EU P2P sites

explorep2p.com
p2pbanking.com

Most of the above are self-reinvesting sites that only need half an eye to make sure your auto-invest is functoning. The question is not "is this site safe", as they have been proved over time. The question is "is this entire sector safe".

We re looking here at mainly Baltic p2p and you need to keep asking yourself, are there systemic threats to these companies? Why can they offer 11-14% interest rates? 

The answer is (I think) that the later EU accession countries (i.e. ex-soviet) were under-banked - the banks themselves were starting from scratch. Into this gap stepped these new fintech companies providing quick access to funding, whether it be in loan markets, invoice financing, car-purchase or real estate developments. Notable mid-Europe based companies - October - Look & Fin, are fewer on the ground and offering rates half those of the East because they are in competition with established banks. 

Having established why you think these fintech firms exist, you need to think about their long term viability. Most of them are profitable, but both the platforms and the companies that use them are without exception small, with a profit of €1m counting as good. The second thing to observe is how well they survive various crises. The sector sailed through Corona without a blip. Putin's War posed a different threat, as five or so of the platforms I listed had exposure to Russian loans, and in one case to Russian and Ukranian loans. I would give all of these 10/10 for their responses. Peerberry particularly heavily effected and positive in keeping their company on track.

The sector in earlier days had some bogus sites, some which seemed to be sucked into that territory (Grupeer) and one larger small one, Viventor, which functioned fine for  few years, then was sold to the largest loan issuer on the site, which promptly defaulted. A clever way to avoid paying your 6m or so outstanding liabilities. But since these early days rip-offs, the scene has not seen this kind of thing for a couple of years as financial oversight from the Baltic governments' regulatory authorities has tightened.

The fly in the ointment is the coming of voluntary regulation, of securitising their products to 'give protection' to investors. Several sites are moving towards this. It has been launched on Mintos, and while the interest rates on these protected investments are fine (15%), the withholding tax (20%) is a big downside. Until the sector can get their way on this and reduce it to 5%, I think they will see a diminution of interest.

Having written this essay, and admitting a large exposure to this area, I would be delighted if anyone could point out anything I m missing. Because, a0010402 there isn't anything as good as this p2pindependentforum out there in English to lend a guiding hand.