Tomorrow night, Andy Davis will be chairing another AFN seminar, this time on Sustainability in Alternative Funding (If you want to attend, simply CLICK HERE for full details). In the past 5 years, some 200 new entrants have joined the SME funding space, and it feels like now is the time for a bit of a “shake out”. We planned this event in advance of the BREXIT vote, but there was already plenty of challenges and opportunities facing P2P, Crowd and Invoice Trading Platforms. Tomorrow evening we will be looking at some of these questions:

• We’re now three years in to the building of P2P loan books – defaults are unavoidable, so what will be the market reaction?
• What impact will bad publicity have on this market? Lending Club’s problems in the US represent pretty bad case study for the industry.
• Is Institutional money driving bad decision making and are we in danger of losing the some of the underlying democratic drivers that helped create the market in the first place
• How many dominant players might we land up with, and how many niche or specialists Funders can find a space and profitability?
• What funding models will be sustainable in this market, and who is set to get it right?

And much more!

We will also add some time to discuss the emerging Alternative Funding market in the context BREXIT – difficult to avoid mention right now! My own views are undoubtedly coloured by my disappointment at the outcome and the subsequent mess our entire body of politicians appear to be in. Stepping back, there is a good argument to suggest that BREXIT might have little, real, long term impact. But, I fear that will not be the case, particular when it applies to the finance and technology sectors. The UK has been relatively strong in both (particularly within Europe), precisely because we have been open, flexible and welcoming to the inventive. Alternative Funding is about both finance and technology, and the UK leads the way in Europe. In fact, 85% of Alternative Funding in Europe is UK based, and we are at the forefront of Fintech.  Post BREXIT, can we maintain that position – indeed, is there an opportunity to build further?

Thoughts welcome!