FinTechs Find Tech Revolution Tough Going – Plus Loan Latest
Perhaps the financial mainstream isn’t alone in struggling to keep up with the pace of change in the FinTech revolution. Our friends at The Fintech Times report:
48% of fintechs’ data security is struggling to keep pace with innovation and digital transformation; a new report by Veritas Technologies has found.
In the accelerated switch to meet the ever-changing needs of a pandemic-conscious consumer, financial service organisations have been left in a state of heightened vulnerability and at an increased risk of ransomware and other data loss incidents.
As brought to light by Veritas Technologies’ Vulnerability Lag Report, this level of threat to the sector is expected to persist for another two years as organisations struggle to close the gap between the new technologies they have introduced to deal with the crisis, and the security measures required to protect them.
The Veritas Vulnerability Lag Report surveyed 2,050 IT executives from 19 countries, including 245 respondents from the financial services sector.
Unfortunately, the report has exposed the fact that companies in the financial services space were more likely to be struggling to keep pace with their security than those from most other sectors, with 48% of respondents stating that their data security was lagging behind their digital transformation deployments.
From the offset, this figure is concerning not only because the average across all industries was measured at 39%, but also because financial service providers typically handle very sensitive consumer information. The presence of this gap is therefore very concerning for people who frequently engage with these types of services, and depend on their security.
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- The latest £77,600 loan offering, yielding seven per cent and risk-rated A, is currently 16 per cent funded.
The lender is seeking to fund claims for financial mis-selling. The term of the loan is 15 months.
Below are some details from the borrower’s pitch – as ever, we’ve done due diligence but cannot warrant or guarantee the truth of the representations. For full detail, register or log in here.
Historical Performance And IFISA Process Guide
- Money&Co. lenders have achieved an average return of more than 8 per cent gross (before we deduct our one per cent fee).
That figure is the result of over £24 million of loans facilitated on the site, as we bring individuals looking for a good return on capital together with carefully vetted small companies seeking funds for growth. Bear in mind that lenders’ capital is at risk. Read warnings on site before committing capital.
- Money&Co. has been lending for over 5 years and has only had two bad debts so far, representing a bad debt rate of 0.03 per cent per annum.
All loans on site are eligible to be held in a Money&Co. Innovative Finance Individual Savings Account (IFISA), up to the annual ISA limit of £20,000. Such loans offer lenders tax-free income. Our offering is an Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) that can hold the peer-to-peer (P2P) business loans that Money&Co. facilitates. For the purposes of this article, the terms ISA and IFISA are interchangeable.
So here’s our guide to the process:
- Step 1: Register as a lender. Go to the login page, and go through the process that the law requires us to effect. This means we have to do basic checks on you to comply with money-laundering and other security requirements.
- Step 2: Put money into your account. This is best done by electronic transfer. We can also process paper cheques drawn in favour of Denmark Square Limited, the parent company of Money&Co.
- Step 3: Buy loans in the loan market. Once you’ve put cash in your account it will sit there – and it won’t earn interest until you’ve bought a piece of a loan. It’s this final step that requires lenders and IFISA investors to be pro-active. Just choose some loans – all loans on the Money&Co. site can be held in an IFISA – and your money will start earning tax-free interest.
The ISA allowance for 2020/21 is unchanged from last tax year at £20,000, allowing a married couple to put £40,000 into a tax-free environment. Over three years, an investment of this scale in two Money&Co. Innovative Finance ISAs would generate £8,400 of income completely free of tax. We’re assuming a 7 per cent return, net of charges and free of tax here.
Once you have made your initial commitment, you might then consider diversifying – buying a spread of loans. To do this, you can go into the “loans for sale” market. All loans bought in this market also qualify for IFISA tax benefits.
Risk: Security, Access, Yield
Do consider not just the return, but the security and the ease of access to your investment. We write regularly about these three key factors. Here’s one of several earlier articles on security, access and yield.