The 2019 Year in Review

2019 has been a record year for Plenti^{^}. We hit several significant milestones, launched a fresh new website, initiated important partnerships with industry leaders, and continued to deliver award-winning service to thousands of Australian borrowers and investors.

Perhaps most excitingly, we celebrate our fifth birthday this November. That’s five remarkable years of pursuing the accomplishment of our core goal — helping everyday Australians do better, together.

So, to mark this occasion and celebrate another year of kicking goals, we’ve decided to share with you some of our achievements in the last five years and breakthroughs in the past twelve months.

Plenti breaks a record in total loans funded

In May, we passed $500 million of consumer loans funded across our Retail Lending Platform and Wholesale Lending Platform, making us the fastest consumer lender in Australia to reach that milestone. Six months later, on our fifth birthday, we have hit almost $650 million in loans funded across more than 43,000 borrowers.

With more borrowers and investors than any other marketplace lending platform, we are also now firmly positioned as Australia's leading consumer lender, and in fact, Australia's largest technology-led consumer lender.

Plenti helps investors earn millions in interest

We are committed to providing investors with attractive returns year after year. Since the beginning of 2019, we have paid $13.2 million in interest to our investors. This brings us to a grand total of more than $38.1 million of interest earned by Plenti investors over the past five years.

Since our inception, investors have earned an average annualised return of 8.95 percent in our 5 Year Income lending market, 7.69 percent in our 3 Year Income lending market, 3.62 percent in our 1 Month Rolling market, and 6.13 percent in our National Clean Energy lending market. This equates to a formidable weighted average return of 7.53 percent per annum, after all fees, across all our investment markets. Our consistent performance has encouraged more investors to choose Plenti each year. In 2019, the total number of retail investors surpassed 18,000.

Australian borrowers continue to choose Plenti

The total value of loans funded has grown in tandem with the number of borrowers choosing Plenti as a source of affordable and simplified loans. We finished our first year, in 2014, with only 28 borrowers; fast-forward to the present, and more than 38,100 Australians have accessed finance using our platform.

We’re particularly proud to know that the versatility of our loans has helped everyday Australians accomplish a range of goals, from furnishing their homes to paying off medical bills. Over the past five years, we have funded 9,576 home improvement loans; 7,059 car loans; 5,535 debt consolidation loans; 2,285 holiday loans; and 710 wedding loans that helped customers pay for their big day.

Our Provision Fund continues to provide investors with peace of mind

Importantly, the Provision Fund has successfully protected investors from late payments and defaults. As at 1 November 2019, the Provision Fund buffer was $15,579,668, providing 157 percent coverage of expected future loan defaults. The Provision Fund is one reason why our investors have never lost a single cent of principal or interest due.

Plenti expanded it's commitment to ethical and sustainable investing 

Since establishing our National Clean Energy lending market in 2017, we have funded more than $50 million worth of loans for energy-efficient green loans, used to supply solar panels, home batteries and other sustainability-focused technologies.

Our commitment to sustainable investments has led us into exciting new partnerships with like-minded organisations. For example, in July of this year, we announced a partnership with Future Super, Australia’s first 100 percent fossil-free superannuation fund. This follows in the footsteps of our partnership with the Federal Government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

A bright future ahead

Despite our making great progress over the last five years, we have no intention of resting on our laurels. After all, in June we won the FinTech Australia ‘Finnie’ Award for Investment Innovator of the Year, and we intend to continue innovating!

So, here’s to another five years of outstanding achievement for Australia’s favourite consumer lender. The future looks very promising indeed.