The success of P2P lending has got large financial institutions interested in this platform. Viewing P2P growth and potential, the mainstream financial institutions are eager to explore this opportunity rather than challenging it. The top 5 stories of big investors joining the P2P bandwagon:-

1) One of the biggest news in the field of P2P lending is Google buying $125 million stake in Lending Club, one of the top P2P platforms of the US. Interestingly, instead of issuing new shares, Lending Club actually requested its existing investors to sell their shares to Google. Lending Club explained, they were not looking for additional funding, but just wanted Google to be its shareholder.

2) Titan Bank and Congressional Bank, two major community banks of USA have officially joined Lending Club to buy loans from the platform. Titan Bank, which is one of the oldest nationally chartered banks in Texas, will also be offering personal loans through the platform.

3) Auxmoney of Germany has recently closed a $16 million Series B funding round as it plans to spread its operations beyond Germany. Big investors like Foundation Capital, Partech Ventures, Index Ventures and Union Square Ventures are some of the big ticket funders backing it.

4)The Ventue Capital arm of Westpac, one of the four biggest banks of Australia, has recently invested $8.5 million in Australia’s leading P2P platform SoicietyOne. New changes in regulations in Australia are paving the way for rapid growth of the P2P industry. SocietyOne issued only $4 million as loans in 18 months, but is expected to grow rapidly with these developments.

5) Barclay’s Africa, the South African wing of Barclay’s Bank, has acquired 49% stakes in the leading South African P2P platform RainFin. Sean Emery (CEO, RainFin) stated that the platform was not interested in any more Venture Capital or Angel Investors, and wanted a partnership with a financial services sector player who would put P2P lending in their core strategy. Similar to the case of Lending Club and Google partnership.

These recent developments not only prove the growing importance of P2P, but also suggest a more secured future for this industry. In India today, P2P platforms like Faircent have started providing this hugely popular financial service. The global success of P2P is expected to be replicated in India as well, as more and more people start exploring the platform and discover the advantages it has to offer.