mr. M.E. (Martha) Buit

PhD project: Towards an Appropriate Regulatory Regime for Peer-to-Peer Lending

Consumer peer-to-peer lending (P2P lending) has become the most important alternative financing structure in Europe to provide consumers with credit. Yet, it is unclear how P2P lending should be regulated. In the absence of a European harmonized regulatory framework for P2P lending, Member States have developed their own regulatory frameworks that differ substantially from one another. In general, regulators struggle to find a balance between the protection of consumers and enabling the further innovation of the sector. This interdisciplinary research aims to examine existing business models of P2P lending platform operators, as well as rules and practices concerning the regulation of P2P lending in EU law and in the national systems of the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands. The aim is to provide recommendations for the development of an appropriate regulatory regime for P2P lending.