Crowdlending platforms development prospects in modern Russian economy

Abstract

Introduction. The changes in the economic situation, which happened after certain events of February 2022, required signifi cant investment in the development of small and medium-sized businesses. Parallel imports, new market niches to be fulfi lled after foreign producers had left, the desire to preserve and increase capital while experiencing ruble devaluation– these and other reasons formed the basis of crowdlending studying in this paper. Theoretical analysis. The growth rates of the crowdlending market in Russia are analyzed and the dynamics of crowdlending and bank loans to small and medium-sized businesses are compared. Empirical analysis. Based on the example of the company “JetLend” LLC, an analysis of the requirements for borrowers and investors, the stages of potential borrowers’ business checking were carried out. A comparative characteristic of the JetLend, IFX Cbond, Cbonds-CBI RU High Yield indices is presented, which suggests that during 3 years, an average investor of the JetLend platform had a higher yield than if he owned a portfolio of high-yield bonds or bonds of the most liquid companies in Russia. Results. Positive and negative aspects of using crowdlending for both investors and borrowers are summed up. It is concluded that crowdlending is a promising tool for small and medium-sized businesses, especially for those economic entities which do not have collateral, credit history or other factors necessary for a bank loan.

Keywords

• investments
• investment platforms
• lending
• crowdlending
• digitalization of the economy