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Post by windmill on Jan 14, 2017 12:26:30 GMT
Hi All I have recently begun to put small amounts into acoupel of P2P platforms. Two things I would like to know: 1) online security - my experience is that there is just u/n and p/q and sometimes security questions. Is this sufficient to prevent fraud of any kind from hackers etc? The banks struggle to keep their online sites secure, and fraud still occurs. 2) I was very tempted to invest in Assetz until I saw their accounts appear to be 2.74million in the minus www.endole.co.uk/company/08007287/assetz-sme-capital-limited?page=financialsWould this make any investment on this platform likely more risky? Thank you for any help W |
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Post by oldnick on Jan 14, 2017 13:10:07 GMT
Hi All I have recently begun to put small amounts into acoupel of P2P platforms. Two things I would like to know: 1) online security - my experience is that there is just u/n and p/q and sometimes security questions. Is this sufficient to prevent fraud of any kind from hackers etc? The banks struggle to keep their online sites secure, and fraud still occurs. 2) I was very tempted to invest in Assetz until I saw their accounts appear to be 2.74million in the minus www.endole.co.uk/company/08007287/assetz-sme-capital-limited?page=financialsWould this make any investment on this platform likely more risky? Thank you for any help W 1.Nothing is impossible - but, so far, no known cases of hacked accounts. 2.You will not be investing in Assetz the company, but lending money to borrowers they have found for you. If Assetz the company failed, the loans would still stand and repayment managed in a pre-arranged way - see their website. There is, in this situation, the potential for borrowers to 'scent blood' and stop paying, in the hope that there will be less effort spent on recovery, as there is no longer any reputation at stake. This would, perhaps, drive up recovery costs - and the risk to your capital is the reason you will earn higher interest than you can from a bank. Never put money into p2p if its loss would affect your life dramatically.
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Post by mrclondon on Jan 14, 2017 17:21:03 GMT
That link you provided is pulling up data from AC's accounts as at 31st March 2015 which have been superceded by the following year's accounts. For your info it is a requirement that accounts are filed with companies house at the latest within 9 months of the financial year end, and AC filed their accounts for 31st March 2016 a few weeks ago. This link companycheck.co.uk/company/08007287/ASSETZ-SME-CAPITAL-LIMITED/financials includes the latest data and you'll see the net worth has "recovered" to positive £200k. The point you have probably overlooked, is 31st March 2015 is BEFORE AC's £3m+ convertible note raise on seedrs which was concluded in May 2015 in which many forum members participated, and there has been another convertible note raise since then via an institution. It is probable (but by no means certain) that AC will complete an additional formal equity raise in the next few months (just) prior to the long-stop conversion date of mid May on the seedrs convertible notes.
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Post by windmill on Jan 14, 2017 17:51:49 GMT
Hello Nick and MRC
Thank you for your very helpful posts to my questions, much appreciated. I shall look on the companycheck website in future for more up to date information.
W
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james
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Post by james on Jan 14, 2017 19:45:48 GMT
The financials of the P2P firms themselves aren't really the issue. Much more important is that you are sure that they have sufficiently high ethical standards that you can trust that the information they provide to you about possible loans is accurate and complete enough to include all information that would affect you lending decision. If you find a platform not doing that then you also have to wonder what they are doing in the areas that you can't check.
Ethics also matter because one of the unlikely but nasty risks of P2P is fraud at a platform. Unlike the individual loans, if you're well diversified, this could cost a lot of money. It's one reason why diversifying across several platforms becomes important. I don't know of any UK platform where I think this is likely but we do all need to protect against the risk once the amounts invested become significant to us.
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Post by windmill on Jan 14, 2017 22:23:19 GMT
Hello James
thank you Interesting -
would the FCA not ensure the information provided is accurate and complete? Wishful thinking perhaps on my part.
When you say fraud at a platform - do you mean by the providers, or the users? Some outsiders?
W
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james
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Post by james on Jan 15, 2017 1:14:16 GMT
The rules specify that the information has to be "clear, fair and not misleading". The FCA can't check all descriptions but what they can do is try to get management in place that is committed to following the rules rather than otherwise. The degree to which this happens is highly variable across the various platforms and I think it's one of the more important criteria when selecting which platforms to use.
By fraud at a platform I meant insiders such as owners, employees and contractors, perhaps working with outsiders. In the conventional lending world there have been many such cases including fake borrowers with a cut of the stolen/borrowed money going to the insiders, compliance officers and accountants stealing from firms or wrongly presented loans to help employees to qualify for bonuses.
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Post by windmill on Jan 15, 2017 13:22:19 GMT
Hello James
Thank you again for your helpful explanation; I appreciate that the more because I am new to P2P. I had previously assumed that the difference in the information provided to lenders was caused by the different products which are offered, but I need to look at that again now.
kind regards
W
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