Equity loans: benefits, risks and investment strategies

Updated on May 22, 2026 by José PEREZ

Since the introduction of PSFP status in November 2023, participatory lending has become a mature segment of alternative financing in France - and also more complex to decipher. Between AMF-approved local platforms, European players under MiFID II, Swiss platforms regulated by SROs, and the participatory real estate crisis that continues to weigh on the figures, French investors today have to arbitrate between posted returns and real structural risk. This article offers an analysis of the French participative loan market in 2026: regulatory framework, comparison between local and European platforms, risk structure, taxation under the PFU, and concrete strategies for building a diversified portfolio. The aim is not to recommend a platform, but to provide the tools needed to make an informed decision.

1. What are equity loans and why is the French market special?

Visit equity loan - sometimes called crowdlending or participatory loan financing - refers to the mechanism whereby private individuals lend directly to companies (SMEs, property developers, renewable energy operators) via an online platform. The investor receives interest at a pre-determined rate and, at the end of the loan, repayment of the capital. This mechanism differs from crowdequity (equity investment) and donation crowdfunding, which respond to totally different logics.

Compared to Germany and Spain, the French market has three key characteristics. Firstly, it has historically been built around the real estate crowdfunding and local SME financing, rather than the Baltic-European P2P marketplaces (Mintos, PeerBerry) that dominate the German market. Secondly, the French financial culture attaches great importance to the’AMF approval French investors almost systematically check whether a platform is listed in the white list Autorité des Marchés Financiers before opening an account. Thirdly, the specific tax system - the PFU 30 % - and the declaration of accounts held on foreign platforms (form 3916) strongly structure allocation choices.

These three factors explain why a French investor often encounters Baltic-European platforms less frequently in the specialized French media (finance-heros.fr, investissements-faciles.com, community.finary.com) than is the case in Germany or the Netherlands. This does not mean that these platforms do not exist for the French investor - simply that the context needs to be explained in more detail, and that the decision to go there is a conscious choice to diversify outside the AMF perimeter.

2. French regulatory framework: AMF, PSFP, MiFID II, SRO

Understanding the regulatory framework is a prerequisite for any decision to invest in participative lending. In 2026, there will be four different regimes in France, and the differences between them are not just theoretical: they will determine in concrete terms what recourse an investor can exercise in the event of a platform failure.

AMF approval and the white list

L’Autorité des Marchés Financiers is the historical regulator of participative financing in France. It maintains a public white list (available on amf-france.org) of platforms authorized to operate. Prior to 2021, French platforms operated under the IFP (intermediary in participative financing) or CIP (advisor in participative investments) status. Since the entry into force of the European ECSPR regulation in November 2021 and its effective transposition in November 2023, these statuses have been progressively replaced by the PSFP status (Participative Financing Service Provider).

PSFP (ECSPR) status

PSFP status is a harmonized European approval: a platform approved in one EU country can operate throughout the EU via the European passport mechanism. French platforms such as Anaxago, Tudigo or Homunity have switched to this status. In particular, the PSFP imposes a suitability test for unsophisticated investors, an investment ceiling per project, a key information document (DICI) for each offering, and capital requirements for the platform.

MiFID II for European banking platforms

The major Baltic-European platforms - Mintos are not operating under PSFP but under MiFID II, through an investment firm license issued by the Bank of Latvia. This license enables them to offer financial instruments (loan-backed notes) throughout the EU. MiFID II offers different safeguards, including segregation of customer funds with custodian banks, but the protection does not cover the credit risk of the underlying loans.

SRO Switzerland and unregulated platforms

There is a third category: platforms regulated in Switzerland by a SRO (Self-Regulatory Organisation) recognized by FINMA, such as PolyReg. This is a non-banking framework, distinct from AMF and PSFP, which imposes AML, KYC and GDPR compliance obligations but does not offer the European passport. Platforms such as Maclear (Switzerland, regulated by SRO PolyReg, specializing in loans to European SMEs with yields between 13.5 and 15.6 % and guarantees on real assets) fall into this category, and address the European market with a view to jurisdictional diversification.

Finally, platforms such as PeerBerry operate without AMF approval or MiFID license. This choice is not illegal - there is no licensing requirement for any platform targeting French investors if it does not actively market in France - but it does mean that the investor bears all the platform risk without local regulatory recourse.

Table 1 - The four applicable regulatory regimes

Crucial point: The approval or regulation of a platform never guarantees the repayment of individual projects. It only guarantees that the platform complies with an operational framework. The credit risk remains entirely with the investor.

3. Local French platforms: overview and limitations

The French equity loan market is structured around a handful of long-established players, whose specialization by asset type largely determines their return and risk profile.

Anaxago (founded in 2012, licensed PSFP and CIF) is one of the oldest and most established players. With over 900 million euros financed, the platform offers a mix of real estate, crowdequity and SCPI. The target yield is around 9.8 % gross, with a high entry ticket of 1,000 euros. Anaxago experienced a difficult period between 2021 and 2023, with significant delays on several real estate projects - a general phenomenon in the sector over this period, not a problem specific to the platform.

Tudigo (founded in 2011, PSFP) specializes in financing local SMEs and renewable energy projects. The platform is historically strong in the SME segment, but the main criticism relayed in the French community (notably on community.finary.com) concerns the opacity of the statistics published on defaults and delays - a recurring reproach in the French participative lending sector.

Lending well (founded in 2017, AMF-accredited) is the first French platform for crowdfactoring - a mechanism by which investors purchase short-term trade receivables. The entry fee is very low (20 euros), with yields of between 10 and 15 %, but the platform has been criticized for concentrating its portfolio on a limited number of assignors and for a lack of transparency regarding defaults.

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Homunity (PSFP, over 800 million euros financed) specializes in real estate crowdfunding. It works with generally solid developers, but its default rate has been rising since 2022, a direct reflection of the French real estate crisis.

The First Brick (PSFP, real estate) has been particularly hard hit: in 2023, around 31 % of the year's projects were more than 6 months behind schedule. This phenomenon can be explained by the rapid rise in key interest rates and the stalling of the French residential real estate market over the 2022-2024 period.

Lendosphere and Enerfip focus exclusively on renewable energies (wind, solar, biomass). Yields are more moderate (typically 5-7 %), but projects are often backed by regulated feed-in tariffs, which reduces the risk of default - without eliminating it.

The real estate crowdfunding crisis (2022-2024)

This point deserves separate treatment, as it is crucial to any analysis of the French market in 2026. Between 2022 and 2024, the real estate crowdfunding sector in France went through a major crisis, following the sharp rise in interest rates and the stalling of the residential market. Most real estate platforms posted a significant percentage - often in excess of 20 to 30 % - of projects more than 6 months behind their initial repayment dates. Some operations were restructured, while others resulted in partial losses.

The 2025-2026 context is gradually improving: key rates have stabilized, the volume of new projects is tentatively picking up, and platforms have strengthened their due diligence procedures. However, projects in the process of being recovered from the 2021-2023 period continue to weigh on the published statistics. An investor analyzing the performance of a French real estate platform must systematically distinguish between vintages: a project launched in 2024 has a different risk profile from one launched in 2021.

4. European platforms: the other side of the market

Beyond the AMF perimeter, the European equity loan market is dominated by a few significant players, mainly Baltic and Eastern European, who are not regulated by the AMF, but who remain accessible to French investors via direct registration.

Mintos is the European leader in terms of volume (over 600 million euros in active loans). It is a P2P marketplace The platform does not lend directly, but connects investors with credit companies (known as "lenders"). originators) that have already financed consumer or SME loans. The investor buys a Note backed by a basket of loans. Yields are typically between 10 and 14 %. Mintos is regulated by the Bank of Latvia under MiFID II, which is a real operational guarantee - but the credit risk remains with the originators, not the platform.

PeerBerry is also an unregulated marketplace, with a significant concentration on the Aventus group (around 50 % of the portfolio). Yields hover around 11 %, and the platform communicates on 0 historical defaults thanks to the mechanisms of buy-back guarantee originators. The difficulty lies precisely in the fact that «0 defaults» does not mean that loans are systematically repaid by borrowers, but that originators buy back overdue loans - thus transforming the credit risk of borrowers into the credit risk of the originators themselves.

Alongside these consumer marketplaces, there is another segment: the platforms P2B (peer-to-business), which finance loans directly to European SMEs rather than to individuals. This is a narrower segment, but structurally different. P2B loans are typically backed by collateral (pledges, mortgages, pledges of business assets), which changes the nature of the risk. Platforms such as Maclear - regulated in Switzerland by the SRO PolyReg, with yields between 13.5 and 15.6 %, a minimum investment of 50 euros, and no defaults since its launch in August 2023 - are positioning themselves in this niche, with a site available in French.

Table 2 - Overview of platforms available to French investors in 2026

Note: volumes shown are historical cumulative volumes, not active outstandings. Returns are gross of tax and gross of defaults.

5. Fee structure and actual returns

The vast majority of French and European platforms disclose a gross annual interest rate on the project page. This figure is useful, but does not correspond to the actual return for the investor. Three main mechanisms widen the gap between advertised and actual returns.

Cost structure. Some platforms - Mintos historically, several French platforms - charge fees on the secondary market, on early withdrawals, or apply an implicit spread between the rate paid by the borrower and the rate received by the investor. Others, notably in the Swiss P2B segment and on certain marketplaces, advertise 0 % fees for the investor - which in practice means that the platform is remunerated exclusively on the borrower's side. This structure is neither better nor worse: it simply needs to be understood in order to assess the net return.

Cash Drag. This is the period during which deposited funds are not yet invested, either because projects are filling up slowly, or because a partial refund has been received pending reinvestment. Cash drag can reduce the effective return by several points on an annual basis. Platforms offering a automatic investment and a sufficient volume of projects mechanically limit this phenomenon. Platforms with very low volumes or manual selection only are more exposed.

Defects. A posted rate of 12 % gross on a basket of loans with 3 % cumulative annual losses gives a net yield of 9 %. For French real estate, defaults and delays can be temporarily even higher, as the 2022-2024 period has shown. This is why transparency on historical defaults is a more important selection criterion than the gross yield shown.

Table 3 - Calculation example: from posted yield to net yield

This calculation is indicative and highly dependent on asset type, platform and vintage. But it illustrates the essential point: the net return after tax on an investment in participative lending is typically half the gross return shown. This is the figure to compare with alternatives (bond funds, SCPI, life insurance).

 

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Jose Perez

SEO & E-commerce expert - 17 years' experience

An expert in search engine optimization (SEO) for over 17 years, I optimize e-commerce sites for search engines. I help companies develop their visibility on Google in order to increase their online sales. My aim is to attract qualified traffic to your website through effective and ethical SEO strategies.

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