Online peer-to-peer lending (P2P), where lenders provide unsecured loans directly to individual borrowers, is exponentially growing in these years. The practice of lending money without intermediaries is always existed; actually it is older than banks themselves. The service is not one-to-one, but it is rather many-to-one, where more people fund a small part of the loan. The current banking crisis has led to search for an alternative source of credit, giving to this field big possibilities to expand enormously. In this dissertation the Author has evaluated the potential for social lending to offer this alternative, especially to payday loans–short term, uncollateralised loans with expensive interest rate, considered by many to be predatory. The Author has carefully examined data from Prosper and Lending Club, two platforms operating in US, in order to give robustness to the hypothesis. The latter is sustained once again by the result of the survey, where 871 Italian P2P lending users have been interviewed. Afterwards, the business model of an Italian social lending platform has been depicted, in order to explain how it shall be built to meet the legal requirements imposed by Bank of Italy. The context and the competitors of the new platform have been finally described. The objectives of this thesis are to 1) comprehend whether peer-to-peer lending can be an alternative to financial institutions 2) analyse the possibilities for peer-to-peer lending to penetrate the market of consumer credit in Italy and 3) describe how a peer-to-peer lending platform shall operate in accordance to Italian law. In order to do that, the Author has analysed first this industry in US, where the sector is well developed. Afterwards, the Italian credit market, the P2P lending market in Italy and the Italian players have been analysed. Then, the thesis describes the business model of Platform X. This model is built on the failure experiences of P2P lending platforms, which had entered unsuccessfully the Italian market. After a short period of time of activity, the Bank of Italy imposed them to shut down. This was due to their business models in disagree with the necessary criteria established by the Italian law. The main question that has pushed the Author to intense study is: “Can Peer-to-peer lending be a concrete alternative to Bank systems in the provisioning of consumer credits?” The latter has led to answer to other four sub-questions: • Is Italy attractive for P2P lending? • Is peer-to-peer lending an alternative to financial institutions in Italy? • Why Platform X Italy? • Why social lending in Italy? In order to prove that peer-to-peer lending is an alternative to financial institutions, several findings, papers and researches from the most authoritative and influential figures in the world have been analyzed. From the theoretical side, just to mention a few: Melzer (2009), professor of finance at Kellogg School of Management, Iyer (2009), professor of finance at MIT Sloan School of Management, Tufano (2010) professor of finance at Harvard Business School. From the practical prospective, the top consulting firms: McKinsey (2013) and Accenture. All these reliable sources are describing P2P lending as a potential alternative to financial institutions. In addition, this is confirmed by the amazing success of P2P lending platforms in UK and US. This enormous success has attracted many investors in this industry like JP Morgan and Google. The latter has purchased the 7% of Lending Club for $125 million. Another signal that, not only social lending is attractive for scientific research, but it has also an economic appeal. Through the analysis conducted it seems that P2P lending is an alternative to financial institutions even in Italy and that it is able to increase the availability of money liquidity in the market. In addition, P2P lending does not interest only people who need cash, but also those who would like to earn money. According to the results obtained, restricted access to consumer loans and high Interest rates make Italy an attractive market for online lending platforms. Based on these facts, Platform X is about to enter the Italian market offering flexibility for intermediation and origination activity, while satisfying all regulatory constraints imposed by Bank of Italy.
I prestiti online peer-to-peer (P2P) sono prestiti personali non garantiti tra privati senza alcuna intermediazione istituzionale. L'unico intermediario è la piattaforma. Questo nuovo strumento finanziario sta avendo moltissimo successo, soprattutto all’estero. La pratica di prestito di denaro senza intermediari è sempre esistita; in realtà è più vecchia delle banche stesse. Il servizio non è uno-a-uno, ma è piuttosto molti-a-uno, dove più persone finanziano una piccola parte del prestito. L'attuale crisi bancaria ha portato alla ricerca di una fonte alternativa di credito, dando a questo settore grandi possibilità di espandere. In questa tesi l'autore ha valutato la possibilità per il social lending di offrire questa alternativa, soprattutto nei confronti dei prestiti payday, prestiti non garantiti a tasso molto alto con scadenza a breve termine. L'autore ha esaminato con cura dati da Prosper e Lending Club, due piattaforme che operano negli Stati Uniti, al fine di dare robustezza alle ipotesi. Inoltre grazie ad un sondaggio, dove sono stati intervistati 871 utenti italiani di P2P lending, è stato possibile rafforzare maggiormente la tesi dell’autore. In seguito, è stato rappresentato un business model di una piattaforma di social lending, al fine di spiegare come deve essere costruita per soddisfare i requisiti legali imposti dalla Banca d'Italia, descrivendo anche il contesto e i potenziali competitors italiani. Gli obiettivi di questa tesi sono molteplici: 1) comprendere se il peer-to-peer lending possa essere un'alternativa alle istituzioni finanziarie 2) analizzare le possibilità del peer-to-peer lending di penetrare il mercato del credito al consumo in Italia e 3) descrivere come una piattaforma di prestito peer-to-peer opera conformemente alla legge italiana. Per fare questo, è stato necessario analizzare il mercato del credito al consumo italiano, il mercato dei prestiti P2P in Italia e le aziende italiane. In seguito viene descritto il business model di Platform X. Questo modello è costruito tenendo in considerazione i motivi che hanno spinto la Banca di Italia a chiudere due piattaforme di P2P lending. La domanda principale che ha spinto l'autore ad un intenso studio è: "Può il Peer-to-peer lending essere un'alternativa concreta ai sistemi bancari nella fornitura dei crediti al consumo?" Nello rispondere a questo quesito, quattro altre domande sono emerse: • L'Italia è un mercato promettente per il prestito P2P? • Il peer-to-peer lending è un'alternativa alle istituzioni finanziarie in Italia? • Quali sono i motivi che hanno portato allo sviluppo di Platform X? • Perché il P2P lending in Italia? Quali sono i vantaggi? Al fine di dimostrare che il prestito peer-to-peer è un'alternativa alle istituzioni finanziarie, sono stati analizzati diversi reperti, documenti e ricerche scritte dalle figure più autorevoli e influenti del mondo. Dal punto di vista accademico, solo per citarne alcuni: Melzer (2009), professore di finanza presso la Kellogg School of Management, Iyer (2009), professore di finanza presso il MIT Sloan School of Management, Tufano (2010), professore di finanza all’Harvard Business School. Da un punto di vista più concreto, le migliori società di consulenza: McKinsey (2013) e Accenture. Tutte queste fonti affidabili descrivono il prestito P2P come una potenziale alternativa alle istituzioni finanziarie. Inoltre, questo è confermato anche dal grande successo delle piattaforme di prestito P2P nel Regno Unito e negli Stati Uniti. Questo enorme successo ha attirato molti investitori come JP Morgan e Google. Quest'ultimo recentemente ha acquistato il 7% di Lending Club per 125 milioni di dollari. Un altro segnale che, non solo il prestito P2P ha rilevanza in ambito scientifico, ma anche a livello economico. Attraverso l'analisi condotta sembra che il prestito P2P sia un'alternativa alle istituzioni finanziarie anche in Italia e che sia in grado di aumentare la liquidità nel mercato. Inoltre, il P2P lending non interessa solo le persone che hanno bisogno di denaro, ma anche coloro che lo vorrebbero investire. Secondo i risultati ottenuti, l’accesso limitato al credito al consumo e gli alti tassi di interesse, rendono l'Italia un mercato attraente per le piattaforme di prestito on-line. Prendendo in considerazioni questi dati, Platfrom X sta per entrare nel mercato italiano offrendo un ottimo grado di flessibilità e soprattutto rispettando tutti i vincoli normativi imposti dalla Banca d'Italia.
Peer to peer lending : an evaluation of the possibilities to penetrate the Italian market of consumer credit and an explanation of how a platform shall operate through a concrete case
FERRARESSO, GIACOMO
2013/2014
Abstract
Online peer-to-peer lending (P2P), where lenders provide unsecured loans directly to individual borrowers, is exponentially growing in these years. The practice of lending money without intermediaries is always existed; actually it is older than banks themselves. The service is not one-to-one, but it is rather many-to-one, where more people fund a small part of the loan. The current banking crisis has led to search for an alternative source of credit, giving to this field big possibilities to expand enormously. In this dissertation the Author has evaluated the potential for social lending to offer this alternative, especially to payday loans–short term, uncollateralised loans with expensive interest rate, considered by many to be predatory. The Author has carefully examined data from Prosper and Lending Club, two platforms operating in US, in order to give robustness to the hypothesis. The latter is sustained once again by the result of the survey, where 871 Italian P2P lending users have been interviewed. Afterwards, the business model of an Italian social lending platform has been depicted, in order to explain how it shall be built to meet the legal requirements imposed by Bank of Italy. The context and the competitors of the new platform have been finally described. The objectives of this thesis are to 1) comprehend whether peer-to-peer lending can be an alternative to financial institutions 2) analyse the possibilities for peer-to-peer lending to penetrate the market of consumer credit in Italy and 3) describe how a peer-to-peer lending platform shall operate in accordance to Italian law. In order to do that, the Author has analysed first this industry in US, where the sector is well developed. Afterwards, the Italian credit market, the P2P lending market in Italy and the Italian players have been analysed. Then, the thesis describes the business model of Platform X. This model is built on the failure experiences of P2P lending platforms, which had entered unsuccessfully the Italian market. After a short period of time of activity, the Bank of Italy imposed them to shut down. This was due to their business models in disagree with the necessary criteria established by the Italian law. The main question that has pushed the Author to intense study is: “Can Peer-to-peer lending be a concrete alternative to Bank systems in the provisioning of consumer credits?” The latter has led to answer to other four sub-questions: • Is Italy attractive for P2P lending? • Is peer-to-peer lending an alternative to financial institutions in Italy? • Why Platform X Italy? • Why social lending in Italy? In order to prove that peer-to-peer lending is an alternative to financial institutions, several findings, papers and researches from the most authoritative and influential figures in the world have been analyzed. From the theoretical side, just to mention a few: Melzer (2009), professor of finance at Kellogg School of Management, Iyer (2009), professor of finance at MIT Sloan School of Management, Tufano (2010) professor of finance at Harvard Business School. From the practical prospective, the top consulting firms: McKinsey (2013) and Accenture. All these reliable sources are describing P2P lending as a potential alternative to financial institutions. In addition, this is confirmed by the amazing success of P2P lending platforms in UK and US. This enormous success has attracted many investors in this industry like JP Morgan and Google. The latter has purchased the 7% of Lending Club for $125 million. Another signal that, not only social lending is attractive for scientific research, but it has also an economic appeal. Through the analysis conducted it seems that P2P lending is an alternative to financial institutions even in Italy and that it is able to increase the availability of money liquidity in the market. In addition, P2P lending does not interest only people who need cash, but also those who would like to earn money. According to the results obtained, restricted access to consumer loans and high Interest rates make Italy an attractive market for online lending platforms. Based on these facts, Platform X is about to enter the Italian market offering flexibility for intermediation and origination activity, while satisfying all regulatory constraints imposed by Bank of Italy.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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2014_10_Ferraresso.pdf
solo utenti autorizzati dal 13/09/2017
Descrizione: Il P2P lending è un nuovo modo di prendere in prestito denaro bypassando i tradizionali istituti di credito. In questa tesi l'autore ha voluto approfondire questa tematica sia dal punto di vista accademico che pratico.
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22.33 MB
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22.33 MB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/95121