Art finance

Art lending in the UK suffered a blow this week when the government announced it was abandoning a proposed bill to reform lending laws.

Online loan provider Borro has restructured its business as part of new investment from owner Victory Park Capital.

The perceived lack of regulation and transparency in the art market is a source of concern for investment advisers, according to the latest Art & Finance Report 2017.

A Cork Street gallery has become the first in the UK to accept digital currencies such as Bitcoin.

Sotheby’s has promoted Jan Prasens to managing director of its Europe division.

Financier Falcon Fine Art has completed its first art lending deal in Belgium. The firm helped a collector in Belgium borrow against the value of a collection of 19th century “museum-quality” paintings and sculpture.

Philip Hoffman’s Fine Art Group are to launch a new finance company targeting artworks valued between $250,000 and $20m.

A shake-up of the art lending market has been proposed by the Law Commission with eventual plans for an art assets register.

Forum Auctions are to introduce a credit facility for buyers at future sales. In an exclusive arrangement with lending platform Unbolted, the new London firm will offer approved bidders the opportunity to pay for purchases with up to 90 days of interest-free finance.

The antiques industry now has the chance to influence any rethinking of laws that have compromised its trade as the UK heads towards Brexit, the MP Victoria Borwick said this morning.

With just over a week to go till polling day, we asked dealer and auctioneer representatives to speculate on how both sides will adapt to any uncertainty generated by a vote to Brexit

The American art-secured lending market is growing significantly, with an estimated loan book size of between $15bn-19bn.

The latest Russian art sales in London posted the weakest results in over a decade as a drop-off in both demand and supply brought a further downturn in the market.

The German Cultural Property and Heritage Protection Law (Kulturschutzgesetz) is due to be debated in the German Bundestag next spring after a “defused” draft of the law received cabinet approval on November 4.

The large sums of money changing hands at the top end of the Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art market was underlined at the latest auctions in New York.

The hefty guarantee paid out by Sotheby’s to secure the Alfred Taubman collection meant the stakes were running high for the first and most financially crucial tranche of the four-part auction staged at Sotheby’s New York.