LendInvest and Citi enter long-term financing partnership
UK fintech firm LendInvest has "evolved from disruptive fintech start-up to established scale-up business", according to CEO Christian Faes, after he announced a long-term partnership with Citi. The latter firm will provide LendInvest with a warehouse funding line, including terms up to 30 years, for use in the UK's £40bn ($52bn) buy-to-let market. LendInvest, which started out as a short-term, peer-to-peer lender, is on track to have the UK fintech sector's largest institutional lending base, and has more than £750m total assets under management.

ALTERNATIVE property lender LendInvest has announced a new long-term financing partnership with Citi, as it eyes the UK’s £40bn buy-to-let (BTL) market.

LendInvest has also revealed that it now manages more than £500m of lending capital on behalf of its institutional lenders, and more than £750m in total. Its investors have lent more than £1.1bn to help borrowers buy, build or renovate 4,000 UK homes.

The platform, which stopped describing itself as a peer-to-peer lender earlier this year, is now set to have the largest institutional lending base in UK fintech.

“Institutional capital coming onto our platform from some of the world’s largest institutions is the ultimate validation of the quality of the lending we do,” said Christian Faes, co-founder chief executive at LendInvest.

“This new funding line from Citi shows how our business has evolved from disruptive fintech startup to established scale-up business as we move towards the mainstream mortgage market.

“Citi’s backing equips us with the firepower to expand into longer-term lending, as we take our superior technology and processes into the professional portfolio landlord market. It also gives us an opportunity to work closely with a team that is world-class in the global mortgage market and a well-established player in the securitisation space.”

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The Citi partnership will provide LendInvest with a warehouse funding line that will be used to finance specialist BTL loans. These loans will be available on terms up to 30 years, marking a move away from the firm’s past focus on the UK’s short-term bridging finance market.

The news has been welcomed by MP Chris Philp, PPS to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who said that the partnership is “a great example of major institutions getting behind UK fintech in a serious way.”

“LendInvest’s push into buy-to-let is a great example of fintech moving into more hard-to-disrupt markets that could be otherwise left behind by financial innovation,” he added.

Prior to the Citi partnership, LendInvest secured institutional investments from Macquarie Bank, Merseyside Pension Fund and a listed UK challenger bank. High-net-worth individuals and other corporate investors can also access its investment opportunities via the company’s online investment platform, a discretionary fund, and a £500m bond programme listed on the London Stock Exchange.

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