At the end of Quarter 4 2014 there were 139,749 borrowers and at the end of March 2015 there were 159,083.
That’s an increase of 14%

It’s clear that more businesses and individuals are seeing the benefits of crowdfunding.

If you want to know how you can access finance for you business via crowdfunding you can find more information on our crowdfunding page.