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An online lending platform that provides SME finance has accrued 80 broker partners since its launch late last year.
Following its entry into the Australian credit space in December, peer-to-peer lending platform ThinCats Australia has partnered with over 150 lenders, 80 finance brokers and has generated a strong pipeline of SME loans.
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The group has a separate company, SANA Finance, which contracts mortgage brokers and shares remuneration for deals introduced to the platform. Brokers can earn up to 75 basis points in commissions for SME leads directed to ThinCats.
The online lending platform connects wholesale investors with small and medium-sized business borrowers across Australia, capturing a customer segment not optimally serviced by bank and non-bank financial institutions.
Lenders benefit through higher returns and diversification, and borrowers reduce their borrowing costs.
ThinCats Australia has delivered its first loans at interest rates ranging from 11.5 per cent to 14 per cent to diverse businesses including a stone importer for the building industry, commercial solar energy systems supplier and an industrial and commercial auctioneer.
The ThinCats Australia platform is a joint venture with ThinCats UK, which has completed more than $190 million worth of secured business loans over the last four years and is one of the two leading peer-to-peer business lenders in Great Britain.
“We are delighted with the response from lenders, borrowers and brokers to our unique platform, targeting specifically the millions of small to medium-sized businesses whose financial needs are often ignored by the big lenders,” ThinCats Australia CEO Sunil Aranha said.
“We have already found a good niche with the SMEs, which borrow about $73 billion a year to finance their operations, and expect to build our portfolio of loans quickly as sophisticated and wholesale investors discover the potency of our platform,” Mr Aranha said.
“We are also generating a lot of interest from finance brokers, who will be rewarded as they bring loans to the platform.”
Mr Aranha has more than 25 years' international and local SME banking experience with Citibank, CBA and the Export Finance Investment Corporation in Australia.
He noted that the global market for peer-to-peer lending is currently worth over $6 billion and doubling in value every year, as the concept gains broader understanding and acceptance.
