Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post from Nick Moules, Marketing and Communications Manager at RebuildingSociety. the UK-based ‘peer-to-business crowdfunding platform.’ Moules writes in to discuss how the P2P market has progressed in the UK, and offers some advice for US-based platforms on how to proceed going into the future. You can get the latest from RebuildingSociety on Twitter @rebuildings. As always, guest contributors’ opinions are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Crowdsourcing.org.

The UK peer-to-peer (P2P) market is booming and as we prepare for the last push in 2014, it’s a good chance to reflect on what has been a ground-breaking year.

The selling of debt securities in small businesses is starting to become more widespread in the US with Funding Circle USA and challengers like InvestNextDoor springing up. But what can the US market learn from the UK experience?

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- RebuildingSocietys Quest to Help Business Secure Capital

Self-regulation was a successful experiment for platforms in the UK because reputational risk was the biggest threat to the industry. Being able to keep the lid on scandal and bad news at an embryonic stage was important for gaining support from influencers and creating confidence for investors. It provided the precursor to regulation in April this year, which has brought about a rapid influx of funds. Trade associations like the UK Crowdfunding Association helped with this, but informal links between platforms and a simple commitment to best practice, preserved the reputation at its most critical stage.

The importance of news and data aggregator sites cannot be understated. In the UK, sites like altfinancenews and p2pmoney have done much to raise awareness of the sector and provide an independent perspective on the market, because let’s face it platforms will focus on the positives. Brand association with reputable international investment banks like Liberum has given the sector in the UK further credibility and steered it towards an investable asset class rather than a disruptive influence in a financial market.

Platforms in the US should be pushing their data aggregator partners to establish links with reputable lawyers, accountants, and investors. This will help platforms to shape their offering in preparation for a jump in scale and they can leverage the connections of these influencers to expand reach and credibility.

So if the UK is a little further ahead in this market (we’re behind in the P2P consumer space by a long way in volume, and similarly in equity and reward crowdfunding) what will the next 12 months look like?

Were seeing the first institutions buying into the market leaders and those that have been trading for the longest time. Marshall Wace has established a 200m P2P fund for the UK market with the aim of bringing P2P to its investors. Institutions are beginning to realize that the retail funds route can be more profitable than institutional funds as they typically dont pay a fee if funds are dormant. This is leading to a wave of innovation in the sector that makes lending money more attractive.

Sectors like annuities and insurance are being criticized in the UK for providing poor value to consumers, so it is logical to see these sectors as targets for innovation and the P2P treatment.