Information on Peer-Peer companies

Reference Case Number: FOI8606

Freedom of Information: Right to know request:

How many Peer-to-Peer companies have been given authorisation by the FCA (since the inception of the peer-to-peer idea).
How many Peer-to-Peer companies are currently regulated by the FCA, and are fully operational? This number should not include those that are currently winding down.

FCA response:

Please note that there is no definition of ‘peer-to-peer company’ and we have interpreted question 1 to mean how many firms have been given authorisation for the relevant permission needed to operate a peer-to-peer platform of ‘operating an electronic system in relation to lending’.

1. How many Peer-to-Peer companies have been given authorisation by the FCA (since the inception of the peer-to-peer idea).

Table 1 - Peer-to-Peer (P2P) firms authorised by the FCA

Year	No. of firms approved
2014	5
2015	6
2016	12
2017	42
2018	9
2019	3
2020	1
2021	3

2. How many Peer-to-Peer companies are currently regulated by the FCA, and are fully operational? This number should not include those that are currently winding down.

There are 52 firms whose main business is P2P and supervised through the portfolio P2P.

Date of Release: 19/10/2021

Information on Peer-Peer companies - October 2021

Freedom of Information: Right to know request:

FCA response:

1. How many Peer-to-Peer companies have been given authorisation by the FCA (since the inception of the peer-to-peer idea).

2. How many Peer-to-Peer companies are currently regulated by the FCA, and are fully operational? This number should not include those that are currently winding down.

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