BondMason

Last updated
BondMason Group Limited
Company typePrivate
Industry Financial services
Founded2013 (2013)
FounderStephen Findlay
Headquarters,
Products Financial services
Direct lending
Number of employees
18
Website www.bondmason.com

BondMason is a direct lending (including peer-to-peer lending) investment manager based in Harpenden, England. [1]

Contents

History

BondMason was founded in 2013 [2] by Stephen Findlay, an accountant with a background in private equity who previously worked at Fidelity Equity Partners. [3]

BondMason's peer-to-peer lending platform operated from October 2015 [4] until May 2019, at which point it ceased its core property-lending investment service. [5] The company claims that this was not due to financial troubles, but rather concerns about the credit outlook. Findlay had also explained in an interview that the platform had struggled to obtain FCA regulation. [6] According to the company web page, BondMason's clients received over 100% of their invested capital back. [7]

In 2016, BondMason completed an equity funding round led by Par Equity, a venture capital firm based in Edinburgh, Scotland. [8] In March 2018, the company secured £1.85 million in another funding round led by Seneca Partners and Par Equity. [9]

BondMason was one of the first companies accepted onto the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Innovation Hub programme. [10]

Business Model and Activities

BondMason's peer-to-peer lending platform enabled clients to access returns from direct lending, mostly loans secured against UK property. It offered bonds and investment funds.

The company also produced proprietary research into direct lending market trends, [11] [12] including analysis that identified the size and growth of the UK peer-to-peer lending market from £2.3bn in 2015 [13] to £3.2bn in 2016. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital market</span> Financial market

A capital market is a financial market in which long-term debt or equity-backed securities are bought and sold, in contrast to a money market where short-term debt is bought and sold. Capital markets channel the wealth of savers to those who can put it to long-term productive use, such as companies or governments making long-term investments. Financial regulators like Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Bank of England (BoE) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) oversee capital markets to protect investors against fraud, among other duties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Security (finance)</span> Tradable financial asset

A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of financial instrument, but its legal definition varies by jurisdiction. In some countries and languages people commonly use the term "security" to refer to any form of financial instrument, even though the underlying legal and regulatory regime may not have such a broad definition. In some jurisdictions the term specifically excludes financial instruments other than equity and fixed income instruments. In some jurisdictions it includes some instruments that are close to equities and fixed income, e.g., equity warrants.

Peer-to-peer lending, also abbreviated as P2P lending, is the practice of lending money to individuals or businesses through online services that match lenders with borrowers. Peer-to-peer lending companies often offer their services online, and attempt to operate with lower overhead and provide their services more cheaply than traditional financial institutions. As a result, lenders can earn higher returns compared to savings and investment products offered by banks, while borrowers can borrow money at lower interest rates, even after the P2P lending company has taken a fee for providing the match-making platform and credit checking the borrower. There is the risk of the borrower defaulting on the loans taken out from peer-lending websites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zopa</span> British financial services company

Zopa Bank Ltd. is a British online bank which offers deposit accounts, personal loans and credit cards. It began as the world's first peer-to-peer lending company in 2005 and gained a full banking licence in 2020. The peer-to-peer side of its business closed in December 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Funding Circle</span> Commercial lender

Funding Circle is a commercial lender. Originally it was a peer-to-peer lending marketplace that allowed the public to lend money directly to small and medium-sized businesses. Through this exchange businesses access lower costs of financing than they would get at a bank and the public are able to become lenders and in doing so make a return on their capital. It closed its lending option to "retail investors" between 2020 and 2022, and then announced, in March 2022, that it had made the closure permanent.

RateSetter is a British personal loan provider, founded in 2009 as one of the pioneers of peer-to-peer lending. The London-based company traded in the United Kingdom and through a locally-owned and run business in Australia. The UK business was acquired by Metro Bank in September 2020, leading to closure of the peer-to-peer products in April 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">La Trobe Financial</span>

La Trobe Financial is an Australian credit asset management firm specialising in asset management and credit. It offers real estate credit, investment account offerings and private wealth management. The CEO is Mr. Chris Andrews. La Trobe Financial's head office is located in Melbourne, with corporate offices in Sydney, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Crowdcube is a British investment crowdfunding platform, established by Darren Westlake and Luke Lang in 2011.

Rebuildingsociety.com is a Leeds-based peer-to-peer lending platform, founded in 2012 by Daniel Rajkumar, to facilitate the online arranging of finance between lenders and small and medium-sized enterprises. The first loans were completed in February 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assetz Capital</span>

Assetz Capital is a British company which makes property-secured loans to businesses. It was established in 2012 as a peer-to-peer or "marketplace" lender which allowed private and institutional investors to lend money directly to small businesses (SMEs) and property developers. In December 2022 it became solely funded by institutional capital for new lending.

LendInvest is a British non-bank mortgage lender which provides a property lending and investing platform. As an alternative fintech lender in the property market, LendInvest provides finance to property professionals and small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) around the UK. It also makes it possible for individuals, corporates and institutions to invest in secured property loans originated and underwritten by its mortgage team.

Wellesley Group is an established alternative property investment platform, that issues Bond investments to the UK retail market. The Wellesley Group consists of Wellesley & Co., Wellesley Finance Plc and Wellesley Group Investors Ltd. Wellesley Group is named after co-founder Graham Wellesley, 8th Earl Cowley, who was previously Chief Executive of IFX and Finspreads.

Peer-to-peer asset management is the practice of sharing investment strategies between unrelated individuals, or "peers", without going through a traditional financial intermediary such as a bank or other collective investment management vehicle.

Equity crowdfunding is the online offering of private company securities to a group of people for investment and therefore it is a part of the capital markets. Because equity crowdfunding involves investment into a commercial enterprise, it is often subject to securities and financial regulation. Equity crowdfunding is also referred to as crowdinvesting, investment crowdfunding, or crowd equity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The House Crowd</span>

The House Crowd was a British peer to peer lending and crowdfunding platform that allowed people to invest in bridging loans and property development loans from £1,000. In 2018, the business achieved authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority and launched their Innovative Finance ISA. As of January 2019, The House Crowd had funded 368 properties, raised over £93 million and paid investors returns in excess of £38 million. The House Crowd was placed into administration on 24 February 2021 and subsequently wound-up.

Landbay is a UK Financial technology company that operates a mortgage lending platform to allow institutions to fund residential mortgages in a ‘Mortgage-as-a-Service’ construct.

Alternative finance refers to financial channels, processes, and instruments that have emerged outside of the traditional finance system, such as regulated banks and capital markets. Examples of alternative financing activities through 'online marketplaces' are reward-based crowdfunding, equity crowdfunding, revenue-based financing, online lenders, peer-to-peer consumer and business lending, and invoice trading third party payment platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Folk2Folk</span>

FOLK2FOLK is a Marketplace lending platform (MPL) specializing in secured lending for business owners across the rural and regional parts of the UK. It matches businesses looking for capital with individual (retail) and institutional investors who receive a fixed interest rate from 7.5% p.a. secured against UK land or property. Investors receive the same interest rate that the Borrower pays, with FOLK2FOLK making its profit from an arrangement fee and annual renewal fee charged to Borrowers.

LandlordInvest is a peer-to-peer lending platform that enables people to invest in residential, commercial, and semi-commercial bridging and development loans. The platform's target audiences are professional property investors and landlords. It was the first residential property-backed Innovative Finance ISA made available to UK savers.

Moonfare is a digital investment platform that secures allocations in private equity and venture capital funds that generally have very high minimum investments or are offered only to institutional investors. Moonfare, splits these investments into smaller tranches using feeder fund vehicles, and makes them available to investors at lower minimums. Moonfare has offered funds with minimums of £50,000 in the UK, €50,000 in Europe, and $75,000 in the US

References

  1. "BONDMASON GROUP LTD".
  2. "WebCheck". Companies House.
  3. "Fidelity's snap happy £33m deal". 21 July 2008.
  4. "P2P Asset Manager BondMason Launches".
  5. "Home". Bondmason. Retrieved 2024-04-18.
  6. Laurence (2019-06-11). "Bondmason Review - My Unbiased Investor Review". Financial Thing - Peer To Peer Lending. Retrieved 2024-04-18.
  7. "Home". Bondmason. Retrieved 2024-04-18.
  8. "Par Equity BondMason".
  9. "BondMason Secures £1.85 Million Through Latest Funding Round to Drive Growth". 13 March 2018.
  10. "Selling large corporate bonds via a P2P approach". 15 February 2017.[ dead link ]
  11. "BondMason Reports P2P Lending Doubled to £2.3bn in 2015; Offers Up 3 Predictions for 2016". Crowdfund Insider. 17 December 2015.
  12. "Market Report - Direct Lending in the UK". BondMason.
  13. "Lending Club Scandal Provokes Major UK 'Peer-To-Peer' Investigation". Forbes. 22 July 2016.
  14. "Peer to peer benefits from flight to quality". Wealth Adviser. 8 February 2017.

External sources