Institutional investors in the UK are growing increasingly comfortable with using online lending platforms in contrast to a downturn in sentiment in the US over the past six months.

Institutions accounted for 41% of the £870.5 million in debt originated by UK peer-to-peer lending platforms in the first three months of the year, compared with 32% for the same period in 2015 and 39% in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to estimates by data provider AltFi.