Citadele Bank is launching a partnership with Europe’s most advanced lending platform, Fellow Finance, which brings together individuals, businesses and investors. In the partnership Crosslend will take care of the securitization of the loan investments. Citadele is the first bank in the Baltic states, and one of the first in Europe, to invest in consumer loans on a peer-to-peer lending platform.
Citadele Bank will make investments utilising Fellow Finance’s lending platform, headquartered in Finland, which provides consumer and SME loans in the Nordic countries and Central Europe. The digital debt marketplace CrossLend is providing its innovative securitisation solution to transform the platform’s loans into securities held by Citadele. The initial investment is 15 million euro. International co-operation will enable Citadele to expand its range of services, offering new products in an efficient and modern way – teaming with innovative FinTech companies.
Vladislavs Mironovs, member of the Management Board of Citadele Bank, says: “The difference between Universal banks and Innovative frontrunners is their ability to adapt to customer needs, creating best-in-class solutions internally or partnering with leading FinTech companies. Co-operating with CrossLend and Fellow Finance is a new way for Citadele to expand its business and learn from international innovations. This newly established partnership will allow Citadele to reach new consumer and corporate lending markets while offering modern financial services internationally.”
Oliver Schimek, CEO and Founder at CrossLend: “We are a partner for banks to securitise their investments in loans via our digital debt marketplace. Our securitisation set-up, together with the standardised presentation of loan data on our marketplace, makes investment into P2P-originated loans easy, as well as time and cost efficient.”
Jouni Hintikka, CEO of Fellow Finance: “Using its Fellow Finance investment account, Citadele will be able to diversify its investments easily and cost-efficiently. This is a great example of how banks do not have to carry out costly operations themselves but can effectively enter markets through lending platforms. Citadele’s investment will strengthen our ambition to maintain a platform that provides access to consumer and SME loans in the Nordic countries and Central Europe.”
