An update on coronavirus 

With the impact of coronavirus continuing to be felt, we know that many of you are concerned about your investment and the wider financial landscape. We want to reassure all our valued investors that we are taking appropriate measures to respond to the situation, and give you some detail on the various issues going on at the moment.

Further actions to protect returns

We are continuing to ensure your portfolio is well-positioned to deliver resilient returns. In this update we wanted to highlight two areas where we have introduced further measures to support this work.

You can read more about these here.

Protecting investor returns

As a responsible lending platform, protecting returns through this period is our priority for investors. We have already made changes to our risk models and we’ll continue to closely monitor our credit policies and make further adjustments where necessary to protect your returns.

You can read more about the steps we’ve taken to protect your returns in our Chief Risk Officer’s update.

We’re open and here to support you

We are well set up to continue to support you and all our customers throughout this period. Following government guidance to work from home where possible, our team is already working remotely. 

Over recent years we have taken many steps to build a long-term business that can remain resilient through uncertain times. We are a very well-capitalised business and are well prepared to support investors and businesses.  

Supporting businesses that are affected 

We have always prided ourselves in serving the thousands of small businesses that are an important engine of growth for the UK. We know that some of them will be affected by coronavirus and we are working with them to support them through this difficult period. We have increased capacity in our teams to provide support, helping them to navigate this difficult period and continue to service their loans. We have a range of potential measures we can use and work with each business on an individual basis.

Changes to the Bank of England base rate and stock market volatility

The Bank of England announced it is cutting the base rate to 0.1%. This move does not affect your projected return, as each loan is assessed on a case-by-case basis and given a fixed interest rate. 

There has also been a lot of volatility across stock markets recently. As you lend to a diversified portfolio of loans on fixed terms, your returns are not as exposed to the price movements that occur on stock markets.

We’re here to help

This is a fast-moving situation and we’ll be providing more information in the coming days. As always, if you have questions about your account or any of the above, please get in touch with our team at contactus@fundingcircle.com.

Many thanks

The Funding Circle team