Prosper has re-opened for lending. This time in limited mode for private and institutional lenders from California only. Borrowers may be nationwide. In the
blog accompanying this openeing, Chris Larson takes a swipe at the SEC:
We remain hopeful that the SEC, which until now has effectively hamstrung the growth of the peer-to-peer and micro-lending industries in the U.S. will start applying the same common sense approach as California’s regulators. California has recognized that Internet auctions, just like the Google IPO, are the most efficient means of price discovery; that loan level transparency is better than the opaque loan pooling that brought the financial system to its knees; and that requiring regulatory filings every other day of web site transactions that are already visible in real time, is redundant and cost prohibitive.
The changes over the past weekend seems quite pervasive, with new layouts on almost all the pages. One can surmise that the Prosper development team spent the 6-month hiatus quite productively in revamping the underlying platform.
What remains to be seen is whether there will be any change in attitude between Prosper and its lending community and whether Prosper will revamp some of the practices that affect lenders negatively.
What is for sure is that Prosper will have a steep hill to clib to convince the majority of the Prospers.org community that lending (even for the "lucky" few living in California) is a winning proposition.
In the spirit of new beginnings, I'd like to extend to Prosper, its management and all the Prosper employees a "good luck" wish. Here's hoping that this time around things will be different. As a Texas resident, I'll be watching from the very distant sidelines.
For those in California wishing to invest (and for all of those curious about the new shape of things to come), start
here.