Unbolted

Unbolted is a United Kingdom-based online personal asset-backed lending platform and pawnbroker. Its model allows individuals and small business owners to obtain short-term finance by pledging valuable personal assets, including luxury watches, cars, fine art, antiques, jewellery and gold. Rather than relying primarily on conventional unsecured credit assessment, the platform places emphasis on the value and liquidity of the pledged asset. The business was established by Ashwin Parmeswaran and Rito Haldar. It raised seed funding in July 2014 and began trading publicly in November 2014. The company positioned itself as an alternative to traditional short-term borrowing, seeking to make secured borrowing more transparent, convenient and potentially less expensive for consumers and smaller businesses. Its online structure was intended to broaden access to asset-backed finance while connecting borrowers with individual lenders. Unbolted’s offering has included several forms of short-term lending. Buy-now-pay-later loans were designed for participants in auctions who wanted to bid on items without having the full purchase price immediately available. Sale-advance loans allowed auction vendors to receive part of an item’s expected auction value, reportedly up to half of the auction reserve, before the sale took place. The platform also provided bridge finance secured against personal assets and working-capital loans for watch dealers, a segment for which inventory liquidity can be important. The platform’s collateral categories have included high-value watches, motor vehicles, fine art, antiques, jewellery and precious metals. This focus gave Unbolted a connection to specialist auction houses, dealers and collectors as well as to consumers seeking emergency or temporary liquidity. Its lending proposition depended on the valuation, custody, saleability and risk management of the underlying assets, making it distinct from ordinary consumer lending platforms. Unbolted previously offered a product known as Gold Trust loans. This arrangement was intended to reduce lenders’ exposure to declines in gold prices by using exchange-traded derivatives, specifically put options, designed to pay out if the price of gold fell. Following the introduction of new Financial Conduct Authority rules in December 2019, Unbolted discontinued Gold Trust protection for new loans secured against gold or other precious metals. The change illustrates how regulatory developments affected the design of the company’s products and its approach to collateral-price risk. Publicly available reference material identifies London as the company’s office location and the United Kingdom as its principal market. The available material does not establish the company’s current ownership, leadership, trading status, website, financial performance or whether all historical products remain available. Accordingly, Unbolted’s present operating status should be treated as unconfirmed.

Unbolted was founded in the United Kingdom by Ashwin Parmeswaran and Rito Haldar to develop an online alternative to conventional short-term borrowing. The founders focused on people and small businesses that owned valuable assets but might not have access to suitable unsecured credit or might prefer not to sell the assets outright. By lending against items such as luxury watches, cars, fine art, antiques, jewellery and precious metals, the company sought to turn stored personal wealth into temporary liquidity. The company secured seed funding in July 2014, before launching its public trading activity in November of the same year. It operated from London and used an online platform to support a peer-to-peer lending model combined with the functions of a pawnbroker. Borrowers could pledge an asset as security, while lenders could participate in loans whose risk was linked to the collateral and the associated valuation and recovery process. Unbolted developed products for more than one borrowing situation. Its auction-focused buy-now-pay-later loans enabled bidders on partner auction sites to finance purchases without having all of the required cash at the time of bidding. Sale-advance loans addressed sellers instead: a vendor could obtain an advance against an anticipated auction result, reportedly up to half of the auction reserve, before the item was sold. The company also offered bridge finance secured by personal assets and working-capital loans aimed at watch dealers. The business had a particular relationship with high-value watches and the specialist dealer market. For dealers, asset-backed working capital could help fund inventory or bridge the period between acquisition and resale. For consumers and collectors, the model provided a way to access funds without immediately disposing of valuable possessions. For lenders, the collateral was intended to provide a basis for risk assessment and recovery if a borrower failed to repay. Unbolted also introduced Gold Trust loans for gold-backed borrowing. The product was designed to address the risk that a fall in gold prices could reduce the value of collateral during the loan period. To protect lenders against that risk, the company used exchange-traded derivatives, described in the reference material as ETF put options, which could pay out when gold prices declined. A regulatory change became an important turning point in this product line. New Financial Conduct Authority regulations came into force in December 2019, after which Unbolted stopped providing Gold Trust protection for new loans involving gold and other precious metals. The change did not necessarily eliminate all precious-metal-backed lending, but it ended the described protection mechanism for newly issued loans. The available reference material does not provide reliable information about later ownership, management, financial results, product availability or the company’s current trading status. Its documented history therefore ends with the regulatory change to Gold Trust protection and should not be extended beyond the available evidence.

• 2019

  Gold Trust protection ends for new loans

  [1]Unbolteden.wikipedia.org

  Following new Financial Conduct Authority regulations introduced in December 2019, Unbolted ended Gold Trust protection for new gold and precious-metal loans.

• 2014

  Seed funding raised

  [1]Unbolteden.wikipedia.org

  Unbolted raised seed funding in July 2014 before beginning its public launch and trading activity.

• 2014

  Public trading begins

  [1]Unbolteden.wikipedia.org

  The company began trading in November 2014 as a London-based online asset-backed lending platform and pawnbroker.

Online, asset-backed short-term finance intended to provide transparent and convenient liquidity to consumers, small businesses, auction participants, vendors and specialist dealers.

• Auction finance

  Buy-now-pay-later loans

  Short-term finance for auction participants who wanted to bid on items through partner auction sites without paying the full purchase price immediately. The product was intended to give buyers additional liquidity during the auction process while using valuable personal assets as security.

• Auction finance

  Sale-advance loans

  Loans that allowed vendors to receive an advance before an auction took place. The advance could reportedly reach up to half of the auction reserve, giving sellers access to funds while they waited for the eventual sale and settlement of the consigned item.

• Asset-backed lending

  Personal asset bridge loans

  Short-term bridge finance secured against high-value personal assets. The offering was aimed at borrowers who needed temporary liquidity but wished to retain ownership of assets such as watches, vehicles, jewellery, fine art or antiques.

• Business lending

  Working-capital loans for watch dealers

  Asset-backed working-capital finance for watch dealers. The product addressed the need to fund inventory and bridge the time between acquiring high-value watches and selling them to customers or through specialist channels.

• Precious-metal-backed lending

  Gold Trust loans

  A former gold-backed lending product that used exchange-traded put options to help protect lenders against losses associated with falling gold prices. The protection mechanism was discontinued for new gold and precious-metal loans after regulatory changes in December 2019.

• 2019

  Discontinuation of Gold Trust protection for new precious-metal loansStrategy

  Background

  Unbolted had used exchange-traded derivatives, including put options, to provide protection against declines in gold prices for its Gold Trust lending product. New Financial Conduct Authority regulations came into force in December 2019.

  Action taken

  The company ended Gold Trust protection for newly issued loans secured against gold and other precious metals.

  Aftermath

  The change removed the documented price-fall protection mechanism from new loans in this category. The available source does not specify the subsequent effect on lending volumes, pricing or the wider business.

  Source

1. 1Unbolteden.wikipedia.org