xplanation from the CEO of Maclear Swiss Platform on why there should be more crowdlending platforms in Europe. Article published September 2025: Why does Europe need P2P Platforms?.
Spoiler: the reason lies in the fact that Europeans are not diversifying their assets.
Let me explain you: Europeans are among the world’s most diligent savers. In 2023, households saved around13% of their income, which is much higher than the 8% compared to the U. S..
Yet despite high savings, much of this capital is not being directed to fuel innovation or growth. Here are some European factors noted by Christine Lagarde that I can fully agree with:
1. Savings are gathered in low-yield deposits
— Europeans hold about €11.5 trillion in cash and deposits, one-third of all household financial assets.
— In contrast, in the US, only around 10% of assets sit in deposits.
— For many Europeans, the default option remains guaranteed accounts
— Safe, but with low or even negative real returns after inflation.
2. Fragmented and costly retail investment landscape
— Retail investing in Europe is often opaque, expensive, and intermediated.
— 45% of consumers don’t trust that the financial advice they receive is in their best interest.
— Investors in European mutual funds pay, on average, 60% higher fees than their US counterparts.
The result: less incentive to diversify, and weaker participation in capital markets.
3. Capital trapped within borders
— Over 60% of household equity investments stay in the home country, limiting cross-border diversification.
— Institutional investors often allocate more to US markets than EU markets, draining liquidity from Europe.
— Legal fragmentation across EU member states remains a major structural barrier to creating a truly unified capital market.
4. Underdeveloped venture capital ecosystem
— In the US, vibrant networks of angel investors and VCs drive capital to high-growth startups.
— Europe’s ecosystem is still catching up, with over 50% of late-stage funding for European tech coming from outside the EU.
— This means European innovation often depends on foreign capital.
To put it simply: fewer high-growth companies => lower valuations and liquidity in EU markets => weaker returns for savers => less appetite for diversification.
So how to deal with these struggles? That’s the very question we raise in the P2P lending landscape. By directly connecting savers with borrowers (in the Maclear case, European SMEs), we contribute greatly to transforming a fragmented and complicated structure into something easy to comprehend and take part in.
Meaning that:
For investors, P2P lending platforms provide attractive, risk-adjusted returns compared to traditional deposits, while enabling diversification beyond national borders.
For businesses, SMEs receive valuable support that boosts their growth.
For the system, it helps close the gap between Europe’s high savings and its underfunded growth potential.
Want to start exploring European P2P lending now?
Visit Maclear: https://www.maclear.ch
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