UK small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) lender Huddle Capital has joined European peer-to-peer lending marketplace Bondster as a loan originator.
Bondster said that Huddle Capital joined its platform in June, enabling its investors to fund Huddle’s loans, which offer an average interest rate of 12.8 per cent.
Read more: Czech P2P Bondster signs 15k investors since inception
“According to Huddle Capital Group findings, traditional lenders are often limited by regulation, low-risk appetite and complicated internal processes,” said Bondster in a blog post on its website. “This creates a significant gap in the market and many interesting investment opportunities.”
The partnership means that individual investors can once again fund Huddle’s loans, albeit not in the UK. Huddle was formerly a P2P lending platform but appeared to have left the space around 17 months ago with no formal announcement, pivoting to balance sheet-funded SME lending which is unregulated.
The firm previously operated as a P2P firm as an appointed representative (AR) under principal Rebuildingsociety, but its AR status terminated on 11 January 2022, according to the Financial Conduct Authority’s Financial Services Register.
Read more: Rebuildingsociety calls for more FCA collaboration amid AR lending ban
Bondster said that Huddle provides loans ranging from £50,000 to £10m with loan terms ranging between six and 24 months.
It said that Huddle uses its own funds to finance the loans it provides, while a part of its loan portfolio is then offered for investment.
Bondster’s analyst team has assigned Huddle a B rating.
Read more: FCA tightens oversight of Appointed Representatives
