At the start of November, BlackRock and Santander were reported to be working on a project to bundle up and sell a group of loans that were made through peer-to-peer platforms in America.

The loans had been originated through US P2P lenders Lending Club and Prosper, although both BlackRock and Santander have, as yet, said nothing of their work on the project. Should the pair manage to get a rating for these consumer loan bundles, it would be a milestone for the industry in that it would effectively acknowledge that asset tranches originated by P2P lenders can be sold on to institutional investors with a credit agency rating.