Losses at Funding Circle more than tripled in the first half of the year, as the sudden onset of the coronavirus pandemic forced the peer-to-peer lender to write down the value of loans it had hoped to sell on to other investors, the Financial Times reported. Funding Circle originates small business loans on behalf of retail investors and other financial institutions, and generally only holds a small number of loans on its own balance sheet. However, it was forced to take £96m of fair value writedowns during the six-month period, linked to investment vehicles that had not yet been sold. The adjustments, along with a writedown of all the goodwill linked to its US business, drove it to a pre-tax loss of £115m for the six months to June, compared with a £31m loss in the same period last year. Read more
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