HIGH interest rate returns has been among the biggest attraction for investors to participate in peer-to-peer (P2P) financing platforms, notes a survey by Funding Societies.
Almost half of the respondents (42.1% or 565 respondents) who participated in the survey deemed the attractive rates, which can go as high as 14% per year – exceeding conventional fixed deposits (3.5%-4% p.a.) and the Employees Provident Fund dividend (6%-6.5% p.a.) – as the top reason for investing in P2P financing.
My return from October 2018 until April 2019:
Cited alongside the high-interest returns were the monthly compounding effect (12.8%) and short-term tenure (12%) that P2P financing can offer.
“Our survey clearly highlights the ever-changing Malaysian investment landscape in which the preferences of the new generation investors, mainly the millennials, are investing in P2P financing due to the many desirable pull-factors such as high-interest rates, monthly compounding effects, and short-term tenure.
Funding Societies is one of the P2P financing operators in Malaysia.
That P2P financing appeals more to the millennial generation is backed by the fact that millennials make up 70% of Funding Societies Malaysia’s investor portfolio, adds Wong.
“Our ultimate aim is to ensure that good investment opportunities are made available to investors. As for Funding Societies Malaysia, we strive to keep our default rate low. The current rate is at around 1%.
“Despite our low default rate and high-interest rate returns, we always encourage our investors to never cease diversifying into different notes and asset classes,” he adds.
Interestingly, 79.3% of the respondents unanimously picked P2P financing platform as their preferred investment option, followed by stock market (63.2%), real estate investment trust (41.1%), property (34.5%) and unit trust (32.6%).
This survey was extended to all investors of Funding Societies Malaysia. The survey was conducted over a one-week period in March.
Although P2P financing is still very much in its infancy in Malaysia as compared to its Asean neighbours, notably Singapore and Indonesia, 89.7% of the respondents believed that investing in P2P financing platforms has met their expectations while 76.6% of the respondents expressed satisfaction.
As to how much of their overall investment portfolio has been allotted towards P2P financing via Funding Societies Malaysia, the majority (69.2%) of respondents answered “20% and below” while another 14.5% set aside 21%-40%
Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/business/smebiz/2019/04/29/higher-interest-rate-returns-a-draw-for-p2p/#ZemvzFptQ17DyG5d.99