Responding to BoE reports that UK savers have taken £23bn out of long-term savings in the past 12 months, a peer-to-peer lender has called for savers to consider it as an alternative.

Stuart Law, CEO of peer-to-peer lending platform Assetz Capital, said: “The fact that funds are being withdrawn from long-term savings accounts at their fastest rate for 40 years shows that UK households are finding alternative uses for their cash.

“It is hard to argue with this logic when even the best-buy five year savings account pays a paltry 3.15% p.a. Some savings will inevitably have been withdrawn to make ends meet, and a lot will have been used for consumer spending but increasingly savers are finding alternative investments into which to put their cash such as buy to let and peer to peer lending.

“Investors who are prepared to take on a degree of risk would do well to consider peer-to-peer lending as an alternative. Our average return is 11.8% p/a, meaning that if the £900 that each UK household is estimated to have withdrawn from long-term savings accounts was invested through our platform, it would earn an estimated £106.20 in its first year and £672.00 over five years before losses and tax, compared to just £150.97 in the best-buy five year savings account.

“Better still, most peer to peer platforms allow investors to withdraw money at any time by selling on loan parts. As a result, investors’ money is not locked in. Given the obvious benefits that peer-to-peer lending offers, it’s heartening to see widespread support for the growing industry: the FCA recently announced plans to regulate the industry and Chancellor George Osborne is rumoured to be ready to announce the inclusion of P2P lending in ISAs in Thursday’s Autumn Statement.

“P2P lending has already attracted hundreds of millions of pounds of UK investors’ funds in recent years, but this trend will become even more significant as regulation makes the market even more attractive over the last 12 months.”