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investors
Maclear is an online lending marketplace run by Maclear AG from Wallisellen, Switzerland. Investors lend to small businesses and to other lending companies, mostly in Eastern and Southern Europe. The company itself dates from 2010, but it was taken over and repurposed in 2020 and the platform started lending in 2023. Its home page shows €167.9 million funded and 60,297 investors (26 October 2026); the investor count is sign-ups, and the platform's own July 2026 report counted 4,207 people investing that month. On 11 May 2026 the Spanish regulator (CNMV) warned that Maclear AG is not authorised.
You pay in by bank transfer and choose loans from €50, or let the automatic investing tool do it. Each project shows a grade, a loan-to-value figure and a credit score to registered users. In October 2026 the live projects paid 14.5% to 16% a year for 9 to 14 months. In July 2026, 42% of lending went to other lending companies rather than to operating businesses. On top of the interest, Maclear pays large bonuses: €15 on your first investment, €30 for every €500 invested, 3% for you and 3% for a friend you refer, and a loyalty bonus of 1.5% to 3% a year depending on how much you have invested.
Maclear advertises returns of up to 15.6% a year, and "from 13%" in its headline (October 2026), with the bonuses on top. These are advertised rates, not results: the platform publishes no figure for what investors actually earned after bad loans. Independent tracking of investor portfolios points to about 23% a year (August 2026), but that figure is pushed up by sign-up and referral bonuses and by a book where most loans have not yet reached their repayment date. Only about 38% of all money funded (€63.1 million of €167.9 million) had been repaid by October 2026.
The platform shows a counter of one default and no late loans in its whole history (October 2026), with no definition and no date. Against about 1,967 projects funded, one default is 0.05% by count, calculated from the platform's own figures. That record is hard to square with loans paying 13% to 16%. A borrower's late payments are hidden from investors, because a provision fund pays your interest from the third day of a delay. The one disclosed default, the Italian company Vibroedil, has no published recovery outcome, and no loss, arrears or recovery figures are published at all. About two thirds of the money lent has not yet reached its repayment date, so the book has hardly been tested.
Loans are described as backed by pledges or mortgages on equipment or property and by guarantees, with Maclear acting as agent for the lenders and starting legal action after 60 days of non-payment. The checks are done in-house: there is no independent valuation and no published limit on the loan-to-value. The provision fund covers late interest only, not your capital, and there is no buyback. Nothing Maclear publishes shows how much would come back if a borrower actually failed. Maclear AG's own 2024 accounts showed negative equity of CHF 87,026 and warned that the risk of individual borrowers defaulting is not sufficiently cushioned.
Maclear AG (company number CHE-115.674.165) calls itself "Swiss-regulated", but it holds no licence from the Swiss financial regulator (FINMA). It is only a member of an anti-money-laundering self-regulatory body, which does not supervise investor protection. It holds no EU crowdfunding licence, although it takes investors from EU countries. On 11 May 2026 the Spanish regulator (CNMV) issued a warning that Maclear AG is not authorised. A documented independent investigation in 2026 compared four borrowers' figures on the site with their filings at their own company registers and found them overstated 50 to 95 times. 8lends, a platform in the same group, carries the same concerns.
The platform states a 2.5% fee for sellers on its secondary market; buyers pay nothing. The terms allow further secondary-market fees without setting them. The real costs here are not fees: they are untested credit risk and the absence of any licence or compensation scheme.
Loans pay interest monthly and repay the capital in one sum at the end. To leave earlier you can sell on the secondary market for a 2.5% fee; a bought loan must be held 30 days before it can be resold, and selling lowers your loyalty bonus. The platform publishes no figures on how often loans sell or how fast. Withdrawals start at €50. Uninvested cash is said to sit in a separate client account, but the bank is not named, and there is no deposit insurance or compensation scheme.
Return: Very High — up to 15.6% a year advertised, plus bonuses, with no measured result. Risk: Very High (higher means more risk) — the Spanish regulator warned on 11 May 2026 that Maclear is not authorised, it has no licence while working with EU investors, there is negative publicity, and very high returns paid by businesses presented as solid do not fit together. Risk-return: Very Low — the high advertised rate does not make up for these risks.
License / Regulation: No licence. Maclear AG holds no licence from the Swiss financial regulator (FINMA); it is a member of an anti-money-laundering self-regulatory body, which does not cover investor protection. It holds no EU crowdfunding licence. On 11 May 2026 the Spanish regulator (CNMV) warned that Maclear AG is not authorised. No deposit insurance or investor compensation scheme applies.
No. Despite calling itself Swiss-regulated, Maclear AG holds no licence from the Swiss financial regulator (FINMA) and no EU crowdfunding licence; it is only a member of an anti-money-laundering body. The Spanish regulator (CNMV) warned on 11 May 2026 that Maclear AG is not authorised.
Maclear says uninvested money sits in a separate client account, apart from its own accounts, but it does not name the bank. There is no deposit insurance or compensation scheme.
€50 per project. Deposits and withdrawals also start at €50.
Maclear advertises up to 15.6% a year plus bonuses, but publishes no measured return. It shows one default and no late loans ever (October 2026), with no definition, and publishes no loss or recovery figures. About two thirds of the money lent is not yet due for repayment.
Loans are described as backed by pledges, mortgages and guarantees, with Maclear as agent for the lenders, but checks are in-house and no independent valuation is published. A provision fund pays late interest only, not capital, and there is no buyback. Nothing shows how much would come back from a failed borrower.
You can offer them on the secondary market, paying 2.5% when a sale goes through. A bought loan must be held 30 days before resale, selling lowers your loyalty bonus, and no figures on how easily loans sell are published.
The stated investor fee is 2.5% for sellers on the secondary market; buyers pay nothing. The terms allow further secondary-market fees without setting them.
If a borrower fails, Maclear says it will enforce the security after 60 days, but no recovery has been documented. If Maclear fails, you would depend on the separate client account and the loan claims held for you; no licence, supervisor or compensation scheme stands behind them, and Maclear AG had negative equity at the end of 2024.
Maclear pays €15 on a first investment, €30 for every €500 invested, 3% for referrals and a loyalty bonus of 1.5% to 3% a year. These lift what investors see in the short term, but they are paid by the platform, not earned from the loans, and they do not protect your capital.
