Autumn has always been that time of the year when we here at VIAINVEST look back at things accomplished during the last year and also set new goals. Reviewing results of the annual investor survey is a great pitstop, and we are beyond grateful to all members of VIAINVEST investor community who participated in the survey this year. Continue reading VIAINVEST Investor Survey 2020 results are out!
After the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FKTK) has initiated changes in the peer-to-peer lending industry aiming to transform existing business environment into regulated and supervised industry, majority of platforms, including VIAINVEST, currently carrying out business activities of selling claim rights have engaged in licensing process to obtain an IBF (Investment Brokerage Firm) license. As the goal of licensing is to establish equal terms of operations for all market players holding the IBF license, VIAINVEST is honored to work along with the Alternative Financial Services Association of Latvia and P2P platforms like Mintos and TWINO to carry out first industry guidelines for investor suitability and appropriateness assessment in order to ensure investor protection through a single market approach.
“We are excited about upcoming changes, as regulated market brings a lot of benefits for both platforms and investors. Customer protection has always been a key value for us, and after the industry has witnessed several platforms collapsing over this year, I believe it is a common goal to finally set equal terms for all market players,” says Eduards Lapkovskis, CEO of VIAINVEST. “Investor suitability and appropriateness evaluation framework we have developed together with the Association is a valuable outcome of productive cooperation between market players who has been present for quite some time and strives to strengthen the industry.”
Suitability and appropriateness assessment guidelines contain recommended principles and examples of good practice, the primary purpose of which is to ensure investor protection through a single market approach. As the regulation requires IBFs to evaluate their customers’ knowledge on financial instruments and investing, guidelines will help prospective market players to develop comprehensive knowledge and experience evaluation tests to ensure high investor protection level. The guidelines are of a recommendatory nature, therefore not binding on market participants and, accordingly – applied by market participants on the basis of good faith.
VIAINVEST has been actively engaged in cooperation with the prospective industry supervisor FKTK and has reached the final phase of the licensing process. As a result of the licensing VIAINVEST will become a participant of a regulated financial and capital market, and will provide services of initial placement of financial instruments and execution of investors’ orders for actions with financial instruments. Currently, the platform provides consumer loan claim rights trading, primarily based on the assignment agreement. Once licensed, these claim rights will be securitized i.e. they will become available for investment as asset-backed securities. However, for the convenience of current customers, VIAINVEST intends to maintain the previous user interface as much as possible. Subject to the requirements of the Investor Protection Law, in the event when the company has not registered financial instruments or the financial instruments have been permanently lost, the statutory class of investors shall be entitled to compensation of 90% of the invested amount up to EUR 20 000, ensured by FKTK.
More information on the guidelines can be found in the the Alternative Financial Services Association of Latvia website (currently, the document is only available in Latvian).
As pandemic has brought major reconsiderations to various businesses, VIA SMS Group is also reevaluating its ongoing projects. Continue reading Spanish business loan is set to be repaid early
For quite some time VIAINVEST has been accepting deposits to its account opened with VIALET – a digital payments platform holding an electronic money institution license. VIALET is also a part of VIA SMS Group – the mother company of VIAINVEST, so we have decided to endorse this product and fully shift to it by closing our Swedbank account and accepting deposits/ making withdrawals only through the account opened with VIALET starting from June 1, 2020.
Continue reading VIAINVEST announces new bank details in cooperation with VIALET
It’s hard to deny even the word recession has an ominous ring to it. It’s difficult to prepare for one, and when the economic slowdown hits, it usually catches most people off guard. In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic has not only had an undeniable effect on the global economy but also people’s moods. Continue reading 8 Ways to Handle an Economic Recession
We have said it before, and we’ll say it again – the ongoing economic fluctuations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic doesn’t scare us. Yes, we know it’s all serious and times have been uneasy, to say the least, but we at VIAINVEST are fully prepared and equipped to go forward. To prove that these are not just words, we are proud to present to you the latest addition to our business loan portfolio – loan for consumer loan business development in Vietnam (not pre-funded). Continue reading VIAINVEST Expands Its Business Loan Portfolio
It’s all too easy, at the moment, to imagine the future as one of catastrophe, even as a dystopia. The world is suffering through a tragedy, and many feel powerless because of it. It’s understandable—there isn’t a clear end to the COVID-19 crisis in sight yet, and experts can’t seem to agree on when that time will come either.
There is one thing they all agree on though: the fact that the current situation will eventually end, and that we have a brighter future ahead of us. For those that find this too abstract, there are several concrete reasons for this expectation. While the media mostly focuses on the bad news, there is also some good happening right now. Continue reading Rebuilding the Economy – an Optimistic Outlook
With the global slowdown of economic activity, there has been an increased report of countries falling into recession. The coronavirus (also referred to as the COVID-19 pandemic) has been the main driver of this.
With all the uncertainty, Bloomberg postulates that there is light at the end of the tunnel. We will discuss the best practice to managing your wealth during financial uncertainties so that when the economy picks up again you will be glad you didn’t panic. Continue reading Managing Wealth during an Economic Recession or Economic Hardships
It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented humanitarian and health crisis, not to mention the impact on the global financial markets. Volatility has spiked, and nobody can predict the severity and length of what’s ahead of us. Challenges caused by the destabilizing effects of the pandemic will not be easy to overcome, however, we at VIAINVEST remain optimistic about the future. Continue reading Keep Calm, Stay Invested
Over the last decade, peer-to-peer lending (P2P) has seen an impressive rise as a fintech disrupter to traditional financial and banking services after the 2008 global economic crash. As time marches on, new things emerge that impact the way P2P lending operates and strives to remain sustainable.
In this post, we’ll review global and European perspectives that impact the P2P lending industry as people’s personal finances are impacted by climate change and other socio-political changes. Continue reading P2P Lending Industry in Europe & the Impact of Climate Change on Personal Finance
