Which is the UK Crowdfunding Association. The website includes a Code of Practice and FAQs.
More crowdfunding here.
8 January 2013
Crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending: delay to new SEC rules
A lengthy NYT article discusses the rise of crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending in the United States, and the delay in writing new rules required under the JOBS Act as the SEC struggles to balance encouraging these new financing models with investor protection.
See also: Lots more crowdfunding posts.
12 October 2012
Crowdfunding: Kickstarter to open to UK-based projects
Kickstarter, one of the original crowdfunding websites, will open to UK projects at the end of October (see its blog posting here, and good FT article here).
See also: FSA acknowledges that crowdfunding exists, says that it is only for sophisticated investors and more crowdfunding here.
20 September 2012
Peer-to-peer lending and equity platforms: no new regulation for crowdfunding, confirms the Government
In a paper published today by BIS, “Removing Red Tape for Challenger Businesses”, the Government confirms that it will not introduce a new regulatory regime for peer-to-peer platforms. The industry will instead be encouraged to self-regulate by asking the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association to increase membership and continue to build its voluntary code. A Government and agency working group will be formed to “monitor the appropriateness of the current regulatory regime”.
The following excerpt from the BIS paper succinctly describes the existing regulatory regime and why BIS has decided – for the time being – not to change the existing rules around peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding:
read more »
6 September 2012
The potential problems with crowdfunding
This from Techonomy discusses difficulties with the crowdfunding model – from a US perspective, but much of it is applicable to the UK.
See also: FSA acknowledges that crowdfunding exists, says that it is only for sophisticated investors
The JOBS Act: Relaxation of rules for IPOs and private placings, and encouraging crowdfunding
The JOBS Act: Helping start-ups and crowdfunding, or jeopardising investor protections?
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14 August 2012
FSA acknowledges that crowdfunding exists, says that it is only for sophisticated investors
The regulator has spoken. From its new page on crowdfunding:
read more »
16 April 2012
The JOBS Act: Relaxation of rules for IPOs and private placings, and encouraging crowdfunding
The US JOBS Act (Jumpstart our Business Startups Act) has been signed into law. See this summary by Shearman & Sterling.
The SEC’s JOBS Act guidance is here.
3 April 2012
The JOBS Act: Helping start-ups and crowdfunding, or jeopardising investor protections?
US “Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act” about to be signed into law
5 February 2012
What is crowdfunding?
Crowdfunding bills in US Congress attempt to change securities law framework for start-ups
15 December 2011
Private debt placements and crowdfunding: Government sets up taskforce on diversifying business finance
Latest BIS growth agenda initiative will examine structural and behavioural barriers to raising non-bank finance
UPDATE 16 March 2012: The Taskforce has now published its report, which we discuss in this post.
The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills yesterday announced the formation of an “industry-led Taskforce…that will examine the challenges facing business in diversifying their finance”. The context of this exercise is the difficulties that small and medium-sized businesses report in obtain bank lending, and its implicit aim is to promote different methods of non-bank lending. BIS’s press release states that the Taskforce’s focus will be:
“on debt and credit products, looking at a range of finance choices, old and new, from corporate bonds to ‘crowd-funding’”.
The reference to corporate bonds is to the recent increase in:
- private placements of debt by unlisted companies in the UK, often offered to their own customers (see this recent effort by Caxton FX); and
- the ORB debt market operated by the London Stock Exchange, which we discuss in this post.
“Crowdfunding” is a generic term applied to lending aggregated from a group of individuals or non-bank corporate lenders to private companies (disintermediating the banking sector in the process), of which the leading example in the UK is Funding Circle.
read more »
10 December 2012
Regulation of peer-to-peer lending
Summary of industry stance and the Treasury / FSA consultations promised in the New Year, from Pinsent Masons.
20 September 2012
A new route to the UK IPO market: Government plans to relax rules to attract high-growth companies to list on London
Having been trailed at the end of August, the FT confirms this morning that the UK government is to consult on measures designed to encourage high-growth tech companies to list on London:
- Shares in public hands requirement to be reduced to 10% from 25%.
- Three year past accounts rule to be relaxed.
- Requirement for independent non-executive directors to be reduced.
The consultation will be announced today.
UPDATE: BIS has now given some more details of these “ambitious proposals with the London Stock Exchange to attract entrepreneurs and high-growth companies” to IPO in London:
read more »
3 July 2012
Man United files for IPO as an “emerging growth company”
The preliminary F-1 Registration Statement is here for the IPO of “Manchester United Ltd.” on the New York Stock Exchange.
Remarkably, the club qualifies as an “emerging growth company” under the US Jumpstart our Business Startups Act of 2012. From the F-1:
read more »
28 March 2012
The decline in smaller company IPOs: US public financial markets are just too big to support late-stage growth companies
“Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch just won’t get out of bed in the morning for less than a $300 million offering”
16 March 2012
Breedon Taskforce reports on access to non-banking funding for SMEs
Shifting the financing of UK SMEs away from bank lending
30 December 2011
The Order book for Retail Bonds: A growing number of issuers in 2011
The London Stock Exchange’s ORB: Materials from the Retail Bond Issuance Forum
In this February 2011 post we summarised the key features of the London Stock Exchange’s Order book for Retail Bonds (ORB), which in the words of the Exchange “provides corporate debt issuers with direct access to retail investors through a cost effective and transparent electronic market”. This first serious attempt to launch a UK retail bond market has seen some success in 2011, with eight companies raising £1.22 billion.
In November 2011 the Exchange and Evolution Securities held a Retail Bond Issuance Forum, to encourage interest from corporate issuers in having their debt traded on the ORB. A comprehensive presentation by Evolution Securities on the UK Retail Bond Market can be accessed here, and the Exchange’s own overview of the ORB is here.
Key themes from the Retail Bond Issuance Forum
Two of the themes that emerged from this Retail Bond Issuance Forum were the appetite of retail investors for bonds issued not just by companies but also by universities, charities and housing associations; and that issuers were not put off by having to produce a retail prospectus. The other key themes of the Forum are summarised in a note on the Exchange’s website, as follows:
read more »
