Wellesley & Co

Peer-to-peer lender Wellesley & Co enables people to lend money directly to the UK's small and medium-sized property developers and house builders.

Based in London, it was established in November 2013, and named after co-founder Garret Graham Wellesley, 8th Earl Cowley, a hereditary peer who had been Chief Executive of IFX and Finspreads, until the directors of IFX forced him to resign.

The Wellesley business model is to provide asset-backed loans that have been secured on residential property.

Back in 2014, it was announced that Wellesley had loaned £8.3m, which at the time was the largest loan made by any peer-to-peer operation. It was a bridging loan backed by 27 properties in the county of Essex and various south London boroughs.

Peer-to-Peer lending, which is often abbreviated to P2P lending, is a practice where individuals are able to lend money to others online.

Lenders receive a more favourable rate of interest than they would be offered normally by conventional providers, while borrowers benefit in a similar way.

The way that Wellesley is different from other peer-to-peer lending outfits is that it employs its own cash to fund each loan agreed with its borrowers.

Wellesley's aim is to enable investors to generate healthy returns on capital in attractive interest rates by linking them with creditworthy borrowers who are looking for competitive sources of funding.

In 2014, Wellesley launched the Wellesley Mini-Bond, allowing UK-based individuals, companies, trusts and charities, which hold bonds, to invest cash to Wellesley Finance Plc in return for a fixed interest rate paid every six months.

When the Wellesley Mini-Bond matures, the lender's investment is repaid in full. Wellesley also offers The Wellesley Listed Bond.

Wellesley claims The Wellesley Way is a blend of technological innovation and traditional values aimed at achieving high quality returns on investment for lenders, while also delivering a top quality service to borrowers.