MoneySQ and Bridgeway form Hong Kong’s first crowdfunding platform for professional investors. Information power will be delivered by TransUnion.
MoneySQ, a peer-to-peer lending company in Hong Kong has partnered with an asset management firm to create what they claim is the city’s first investment platform designed for professional investors. MoneySQ.com formed an allegiance with Bridgeway Prime Shop Fund Management Ltd to create the online lending service, which will be able to operate under current regulations.
The partnership comes as a government report on the growing financial technology (fintech) sector released at the end of February took steps to clarify the legal standing for peer-to-peer lenders and suggested schemes limited to professional investors would be permitted.
Edwin Lee, founder and chief executive of Bridgeway, is hoping to attract some of the 130,000 professional investors in Hong Kong who hold HK$5.5 trillion in assets, of which 23 per cent is held in cash or equivalents. The statistics come from a 2015 report by Capgemini. Bridgeway said it will raise HK$100 million to HK$200 million in the next two months.
Steven Lee said the lender is targeting 10,000 members in the first year with loan sizes ranging from HK$5,000 to HK$100,000. This adds up to a total target lending amount ranging from HK$500 million to HK$1 billion.
As a first step, professional investors will be allowed to invest indirectly with a guaranteed return. After they become more familiar with peer-to-peer lending, they will be allowed to select their investments depending on the desired return and their appetite for risk, Steven Lee said.
MoneySQ.com is working with credit information firm TransUnion to adopt its risk-control system and will only accept “high quality” investors, it said.
Source: SCMP
