Kviku has recently launched their own crowdlending platform in Europe with group guarantee, annual returns of up to 15% and buyback after only 30 days. If you think the name Kviku sounds familiar, then its because Kviku is already a loan originator of 5 well-known crowdlending platforms and they are currently operating in 6 different countries. Learn more about Kviku and the Kviku Group that has existed since 2013 in the below interview with the platform.
– First of all, for all the readers that are still not familiar with your platform. What kind of platform is Kviku and how are you trying to do to differentiate yourself?
– Our platform offers point-of-sale and installment loans (up to 6 months) issued by the operating companies (Loan Originators) of Kviku Group.
The Group issued its first loan in 2013 and has since then developed cutting edge credit scoring and online identification technology allowing us to gain a solid footprint in every country of operation (Russia, Spain, Poland, Ukraine, Philippines, Kazakhstan). Our Loan Originators are working under strict supervision of the local regulators including Central Bank (Russia, Kazakhstan), Securities and Exchange Commission (Philippines), ASNEF (Spain).
All loans placed at Kviku.Finance come with a buyback guarantee and will be repurchased if the loan is delinquent for 30 days or more. Investors can count on net annual returns of up to 15% in EUR and we also have sign up and other bonuses for new and existing investors.
– What is the competitive advantage of Kviku over other similar crowdlending platforms?
– The incoming payments from Loan Originators appear on investors’ accounts instantly due to swift intra group transfers, hence no pending payments for investors furthermore each Loan Originator’s obligations at Kviku.Finance are secured by guarantee from Kviku Group.
Investors of Kviku will be benefit from buyback and group guarantee.
– What type of loans do you offer at your platform?
– Point-of-sale and installment loans from 6 countries
– Average duration of a loan is 90 days
– Interest rates range from 10 to 15% in EUR p.a.
– The minimum investment required (the minimum wire amount to your Kviku.Finance account) is 50 EUR and the minimum investment in each loan is 1 EUR
– No cashdrag
– Can you tell us a bit more about the Kviku group itself?
– Kviku was founded in 2013 and was one of the first fintech companies to challenge the traditional banks. The company operates online and offers a fast, reliable, convenient and transparent service in Europe and Asia. Since its launch, Kviku has received 5 million unique applications and issued more than 1 million loans with a total volume of over $ 70 million. The company has shown 2-3x portfolio growth annually over recent years and is considered to be one of the fastest-growing Fintech firms globally. Our group is developing its operations in regions with the highest perspectives for online lending market growth.
– Can you tell us about the team behind Kviku?
– The highest possible technical automation of all in-house processes allows to maintain the most effective team of remotely working employees (just 50 employees worldwide, with 95% working remotely).
A 2-3 times growth of business requires no more than 5-10 additional employees. Effective business model allows us to launch a new country within 3 months, with breakeven in 6 months.
Founders of Kviku Group are Nikita Lomakin (CEO) and Veniamin Lipskiy (CFO) both with over 10 years prior experience in investment banking and corporate finance, including Morgan Stanley, Sputnik Group, Ernst and Young.
Founders of Kviku Finance CEO Nikita Lomakin and CFO Veniamin Lipskiy.
– How many investors have you attracted so far and how many loans have Kviku founded in total to this date?
– Over 1000 new investors, with over EUR 300k funded in the first couple of months since launch.
– Currently you do not have a possibility of early exit like a secondary market, are you planning to implement it at a later stage? If yes, what type of early exit would you like to offer the investors?
– Secondary market is under development at the moment, but given the short average duration of loans issued and no pending payments, investors have not expressed any concerns about early exits so far.
– Is the Kviku platform regulated by any authorities?
– Our operating companies are working under strict supervision of the local regulators including Central Bank (Russia, Kazakhstan), Securities and Exchange Commission (Philippines), ASNEF (Spain). Kviku.Finance is regulated by the legislative acts of Republic of Cyprus.
-If Kviku would go bankrupt, what would happen to the money of the investors?
– In an unlikely scenario of bankruptcy of one of the Loan Originators, all the obligations would be repaid by other operating companies of Kviku Group. As can be seen from our latest consolidated accounts, all group liabilities are fully covered by financial assets (issued loans after provisions) and available cash on the balance sheet.
– Are you planning to add more loan originators to your platform?
– We aim to launch an operating company in India by the year end and add it to Kviku.Finance once our operations in India become profitable. We do not plan to add Loan Originators from outside of Kviku Group of companies any time soon.
– How is the current financial situation for Kviku and the Kviku Group?
– H1 2020 Financials
1. 1.5x year-on-year growth of volume of issued loans
2. Net loan portfolio after reserves fully covers outstanding liabilities (€ 15 million)
3. Revenue more than doubled to c. € 25 million vs H1 2019 with 20% accounting for non-interest risk-free revenue (insurance products and card-to-card transfers)
4. Stable net income in H1 2020 in line with H1 2019 numbers (c. € 250k) despite market volatility
5. Strong position in country rankings in core Russian market – #1 in POS loans and #6 in installment loans by portfolio sizeOur reviewed consolidated financials for 2018-2019 are disclosed to public at kviku.finance
– Are you planning to continue your cooperation with your global partners Mintos, Iuvo, Bondster, Crowd Credit and Viventor now that you have created your own platform?
– We value our partership with all the mentioned companies and are planning to continue our cooperation subject to investor demand and interest rates.
– How does your offered interest compared to the ones of your partner platforms?
– The interest rate at Kviku.Finance is in line with other platforms at the moment, however investors can gain exposure to all countries of operation of Kviku Group and receive a group guarantee only at our own platform.
-Is it the Kviku Group or the loan originator who guarantees the 30-day buyback guarantee?
– Each Loan Originator guarantees 30-days buyback for its own issued overdue loans. In case of insolvency of one of the Loan Originators, a Group guarantee is triggered.
– Are you planning to add loans in other currencies like in Rubles?
– Yes, we are working on this with our payment and processing partners at the moment.
– How did COVID-19 influence the operations and financial situation of the Kviku Group?
Our lending business has not been affected by COVID due to fully online nature of the business in all countries of operation. 95% of our employees have been historically working from home since the start of our business in 2013, hence none of the operating processes were affected by any lockdown measures introduced by the governments.
Default rates have not increased substantially since March due to very low amounts (under EUR 100) of an average issued loan and no business loans in our portfolio. We have currently zero currency exposure in Russia, as 70% of our liabilities are RUB-denominated and the rest are hedged via EUR/RUB call options.
Our licenses allow maintaining strong funding diversification with solid long term (up to 3 years) deposit base from retail investors, as well as 5 year credit line from bank. Our fixed costs are historically just around 2% of our monthly issuance volumes (payroll, credit scoring, processing, IT infrastructure), which allows us to remain profitable even during market turmoils.
We see continued strong demand for online alternative lending, as traditional financial institutions continue to suffer from the COVID aftermath.
– According to your webpage you are going to expand your loans to 3 more countries in 2021. Can you tell a bit more about it?
– We can assure you that the emerging markets like India, Vietnam and Indonesia will be included in our portfolio in the coming years. We are very optimistic about these launches due to a promising macroeconomic situation in all of these countries and high share of unbanked population in the region.
The Geographical coverage if the Kviku Group Include Spain, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan and Philiphines. And will in the near future also expand to India, Vietnam and Indonesia.
– How do you avoid the pending payments with loan takers in so many different countries? It must take days to transfer the money between foreign bank accounts.
– The incoming payments from Loan Originators appear on investors’ accounts instantly due to swift intra group transfers and cash reserves at Kviku Holding ltd level.
– What are the short and long term goals of Kviku?
Short term goals:
– Launch in India
– Add local currencies (RUB, PHP, KZT, etc.)
Long term goals:
– Launch in other countries in South East Asia;
– Introduce secondary market/ early exit
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