FCA offers no guidance on assessing P2P lenders
On 21 March the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released a policy statement telling financial advisers they should “form their own opinions” on the risks of advising clients to invest in the P2P sector, and if they cannot do that they should “not advise the client to invest” in the product. This statement comes as a result of questions regarding how financial advisers can conduct thorough due diligence on P2P lending, and the FCA’s response has been seen as simply “shrugging off” industry concerns.

In a policy statement out on 21 March the regulator told advisers they "must form their own opinion" of the risk of any investment and advise their clients based on their own views. If unable to form an opinion based on the information available, they should "not advise the client to invest" in that product, it said. Industry had responded to an FCA consultation on bringing advice on peer-to-peer lending under its regulatory mantel, by pointing out it was not possible for an adviser to conduct adequate due diligence on the products to allow them to advise on them with confidence. T...