European P2P Investment platforms have been around for some years, but never were all or a part of them gathered in one spot. June 2019 marked the first edition of the P2P Conference , bringing together investors, bloggers and representatives of European P2P investment platforms.
Got there fairly early at around 8:00 AM and I managed to get a peak into the prep for the conference. Most people came flooding at around 9:45 AM and that determined a massive queue.
My presence at the P2P Conference was mainly to understand the true risk landscape around P2P investments. This involves everything that builds trust, from the people with whom you’re doing business with, legal aspects, information security and data handling and the overall financial considerations when it comes to investments.
In terms of Information Security :
- Most platforms were not very clear on their Information Security posture, nor were there the appropriate staff to handle specific Information Security questions.
- Some platforms actually included security spending in their cost overview, which showed that this is considered from a business risk management perspective
- Most investors were relatively interested to hear more about Information Security risks but they didn’t necessary consider it prior to the subject being brought up
What was good ?
- the immense networking opportunity and overall environment that boosted it – the riverside club, the resort by the a lake, overall food and drinks made it very easy for people to network and share ideas.
- value content in the platforms presentations – besides promoting their own platforms, the representatives gave good pointers on the industry as a whole, what should we expect in the future and where is this heading
Not to underline the quality of the presentations, but the most valued information that I gained was via networking.
What could have been done better ?
- Climate control – Friday was very hot in Riga, which caused some drowsiness
- Overall planning – things weren’t on track as planned, mainly caused by registration queuing at the beginning of the day. There were 2 parallel tracks of the event which did not make it possible to be there for all platform presentations.
Conclusion
A great experience to enrich ones knowledge of investments in general and to extends ones network at a very good price. It’s great to put a face to the blogger behind the articles and to the company behind your investment.
And definitely looking forward to the next edition of the P2P Conference !