MoneyPlace second Aussie P2P lender for mums and dads

Melbourne start-up MoneyPlace became the second Australian peer-to-peer lender to open its virtual doors to mum and dad investors on Monday.

The company, led by former NAB banker Stuart Stoyan and backed by Westpac’s former head of retail banking Rob Coombe, provides a platform for investors to make personal loans.

Borrowers can get loans of between $5000 and $35,000 for terms of three to five years directly from individual lenders via MoneyPlace at rates starting at 8.99 per cent. It claims investors can earn returns from 7.8 per cent.

After two years building MoneyPlace, including a 13-month approval process with the corporate regulator, it “matched” its first loan last week.

“The MoneyPlace team has put in a lot of hard work to bring in global best practice into an Australian peer-to-peer lending proposition,” Mr Stoyan said.

“While it has taken considerable time and effort to gain regulatory approval, it was encouraging to see ASIC’s willingness to understand our model and ensure we are regulated in a robust manner.

“MoneyPlace will initially only take investments from so called “sophisticated investors” who have net assets of $2.5 million or aggregated gross income for each of the last two financial years of at least $250,000 a year.

Source: MoneyPlace second Aussie P2P lender for mums and dads