Orca, an independent provider of data, research and analysis for the UK’s Peer-to-Peer (P2P) ) lending market, has unveiled a new standardized platform, part of the group’s latest bid to cater to financial advisers and investors within the broader P2P market.
The launch of Orca’s new platform coincides with a pent up demand in the P2P market, which has itself swelled higher over the past two years. In particular, in 2016 alone, this market rose over 40 percent on a year-over-year basis, and is slated to include upwards of 2.7 million people investing in this space by 2020. Looking at these trends, there is also a dearth of investment information providers, a position that Orca has aimed to help secure for itself.
Growing demand in P2P market
More specifically, the group’s new platform helps allow users to better focus on their P2P investments, also providing a wealth of standardized metrics that help compare, contrast, and benchmark these instruments, whilst also fortifying Risk Management and investment decision-making.
The platform will emphasize P2P investment and market data on such items as interest rates, default rates, bad debt rates, and the financial standing of platforms. Orca’s scope of coverage also covered approximately 90 percent of the UK P2P professional market. The launch will also see Orca making further provisions to its platform, with the deployment of proprietary Orca Scoring, a function that helps enable users to identify the risks and opportunities that best match their needs.
Iain Niblock (left),
According to Iain Niblock, CEO of Orca, in a statement on the launch: “Although P2P investments offer stable, predictable risk-adjusted returns and great diversification for investors, there has been virtually no uptake since financial advisers were permitted to suggest their clients consider P2P products last year.”
“This is because the risks are often relatively misunderstood, and investors and financial advisers alike do not have the tools and information to feel confident about P2P investments,” he added.
