Disruptive lending platform JustUs gets FCA approval
Disruptive peer-to-peer lending platform JustUs – backed by big name entrepreneurs including veteran advertising agency boss turned angel investor Sir John Hegarty – has passed a major regulator milestone.
The Alderley Edge, Cheshire company launched in 2016 by founder and chief executive Lee Birkett has been granted full authorization by the Financial Conduct Authority for peer-to-peer lending.
Full authorisation is a pre-requisite to offer the JustUs Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) and registration forms have been submitted to HMRC with a planned launch of the ISA in October.
Birkett said: “I am thrilled we have secured this authorisation. It has been a long process and we understand the need for the FCA to be thorough and rigorous.
“It means we can now push on and raise significant funds to establish JustUs as a true market leader.”
Birkett, who has 27 years’ experience in financial services, added: “A number of our larger competitors have been unable to satisfy the regulatory requirements to operate a peer-to-peer lending platform, and have withdrawn from the application process.
“We wholeheartedly believe in the spirit of peer-to-peer and as a team have all invested a huge amount of the time, money and effort to deliver a unique proposition to UK borrowers and savers.”
Birkett and his backers, who include Hegarty via his business incubator The Garage, Soho, said that with interest rates at a record low of 0.25%, new products for savers are urgently required.
Birkett went on: “The ISA brand is of huge significance to the UK savings and Investment market, currently worth approximately £500bn. The ability to deliver a better return for savers’ cash is something that we relish and have been testing since formation in 2013.
“Our lenders can lend to borrowers with great credit histories and also to consumers with a less-than-perfect credit history, but who have friends or family members willing to stand as guarantor.”
Hegarty added: “Gaining full regulatory approval shows our belief in the business model Lee and his team presented to us was justified. That is why we at The Garage are so pleased to be part of JustUs.”
