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- 14 May 2013
May 2013
Personal Asset Lender borro(R) Lends Over $70 million Against Unique Assets and Rare Collectibles
NEW YORK, NY—(Marketwired – May 13, 2013) – Leading personal asset lender borro® has reached the milestone of issuing over $70 million worth of loans in total across its international business, with $35 million lent to individuals since its U.S. launch in February 2012.
May 2013
Peer-To-Peer Lending: Are The Returns Worth The Risk?
Andy Haldane, director of financial stability at the Bank of England, reckons that peer-to-peer websites – which llink those who want to borrow with individuals who want a return on their cash are becoming increasing economically important.
May 2013
Britain's Biggest Lend-To-Save Firm Zopa To Ring-Fence Savers' Cash In A Bid To Shore Up Confidence
Zopa, which has matched more than £300million of savers’ money with borrowers, has set up an emergency fund to pay out to savers whose loans to bad debtors aren’t fully repaid.
May 2013
Zopa CEO Giles Andrews: less talk about rebuilding trust in banks, more doing
Giles Andrews is CEO & co-founder of Zopa, a P2P lending business which has lent more than £300 million since its foundation in 2004. Zopa claims peer-to-peer lending is more efficient than the traditional banking model and therefore allows it to offer better rates to savers and borrowers. It has been voted "Most Trusted Personal Loan Provider" in the Moneywise Customer Awards for the past three years.
May 2013
Peer-to-Peer Borrowers To Get Protection
SAVERS who lend money through Zopa, Britain’s largest peer-to-peer website, can now protect themselves against the threat of default.
The site allows savers to earn 5.1% a year, after fees, by lending their deposits directly to the lowest-risk borrowers for a five-year term. The best-buy five-year account on the high street — from Skipton building society — pays 3%.
May 2013
How 5pc Returns For Savers Just Became Slightly Less Risky
Savers can now cut out bank and building society middlemen to earn 5pc returns by lending to borrowers with somewhat reduced risk, according to Zopa, a website which brings depositors and debtors together.
May 2013
Online Peer-to-Peer Lender To Refund Savers If Borrowers Default
Reuters) – An online service that enables savers to earn interest by loaning money to other members of the public is introducing a back-up fund to reimburse loans made from Tuesday onwards if borrowers default.
Apr 2013
Zopa's Giles Andrews: Businesses need to be transparent
Giles Andrews, founder and CEO of Zopa, says only promise what you can deliver, and keep your goals need simple
Apr 2013
BullionVault Opens Singapore Vault
BullionVault customers can now buy, sell, and store gold through a vault in Singapore, as well as existing vaults in New York, Zurich, and London.
Mar 2013
Radio 5 Live - Andrew Verity: Wake Up to Money
Andrew Verity talks to Moneysupermarket's Editor-in-Chief, Clare Francis, who recommends Zopa as a great alternative to beat inflation.
Mar 2013
BullionVault's Adrian Ash considers the gold fix - what and why it is
Adrian Ash, head of Research at BullionVault, has considered the particulars of the London Gold Fix, in light of the latest concerns of regulators that it may be what it says it is – a fix.
Mar 2013
Tim Levene - Jazz Shapers with Mishcon de Reya
Tim Levene interviewed by Jazz FM on 2 February 2013
Mar 2013
Money Insider: Peer-to-Peer Lending Up As Rates Languish
Zopa remains the biggest player and to date has arranged more than £277m in loans during the last eight years and now has over 500,000 members on its books. The average return paid to lenders in the last 12 months after any charges and defaults is an impressive 5.4 per cent.
Mar 2013
Can you Trust "Peer to Peer" Lending?
The names of the biggest peer-to-peer lenders – Zopa, Ratesetter and Funding Circle – are hardly household names, and certainly far less familiar than the likes of Barclays, HSBC or NatWest. But recently the Bank of England has suggested that these new kids on the block could become a major force in the financial market over the next decade.
Mar 2013
Zopa Features on BBC'S The One Show
Lucy Siegle: Zopa Features on the One Show 12 February 2013
Feb 2013
Big Shot Nigel Morris Of Borro
The appointment of Nigel Morris, one of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs and co-founder of Capital One, as chairman of Borro raises questions about the ambitions of the niche lender. Based in Chancery Lane in London, Borro expanded to the US a year ago, has doubled its sized every year since its launch in 2008, and is set to generate £13 million in turnover this year from a previous £7 million.
Feb 2013
Peer-to-Peer Lending: No Longer Just a Curiosity
Peer-to-peer lending most immediately brings to mind the largely feel-good act of extending small-time money to small businesses and individuals with quirky projects—a curiosity at best and no threat to the lending hegemony of big banks. What’s less appreciated is how successful peer-to-peer lending platforms such as Prosper and Lending Club have been in connecting wholesale numbers of individual lenders and borrowers.
Dec 2012
Augmentum Capital To Take Stake in British Financial Start-Up
LONDON – RIT Capital Partners, the investment firm chaired by Jacob Rothschild, said on Monday that it had acquired a stake in a British crowdfunding company, Zopa.
Dec 2012
BullionVault’s Gauge of Client Buying Climbs to Six-Month High
BullionVault, an online service for investors to buy and sell physical gold and silver, said its Gold Investor Index climbed to a six-month high in November.
Dec 2012
Borro Triumphs at Red Herring Global 100 Awards
Borro, the UK’s fastest growing personal asset lender, has been selected as a Red Herring Top 100 Global winner.
The Red Herring awards recognise innovative start-ups from a pool of thousands from around the world.
Dec 2012
World’s first online asset lender secures £20m from Octopus Investments
Leading online asset lender borro has secured a £20m loan facility from Octopus Investments.
Launched in the UK in 2008 and the US in 2012, online company borro provides customers with loans of £1,000 to £1,000,000 in return for their luxury assets, such as jewellery, cars and antiques.
Nov 2012
Gold remains popular, despite the doubts of economists
GOLD is the most difficult asset class to analyse. For a start, it divides opinion so sharply. Its supporters have a quasi-religious fervour, regarding the metal as the one true source of value. Its detractors (a group that includes many economists) treat it, in John Maynard Keynes’s phrase, as a “barbarous relic” that has no place in serious discussions of monetary policy.
Oct 2012
The Daily Start-Up: Borro, an Online Pawn Shop for the Affluent, Brings in $26M
Borro is bringing a new form of lending to the U.S., targeting wealthier borrowers, with the help of $26 million in new funding. The London company makes personal loans ranging from $1,000 to $1 million that are secured against expensive luxury items like jewelry, fine art and classic cars. Borro launched in 2008 in the U.K. and has built up a brand and trust with its customers, having seen 90% of them return for another loan within 18 months of their first one, said Paul Aitken, borro’s chief executive and founder.
Oct 2012
London Cab Comparison Startup Kabbee Raises $3.25M, Ahead Of Series A Next Year
London-based cab price comparison and booking startup Kabbee has raised $3.25 million in an intermediate funding round, led by Samos Investments, with “significant contributions” from Pentland Group and Redbus Group. Betfair Founder Ed Wray also invested, along with two angel investors who work at Smedvig Capital. Wray will now play an active role in advising Kabbee, along with Tim Levene from Augmentum Capital.
Oct 2012
Short On Cash? Luxury Pawn Shop Borro Loans $10,000 to $1 Million
Since 2008, London-based luxury pawn shop Borro has helped broker more than 20,000 short-term loans to asset-rich, cash-poor folks, using “toys” as collateral. Now Borro is bankrolling New Yorkers (and neighbors), and its founder and chief executive, Paul Aitken, says he plans to open a California outpost by year-end.
Jul 2012
There's Nothing Seedy About The New Pawn Industry: Why The Rich Are Heading To The Pawnshop With Their Bentleys and Rolexes
Business is booming at the pawn shops, but it’s not just cheap jewellery that’s being traded for cash, it’s Bentleys, Patek Philippes and even prints by Andy Warhol.
Jul 2012
Is NASDAQ The Only Option For An Internet IPO?
NASDAQ’s well publicised woes surrounding the Facebook float have once again raised questions over its role as the leading venue for technology IPOs. The technical failures that compounded the already troubled listing are sure to sow significant seeds of doubt in the minds of any entrepreneur or investor looking towards a public exit in the coming months and years.
Jul 2012
5 insider tips on how to raise venture capital for your business
Tim Levene is managing partner at Augmentum Capital, a technology VC backed by RIT Capital, the investment fund founded by Jacob Rothschild. Before becoming a VC, Tim was the founding employee at Flutter.com and Betfair, where among other things he was involved in raising more than $25m from VC investors. Here he shares his top tips on how to appeal to investors based on his experience on both sides of the fence.
Jun 2012
Hard-up Brits Are Pawning Family Assets To Make Ends Meet
Using valuable items such as jewellery or luxury motorcars as security for a loan, has become an increasingly popular way to raise cash during the recession. But just how safe is it and what are the alternatives?
Jun 2012
Got a Picasso? Get a small business loan
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Artwork by Andy Warhol, military medals, helicopters, and a Babe Ruth baseball bat aren't the typical pawnshop fare. But all of these valuables have been used to secure loans through a personal asset company called Borro.
Jun 2012
Pawning My Aston Martin Was The Best Option
When the wealthy need money in a hurry they don't bother asking a bank – many turn to pawnbrokers instead.
Jun 2012
Personal Asset Lender Borro Wins Alternative Lender Of The Year Two Years In A Row
After receiving nominations in two categories at this year’s Credit Today Awards, borro, the UK’s fastest growing personal asset lender, has been voted Alternative Lender of the Year 2012.
May 2012
Venture Capitalist Views: Disruption Doesn't Always Mean Destruction
The idea of disruption lies at the heart of many of the internet's greatest business successes. However, for many, the idea of disrupting a marketplace has come to mean its destruction.
May 2012
Will New Gold App Give Investors The Midas Touch
Gold bugs can now trade gold bullion and check up-to-date prices direct from their smartphones with a new mobile app.
May 2012
Augmentum has invested in Bathrooms.com
The fund has invested in Bathrooms.com, which sells upmarket bathroom suites online at low prices. The deal values it at around £20m. Ian Monk, founder and chief executive who retained a 35pc stake, plans to turn it into the world’s biggest bathroom retailer.
May 2012
Augmentum Capital leads £7.5 million Bathrooms.com investment - Press Release
Online bathroom furniture and fixtures retailer takes Series B funding to target £1.8bn UK bathroom market.
Apr 2012
Rothschild-Backed Levene Sets Sights On New Ventures
After shaking up the juice bar and online gambling industries before the age of 40, Tim Levene, one of the World Economic Forum's 2012 list of "young global leaders" is setting his sights on his biggest challenge yet: creating a successful venture capital firm amid an increasingly tough operating environment for the asset class.
Apr 2012
Family Incomes See Worst Fall Since 1977 As Average Disposable Income Drops 1.2%
Families were hit by a bigger fall in their disposable income in 2011 than in any other year since 1977, official figures revealed yesterday.
Apr 2012
SRL Global
Since separating from Man Group, SRL Global has maintained the independence of its enterprise-wide investment platform Nexus.
Apr 2012
Savers Rush For Gold As Eurozone Debt Fears Drive Up Price
Renewed panic about debts in the eurozone has caused the price of gold to rise, triggering predictions that it will soon hit a record high.
Apr 2012
Online Dragons Help Fund UK SMEs
Banks are no longer the only game in town. A host of new firms have sprung up offering small businesses an alternative route to finance. Kate Bassett looks at six of them.
Apr 2012
World Economic Forum Announces Young Global Leaders for 2012
Tim Levene has been made a Young Global Leader for 2012 by the World Economic Forum.
Mar 2012
Borro Triumphs At Stevie Awards
Borro, the UK’s fastest growing personal asset lender, has secured a Gold Award at the 2012 International Stevie Awards for Sales and Customer Service.
Mar 2012
Rise In Luxury Goods Ending Up At Pawnbrokers
Sonja Jessup talks to Paul Aitken, of Borro pawnbrokers, and self-employed Malcolm Hills, who pawned two pens worth more than £20000. A Rolex watch which is currently being held with pawn brokers in a vault in Chancery.
Feb 2012
Bankers & Businessmen Put Ferraris & Fine Wine in Hock To Pawnbrokers
Ferraris, Rolexes, fine wine and a Henry Moore sculpture nothing says "financial crisis" like the better class of collateral in hock to pawnbrokers this Christmas.
Jan 2012
Yachts, guitars, fine wine and a Henry Moore: As belts tighten, families pawn four times as much for cash
Cash-strapped families are borrowing nearly four times more money from pawnbrokers than they did in 2010, a report reveals.
Jan 2012
Credit Scarcity Leaves Businesses Unable To Grow
Following the credit easing initiatives announced in last week’s Autumn Statement, new research from borro, personal asset lenders, reveals that small business owners have been locked in a capital battle which has resulted in lost opportunities to grow their business.
Jan 2012
Borro Reports Steep Rise In Referred Loans
Paul Aitken said more than 1800 intermediaries signed up to the firm’s introducer programme, an increase of 200 per cent in three months.
Jan 2012
Ferraris and Rolexes In Hock To Lenders Amid Financial Crisis
Bonus-starved bankers and hard-up entrepeneurs are proving a boon for pawnbrokers as they hand over Ferraris, Rolexes, and fine wine for cash.
Dec 2011
Gold Regains Safe-Haven Lustre
Investors are flocking to gold amid increasing uncertainty on the continent, fears over inflation and frozen interest rates, and volatility in the stockmarkets.
Dec 2011
Sunday Times - Eurozone Fears Spark Goldrush
Investors' alarm over the eurozone debt crisis has brought record profits for an online gold and silver exchange backed by Lord (Jacob) Rothschild, the city grandee.
Nov 2011
Sunday Times - Families Turn To Pawn Shops For School Fees
Middle-class families are increasingly pawning their possessions, such as luxury cars, to pay for school fees and holidays, The Sunday Times can reveal.
Nov 2011
Bullionvault Bigger Than Man Utd
LONDON – World No.1 gold market online BullionVault.com today enters The Sunday Times' Top Track 250 of large, privately-owned UK businesses at No. 85.
Nov 2011
Gold Demand Doubles Amid Economic Gloom & Frozen Interest Rates
Fears about the global credit crisis, the euro, inflation and the falling real value of paper money of all descriptions helped more than double demand for physical gold held by BullionVault last year; pushing up profits by 48pc it reports today.
Nov 2011
Gold Shines Amid Gloom Of Worst Economic Crisis Ever
Fears that quantatative easing will boost inflation and devalue paper money helped propel the gold price $23 higher to close at $1,646 (£1,068) per ounce.
Nov 2011
Small Firms Look Beyond Banks For Loans
Many small and medium business owners struggle when the banks refuse to lend them money.
Nov 2011
Valuable Items Used to Secure Loans
Britons are tackling their cashflow problems by using an increasingly unusual array of their own treasures to borrow money, an online lender has said.
Nov 2011
Bank Lending To Small Firms Has Been Cut In Half
Lending to small businesses has plunged to nearly half of what it was before the financial crisis.
Sep 2011
BullionVault Receives Most Funds Since Lehman's Collapse
Bullionvault, an online service for private investors to buy and sell physical gold, attracted the most funds last month since the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holding Inc. in 2008 on demand for a haven.
Sep 2011
Borro Intermediaries Now Reach The Thousand Mark
Lender Borro has signed up its 1000th intermediary firm in a bid to bring new IFA firms under its wing as it proceeds with plans to expand its proposition.
Aug 2011
Private Equity Buyers Return To Market
With access to traditional sources of funding for small and medium-sized enterprises still proving problematic, entrepreneurs and financiers report private equity money is flooding back into the sector "with a vengeance".
Aug 2011
Banks Not Lending? You Can Always Pawn Your Picasso
As UK banks fall behind on lending to small businesses and individuals, more consumers and enterprises are looking for alternative sources of capital. One such source, Borro, hopes to reinvent the ancient business of pawnbroking.
Aug 2011
Borro - Who Are They
Short term lender borro is attracting mass appeal with its online loan service. But how does it work, and what does it offer you?
Aug 2011
Borro Honoured In 8th Annual International Business Awards
borro has earned a Distinguished Honouree medal for Company of the Year in the Financial Services category for the International Business Awards 2011
Aug 2011
Rothschild's RIT On A Roll
RIT Capital Partners has reaped rich rewards by backing commodities and emerging markets over the past 10 years, but all good things come to an end.
Jul 2011
Augmentum Capital Backs Persistent Sentinel
Jul 2011
Rich Drive Rise In Demand For Top Pawnbrokers
Bentleys, Rolex Watches and Titanic memorabilia are becoming unlikely cash machines as individuals and small business owners turn to pawnbrokers amid the biggest lending drought for years.
Jul 2011
Luxury Cars Amid Bank Lending Squeeze
Paul Aitken: We’ve seen a very big increase in our higher end loans, our higher end loans are loans of above twenty thousand pounds. We’ve seen a more than doubling effect in the last six months in that area; it is largely driven by small business owners and self-employed people because they are not able to get credit from banks or they just don’t want to go to the bank as they don’t believe they will be able to get it that easily.
Jul 2011
Pension Funds Remain Uncertain About Traditional Assets
Unease about the prospects for traditional assets remains, with only 12.5% of institutional investors saying they might increase their allocations to overseas equities, UK bonds and fixed income securities, property, hedge funds and commodities, while 20% liked infrastructure assets, a survey by SRL Global has shown.
Jun 2011
Bullionvault Hires ex Skandia Man For Physical Gold Platform Push
Bullionvault, a low-cost silver and gold exchange for private investors, has brought on board Skandia Investment Group's former open architecture head Steve Kowal to help it expand its offering to advisers and platforms.
Jun 2011
Short Term Loan Value Hits £1 Million
Short term loans are rising in value it seems as borro.com, the UK’s leading online short-term asset lender, gives its first ever £1 million loan.
Jun 2011
Alternative Lender of the Year award goes to borro
Despite being a relative newcomer to the industry, short-term lending specialist borro has been named Alternative Lender of the Year.
Jun 2011
The Business Growth Fund: will it help small firms?
Launched last week by business secretary Vince Cable, the Business Growth Fund, or BGF, is the government’s latest event to end the credit impasse for small firms. The BGF is being steered by Britain’s banks, and targeting companies turning over between £10m and £100m. The banks will invest between £2m and £10m in suitable companies, in return for an equity stake of between 10% and 50%, and a seat on the board.
May 2011
Gold bubble fears prompted by 52pc rise in bullion trading
Trading in gold at BullionVault, Britain’s biggest retail investment service specialising in the precious metal, soared by an eye-stretching 52pc last year. Audited accounts show 21,000 registered users bought and sold bullion worth £381m as prices hit new peaks.
May 2011
Augmentum Backs Borro
Augmentum Capital has invested in online pawnbroking service Borro.com, alongside existing investors Eden Ventures and Rockbridge Investments.
May 2011
Calculating the "Fair Value" Of Gold
With its incredibly constant supply and unsurpassed history as a store of value, physical gold is the wise choice for retained wealth during currency crises. But for new buyers, is today's price too high?
May 2011
Lending to small businesses remains rock bottom
Despite measured implemented to increase banks’ lending to small business, lending has plummeted to its lowest rate since the financial crisis began, according to figures released last week by the Bank of England.
May 2011
Lack of bank lending spurs borro to target IFAs
Short-term lender says that asset loans are "not a long-term solution" but can provide "valuable breathing space".
May 2011
The gold rush is on - and the clock is ticking
How high can the price of gold go? No one can be sure but everyone has an opinion. "I believe gold is worth a great deal more than the price it's currently trading at, based on my own expectations for the rate of inflation and currency devaluation.
Apr 2011
Online Pawn Broker Borro raises £7.5m led by Augmentum Capital
Augmentum Capital has invested in online pawnbroking service Borro.com alongside existing investors Eden Ventures and Rockbridge Investments.
Apr 2011
Tim Levene - Profile
From juice bars to online betting, Tim Levene has always thrived on entrepreneurship. Now, as head of private equity fund Augmentum Capital, he is targeting technology deals-with a blast of financial firepower from the Rothschilds
Apr 2011
SRL Global, No IT? No Comment
The financial crisis and its concomitant regulatory reaction have dramatically increased the pressure on pension fund trustees.
Apr 2011
SRL Global raises £7.5m
Following investment by Augmentum Capital (a fund backed by RIT Capital Partners Plc, the investment trust in which Jacob Rothschild is a substantial investor), and Revere Capital Advisors LLC (founded by ex-board members of Man Group plc), SRL Global will further accelerate its product development while delivering a market leading service to its clients.
Oct 2010
Augmentum and Revere invest in SRL Global
Augmentum Capital, a growth capital fund backed by RIT Capital Partners, and Revere Capital Advisors have made an investment in SRL Global, a technology partner to pension funds, insurance companies, endowments and large family offices.
Jul 2010
World Gold Council, Augmentum Invest in BullionVault
June 21 (Bloomberg) — The World Gold Council said it and Augmentum Capital invested 12.5 million pounds ($18.7 million) in BullionVault, an Internet-based precious metals storage company
Jul 2010
Rothschild and RIT back £50m Tim Levene fund
Tim Levene, the son of Lloyd's of London chairman Lord Levene, is targeting £50m of private equity deals over the next two years after raising a fund backed by Lord Rothschild.
Jul 2010
World Gold Council, Augmentum Invest in BullionVault
June 21 (Bloomberg) — The World Gold Council said it and Augmentum Capital invested 12.5 million pounds ($18.7 million) in BullionVault, an Internet-based precious metals storage company
Jun 2010
World Gold Council, Augmentum Invest in BullionVault
June 21 (Bloomberg) — The World Gold Council said it and Augmentum Capital invested 12.5 million pounds ($18.7 million) in BullionVault, an Internet-based precious metals storage company