Italians and Bulgarians most actively invest in P2P lending during the pandemic
According to the statistics of the European P2P lending platform Robo.cash, the highest number of new investors who joined the platform from February to May came from Italy. At the same time, the highest increase in the volume of investments added to the platform in this period was by Bulgarian investors.
For the period February 1 – 31 May 2020, the number of investors from Italy on Robo.cash increased by 28%, whereas the number of new users from France grew by 24%. The share of investors from the Czech Republic, Belgium rose by 13%, Switzerland and Spain – 12%.
Meanwhile, the highest increase in the volume of funds added to the P2P lending platform during this period belongs to investors from Bulgaria. As of 31 May it grew by 22% compared to the state on 31 January 2020. Italian and Swiss investors came next by the dynamics of their deposits on the platform. The volume of their funds increased by 18% and 17%, respectively.
Analysts of Robo.cash comment on the statistics: “At first glance, the growing activity of new investors may seem paradoxical. Italy is one of the European countries that has suffered from Covid-19 heavily.
However, the positive trend shown by local investors may be explained by more time they had staying at home. It allowed them to find new investment opportunities, as well as manage assets. Besides, given the results of our previous survey, most P2P lending investors work in the IT field. It suggests that during the pandemic, they could continue working remotely from home and keep their income.”
As for Bulgarian investors, whose investments have grown most on the platform, they have shown an increasing interest in investments in P2P lending over the past year. Also, the impact of the pandemic on Bulgaria has not been so strong as on other European countries – to date, the country has reported 3,800 coronavirus cases.