Thomson Reuters calls for alternative finance providers to respond to APAC benchmarking survey

Thomson Reuters has collaborated with The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance at Cambridge Judge Business School, the Tsinghua University Graduate School of Shenzhen and the University of Sydney Business School to conduct the 2015 Asia-Pacific Alternative Finance Benchmarking Survey.

The survey will be the first-ever comprehensive study of crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending and other forms of alternative finance across the Asia-Pacific region­­­­ – including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Australia and New Zealand.

Sanjeev Chatrath, Managing Director, Finance & Risk, Asia Pacific at Thomson Reuters said: “Alternative finance is starting to gain significant momentum across the Asia Pacific region, rapidly catching up with Europe and the Americas. The 2015 Asia-Pacific Alternative Finance Benchmarking Survey will more definitively track this progress across the region."

Raghavendra Rau, Director of Research at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) added: “The Asia Pacific region includes many of the most populous and fastest growing developing countries in the world – China, India and Indonesia and many more. The rapid uptake of mobile technologies and the permeation of social media are enabling these countries to leapfrog traditional banking infrastructure, which suggests that the potential growth of innovative alternative finance markets in the Asia-Pacific may be higher than other regions.”

The survey is also supported by KPMG, CME Group Foundation, the ACCA and 20 leading alternative finance industry and academic research partners across Asia-Pacific and beyond, including the Crowdfunding Institute of Australia, LendIt, Crowdfund China Society, Hong Kong Crowdfunding Association, Wangdaizhijia, New Zealand Crowdfunding Society, Japan Crowdfunding Council, Crowdfund Asia Association, Korean FinTech Forum, ShengZhen Crowdfunding Association, Change Fusion Thailand, World Crowdfunding Conference, Crowdsourcing Week, Crowdfund Vibe, FinTech Hong Kong, the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN), the CrowdfundInsider, the Nagoya University, the University of Amsterdam and the Ahmedabad University.

The survey is now live and closes on 18 December. Results will be made available free to the public in the 2015 China Alternative Finance Benchmarking Report and the 2015 Asia Pacific Alternative Finance Benchmarking Report, due to be published in early 2016. All findings will be aggregated either by country, region or alternative financing models and no individual platform/provider’s data will be divulged.

Interested?

All crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending and other alternative finance providers, operating in the Asia-Pacific area (excluding the Americas), are invited to contribute to the benchmarking survey. Research findings will be presented only in aggregated form (e.g. by countries, regions and models) and individual platform’s data confidentiality is ensured. All participating platforms will be acknowledged in the benchmarking report, displayed with their respective logos.

Take the survey in English, Chinese, Korean, or Japanese

Harmoney shows off glowing first-year scorecard

The first-year success of peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace Harmoney, New Zealand's only operating P2P lender, is showing pent-up demand for crowd-funded microloans.

The company launched on 10 September 2014 with NZ$100 million of committed lending capital from institutions including Blue Elephant Capital Management and Heartland Bank. Over its first year of operation, Harmoney has facilitated NZ$100 million of personal loans in less than 12 months, the company said. Harmoney has also created 65 new jobs in New Zealand, Australia and Fiji and is preparing to launch in Australia.

Harmoney brings lenders -  called investors - and borrowers together. Some 70,000 loan applications were received, valued at about NZ$1 billion, and 90% of the loans were funded by the marketplace within 24 hours, the company said. On the lender side, Harmoney welcomed 3,000 active individual investors with an average account balance of NZ$6,000. As a whole, investors earned total interest income of NZ$6 million, and the average realised yield was 13%. The platform also welcomed several large institutional investors including Marshall Wace and P2P Global Investments in its first year.

"There is strong and growing demand for higher investment returns and cost effective borrowing and a growing awareness of the benefits of P2P. We're proud to be the platform that facilitates people investing in people," says Harmoney CEO Neil Roberts.

"Kiwis, in keeping with their reputation as early adopters, are embracing Harmoney's P2P offering with enthusiasm. We are achieving phenomenal growth, and in 12 months have attracted 70,000 loan enquiries worth NZ$1 billion and welcomed 3,000 active personal investors to our marketplace, www.harmoney.co.nz. With the exception of China, this level of growth is unheard of, and reflects the hard work and experience of the team."

Harmoney's focus is on acquiring and retaining creditworthy borrowers, says CEO, Neil Roberts.

"The team wanted to limit the exposure to higher risk customers, so apply risk-grade lending limits, and only fund a fraction of the applications received. Using our proprietary scorecard lower risk 'A' credit grade applicants can borrow up to NZ$35,000, compared to just NZ$5,000 for an 'F' customer."

Harmoney's median customer has a C1 risk profile; considered a solid customer to finance. A typical C1 applicant has an unblemished credit history, is 45 to 49 years old and married with a mortgage.

Investors fractionalise their investments, a process that breaks a loan into $25 units called "notes". This approach allows investors to select how many "notes" they wish to fund in a particular loan, which spreads risk. Harmoney's individual investors currently fund 25% of loans available*, and have an average investment of NZ$6,000. Investors are able to achieve higher rates of return (target 12%).

Harmoney is focusing on making greater use of emerging technology, particularly mobile, developing channels to market, enhancing its online marketplace with new products for high net worth individuals, and growing even faster.

New Zealand is one of the first countries in the world to overhaul securities law and to allow for peer to peer lending platforms which can act as a challenge to traditional banking. P2P lending platforms operate with benchmark operational costs far lower than any main street bank and typically pass on the savings to lenders using the platform. The service providers are regulated, licensed and policed by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA).