Ferratum Oyj: Ferratum Group plans restructuring and relaunch of FerratumP2P
Helsinki, 20 December 2018 - Ferratum Oyj (ISIN: FI4000106299, WKN: A1W9NS) ("Ferratum" or the "Group") has today announced its intention to restructure FerratumP2P, its peer-to-peer lending and investment platform.
The operations and performance of FerratumP2P, which currently allows retail customers to invest in approved, active Ferratum Group business and consumer loans, were reviewed in 2018. As a result, Ferratum has decided to close the P2P platform to new retail customers and to buy back the portfolio from existing customers at remaining principal plus accrued interest on their individual investments to 28 February 2019. The buy back is not expected to have a material impact on current funding costs for the Group.
The platform will be relaunched to serve institutional investors in the first half of 2019. Focusing on institutional customers is consistent with the Group's strategy of diversifying its global customer base while maintaining a variety of innovative funding solutions. The relaunched platform will accommodate a more targeted portfolio of professional investors, investing greater amounts, thereby improving the cost efficiencies of marketing and client servicing, and profitability of operating the platform overall.
Scott Donnelly, Business Unit Director for Business Lending at Ferratum commented:
"A P2P platform that served retail investors was a good starting point for us. Ferratum's P2P concept had always been developed with institutional investors in mind, so focusing on this professional client base, for whom higher value, longer-term investments are more appropriate, is part of our natural evolution and in line with our long-term strategy to diversify the Group's customer base.
With some minor operational adjustments and a pilot testing period, we will relaunch a reconfigured P2P platform that provides institutional investors with a convenient and flexible way to invest in tranches of approved Ferratum loans with medium to long maturities to meet different risk and yield objectives. We look forward to a smooth transition of this part of our business during the first half of next year."
About Ferratum Group:
Ferratum Group is an international provider of mobile banking and digital consumer and small business loans, distributed and managed by mobile devices. Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, Ferratum has expanded rapidly to operate in 25 countries across Europe, Africa, South and North America and the Asia-Pacific region.
As a pioneer in digital and mobile financial services technology, Ferratum is at the forefront of the digital banking revolution. Ferratum's mobile bank, launched in 2016, is an innovative mobile banking platform offering a range of banking services, including real time digital payments and transfers, within a single app. It is currently available in five European markets. Ferratum has approximately 1.9 million active and former customers who have an account or have been granted one or more loans in the past (as at 30 September 2018), of which over 799,000 customers have an open Mobile Bank account or an active loan balance in the last 12 months.
Ferratum Group is listed on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under symbol 'FRU.' For more information, visit www.ferratumgroup.com.
Contacts:
Ferratum Group
Dr. Clemens Krause
Head of Finance and Risk
T: + 49 30 921005844
E: [email protected] |
Ferratum Group
Emmi Kyykkä
Deputy Head of Investor Relations
T: +41 79 940 6315
E: [email protected] |
UK / European media enquiries:
Smithfield, A Daniel J Edelman Company
Alex Simmons | Brett Jacobs
T: +44 20 3047 2543 | +44 20 3047 2537
E: [email protected]
E: [email protected] |
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