The Peer-to-Peer Finance Association (P2PFA) said the P2P lending market has doubled in size since the end of 2013, with the number of lenders in the market increasing by a third and the number of borrowers increasing by nearly 90%.
"These figures demonstrate the growing impact peer-to-peer lending is having on the market," Christine Farnish, chair of the P2PFA, said in a statement. "Last year showed continued and solid growth in the consumer market and a significant increase in lending flow to businesses. Invoice finance and peer-to-peer finance within the property market are also growing."
Farnish said 2015 will be "another important year" for the P2P lending industry.
"The government has agreed that peer-to-peer lending should become part of the ISA tax-wrapper, a decision we warmly welcome," Farnish said. "Our strong view is that government should establish a new ‘Lending ISA’ category to enable consumers to understand the difference between peer-to-peer lending, cash savings and stocks and shares investments."
Recent reports suggested that the FCA has been looking more closely at the marketing materials used by P2P lending platforms as the market grows. The Financial Times reported that concerns had been raised about whether some P2P platforms had sufficiently explained the risks of investing via their platforms.
"An operator of a P2P platform is subject to the financial promotion regime and the 'principles for businesses' including principle seven – that a firm must pay due regard to the information needs of its clients and communicate information to them in a way which is clear, fair and not misleading," said financial regulations specialist Michael Lewis of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, when it emerged that the FCA may examine marketing materials. "There are precedents for prescribing the form of marketing material but generally it is up to a firm to ensure that its marketing is not misleading."