A whole new generation is cashing in on its baubles 
to
pay the bills
City A.M. 27 October 2009
Another company redrawing the lines of the pawnbroking business, and seeing the City as one of its main sources of business, is borro, the UK’s first online pawnbroker. It has flourished since opening for business last year, and the online nature of the business hasn’t prevented it from operating near the top end of the market, with average loans of around £1,000. As well as its stock in trade of jewellery and watches, it has made loans against cars including Aston Martins and Ferraris, as well as art by the likes of Henry Moore and, once again, Banksy. While its business is principally online, borro has a City consultancy in Chancery Lane where clients can get items valued by its experts.
"60 per cent of our customers have never done this before,” says Paul Aitken, borro’s managing director. “Attitudes to pawnbroking are changing, and will carry on changing."
