Maclear is a regulated crowdfunding platform based in Switzerland that offers business loans from the Baltic States with above-average interest rates.
On this page, you can find out whether it is worth investing on Maclear and which risks you need to be aware of.
All the information that are covered in this Maclear review are based on my own personal experiences with the platform. Please make sure to do your own due diligence before investing on any platform. More information can be found in the Disclaimer.
Further analyses of other platforms can be found on my P2P Platform Review page.
Maclear Overview
To begin with, I’ve put together a brief summary of the most important Maclear information.
| Founded / Started: | August 2020 / May 2023 |
| Legal Name: | Maclear AG (LINK) |
| Headquarter: | Wallisellen, Switzerland |
| Regulated: | Yes (Self Regulatory Organization) |
| CEO: | Denis Ustjev (August 2020) |
| Assets Under Management: | Not Disclosed |
| Number of Investors: | 1.000+ (April 2024) |
| Expected Return: | Up to 14,9% |
| Primary Loan Type: | Business Loans |
| Bonus: | 1,5% Cashback for 90 Days |
About Maclear
Maclear is a Swiss-based and regulated crowdfunding platform where investors can invest in international business loans, while achieving a promoted return of up to 14.9%.
Maclear has been operational since 2023 and is therefore still one of the younger and less experienced platforms in the P2P lending environment.
Ownership
Who owns Maclear? The founders of Maclear AG are Aleksandr Nikitin and Denis Ustjev. Both business partners each own 50% of the Swiss company.
Maclear Management
CEO of the Maclear P2P Platform is Estonian citizen Denis Ustjev.
He has several years of experiences in the international banking sector, where he e.g. has worked in management consultancy.
He originally came up with the idea of a Swiss crowdlending platform. He has been CEO of Maclear’s operational activities since August 2020.
Further information about the Maclear team members can be found here.
Business Model & Finances
Throughout the process of due diligence, investors should also have a look at the business model of a P2P platform as well as the overall financial situation. How does the company earn money? Does the platform operate profitably? And how well is the company positioned financially? In the following paragraphs of this Maclear review, you can follow-up on those questions.
Monetization
How does Maclear earn money? Maclear monetises itself primarily through a brokerage fee, which is charged to borrowers when a project is successfully financed. This fee can be between 5% and 6% of the financed loan amount.
Other sources of income include fees charged for services provided to various business customers (management consulting, expert opinions, risk assessment, market research, etc.).
Profitability
Is Maclear already profitable? Maclear has only been active on the market since May 2023 and is therefore not yet profitable. The goal of profitability is to be achieved by the end of 2024, if 20+ projects have been fully financed by then and an outstanding portfolio of EUR 5+ million has been reached.
Official and audited annual reports to review the key financial figures of Maclear AG have not yet been published. A financial report prepared by BlueAudit is planned to be published for the 2023 financial year.
Sign Up and Bonus
Investors must fulfil two requirements to be able to invest on Maclear: A minimum age of 18 years and a residency in the European Economic Area (EEA).
Overall, the registration on the Maclear website is fairly simple and intuitive. After opening an account via email, the KYC (Know-Your-Customer) and AML (Anti-Money-Laundering) questionnaires must be completed. This is followed by verification of identity and details of tax residence.
Also legal entities have the opportunity to sign up on the Maclear website.
Bonus for New Investors
If you consider signing up on Maclear, you can get a 1.5% cashback bonus on all investments made in the first 90 days if ou use this bonus link.
Investing on Maclear
How does investing on Maclear work? What should you look out for in terms of loan collateral and what returns can you expect? In the following sections of this Maclear review you will find all details and answers to these questions.
Loan Offering
Maclear offers collateralised business loans on its platform. These are primarily from the manufacturing, retail and service sectors.
According to the management, the ratio of loan amount to collateral is on average between 75% and 90%. An official loan-to-value ratio is not specified for Maclear loans though.
The average loan amount on Maclear is between EUR 100,000 and EUR 150,000, while the loan term is often between 9 and 12 months. To invest in a loan on Maclear, there is a minimum investment amount of EUR 50 per loan.
Costs and Fees
Investors can register and create an account on Maclear free of charge. There are also no costs or hidden fees for investing in business loans on Maclear and neither for deposits or withdrawals.
Expected Returns on Maclear
Maclear offers above-average interest rates on its P2P lending platform. The interest rates are often in a range between 13% and 16%. Occasionally, loans of up to 19.5% have also been offered. The average expected return is stated by Maclear with 14.9%.
Whether this expected return is realistic will only become clear over a longer investment horizon and with increasing loan defaults.
Auto Invest
So far, investors can only invest manually in P2P loans on Maclear. An automated selection via Auto Invest is not possible at the moment. According to the platform, the Auto Invest functionality will be implemented in March / April 2024. The same applies to the secondary market.
Maclear Forum
If you want to talk to other investors about Maclear or other P2P platforms, you will find 1,000+ private investors in the re:think P2P community on Facebook. In the community, current problems are exchanged and relevant information on all platforms from the P2P lending space are discussed. Feel free to join!
Alternatively, you can also find the latest news and updates on my Telegram channel.
Maclear Taxes
The interest income generated by loan financing is considered investment income and thus must be declared as such in the tax return.
Maclear does currently not withhold any taxes.
A special report for tax returns is not yet available. Instead, investors must download their documents manually via the “Account statement” tab.
Maclear Risks
When evaluating a P2P platform, investors should take a very close look at the potential risk factors. What should you look out for at Maclear? What are the risks and how can they be assessed?
Risk Assessment
Maclear has a multi-stage process for selecting suitable borrowers. This can be roughly divided into the following steps:
- Submission of Documents: Firstly, potential borrowers must complete a due diligence questionnaire and submit all the necessary documents. This takes into account the legal, commercial and financial aspects.
- Due Diligence: Maclear then carries out an internal creditworthiness check based on best practices from the banking and finance sector. External data sources are also used to check the shareholders, the project team and the key financial figures.
- Risk Assessment: As soon as the risk assessment has taken place, the borrower is assigned a risk rating. In future, this will also be listed transparently on the website so that the strengths and weaknesses of each loan can be better viewed and evaluated.
- Negotiations: Based on the risk assessment, negotiations take place with regard to the loan amount and the collateral and guarantees to be provided.
- Financing: Once the contracts have been signed, the project is placed on the platform for financing. If the borrower provides all the necessary documents from the outset, the entire process can be completed in just 3 days.
A large proportion of the loans come from the personal network of the two Estonian Maclear shareholders. With regard to possible conflicts of interest, the P2P platform stated that the Maclear founders are not allowed to be shareholders on the borrower side and that there is no favouritism towards projects where there is a relationship with the founders.
Risk Management
In my podcast, I spoke to Dimitri Timoshkin (CPO) and Daria (CRO) about Maclear’s risk management approach.
In our discussion we covered the following topics:
- The risk assessment process for borrowers, including no-go criteria
- Geographical focus and origin of borrowers
- Guidelines for conflicts of interest
- Collateralisation of loans and collateral values
- Advantages compared to commercial loans from banks
- Functionality of the provision fund
Defaults on Maclear
A systematic approach to risk assessment is essential. But how well does Maclear perform in practice? Do the numbers allow a positive conclusion to be drawn about the risk assessment?
The P2P platform has not yet published any performance-relevant data on the development of the outstanding loan portfolio. According to the management, there have been no delays or defaults on the loans financed at the time of this Maclear review (February 2024).
Provision Fund
Maclear has introduced a provision fund to compensate for possible delays in loan repayments. This is intended to cover recurring interest payments to investors that arise in the event of temporary payment delays.
According to the P2P platform, 2% of the brokerage fee is used for the provision fund.
Should a collection process be initiated after 60 days of non-payment, the reserve fund is no guarantee for the full repayment of outstanding funds.
“If Maclear is unable to collect the outstanding amount and such amount is not covered by the provision fund, then any collected amount will be distributed among the Investors on a pro-rated basis.”
Pros & Cons
In this section I have listed the most important advantages and disadvantages of Maclear.
Advantages
- Regulation: Maclear is a P2P platform based and regulated in Switzerland.
- Interest Rate: The projects have an above-average interest rate in the P2P environment.
- Due Diligence: No loan defaults have occurred to date.
Disadvantages
- Track Record: Maclear has only been operational since May 2023.
- Profitability: The platform is still young and hence not yet profitable.
- Auto Invest: Investors have to manually invest in loans on the platform.
- Liquidity: There is neither a secondary market nor other ways to liquidate your money.
Maclear Alternatives
Maclear finances business loans in the Baltic States. In this regard, Crowdestor would be a similar alternative to Maclear. Debitum Investments could be considered as a much more reputable alternative, but with a different business model.
You can find other Maclear alternatives on the P2P Platform Comparison page.
Summary Maclear Review 2024
Maclear is a new crowdfunding platform from Switzerland. However, due to the two shareholders and the origin of the loan projects, the platform has a strong Estonian flavour.
What makes Maclear appear interesting are the high interest rates. However, only time will tell whether the promise of high returns can be realised in the future. In any case, the bad experiences with Crowdestor have shown that investors should be very careful in this segment.
If you have a higher risk tolerance and want to have Baltic business loans in your portfolio, give Maclear a chance. More conservative investors should wait and see how the platform develops though.
FAQ Maclear Review
Maclear is a Swiss-based and regulated crowdfunding platform where investors can invest in international business loans, while achieving a promoted return of up to 14.9%.
The founders of Maclear AG are Aleksandr Nikitin and Denis Ustjev. Both business partners each own 50% of the Swiss company.
Investors can register and create an account on Maclear free of charge. There are also no costs or hidden fees for investing in business loans on Maclear and neither for deposits or withdrawals.
Maclear offers above-average interest rates on its P2P lending platform. The interest rates are often in a range between 13% and 16%. Occasionally, loans of up to 19.5% have also been offered. The average expected return is stated by Maclear with 14.9%. Whether this expected return is realistic will only become clear over a longer investment horizon and with increasing loan defaults.
Hi, ich bin Denny! Seit Januar 2019 schreibe ich auf diesem Blog über meine Erfahrungen beim Investieren in P2P Kredite. Meine Analysen sollen Privatanlegern dabei helfen reflektierte und gut informierte Anlageentscheidungen treffen zu können. Dafür schaue ich mir die Risikoprofile der einzelnen P2P Plattformen an, hinterfrage deren Entwicklungen, teile meine persönlichen Einschätzungen und beobachte übergeordnete Trends aus der Welt des Crowdlendings.
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