Maclear review: the rate is real, the safety net is not
Maclear advertises 14.5 to 14.9 percent and, unusually for this sector, has actually paid it. It also operates without any compensation fund. Both of those facts belong in the same sentence, and most reviews only print the first one.
- Advertised yield
- 14.5-14.9%
- Minimum per loan
- EUR 50
- Auto-invest
- Yes
- Supervision
- Swiss SRO, AML only
- Compensation fund
- None
- Operating since
- 2022
EUR 30 welcome bonus
Maclear pays this site a commission, and new investors get a EUR 30 bonus. Read the rest of this page first. The score above is 65 percent for a reason, and that reason may or may not matter to you.
Open a Maclear accountCapital at risk. Advertised returns are targets, not promises.
Regulatory status, checked 24 September 2026
Maclear AG (Wallisellen, Switzerland) is a member of PolyReg, a Swiss self-regulatory organisation that supervises anti-money-laundering compliance. It is not authorised by FINMA and does not hold an EU crowdfunding licence (ECSP). On 11 May 2026 Spain's CNMV added Maclear AG and maclear.ch to its public list of warnings for providing crowdfunding services without authorisation, and Trustpilot shows a regulatory notice on the Maclear profile. Maclear's own terms say the platform is intended for users resident in Switzerland. Weigh this before opening an account. What investors report about their own experience is collected on the Maclear reviews page.
The 60-second version
Maclear is a Zurich-based lending platform, live since 2022, funding SME loans, real estate projects and factoring deals. It takes EUR 50 per loan, runs auto-invest, and advertises 14.5 to 14.9 percent a year. Supervision comes from a Swiss self-regulatory organisation, which handles anti-money-laundering compliance and nothing else. There is no compensation scheme behind your money.
The platform has had one default, a loan to Vibroedil, and the CEO covered it in full out of his own pocket. That is a genuinely unusual response and it is the strongest single fact in Maclear's favour. It is also one event in a four-year history, which is not the same as a track record through a downturn.
Where the 65 percent comes from. Maclear scores at or near the top of our table on return honesty and on execution. It scores 35 out of 100 on investor protection, because a Swiss SRO registration is AML supervision rather than financial-services authorisation. Protection carries the heaviest weight in our scoring, so one weak criterion pulls the composite down hard. The weights are published here and were fixed before any platform was scored.
Scored criterion by criterion
A Swiss SRO registers Maclear for anti-money-laundering purposes. It is not FINMA authorisation, not an ECSP licence under Regulation EU 2020/1503, and not MiFID II. No investor compensation scheme applies. If the platform fails, you are an unsecured creditor in a Swiss process.
One default since 2022, covered in full by the CEO personally. Repayments have arrived on schedule. The caveat is sample size: four years and one credit event is a promising record, not a proven one.
Realised returns have matched the advertised 14.5 to 14.9 percent. This is the highest score we give on this criterion. Across the sector, realised returns usually land one to three points under the headline, and on troubled platforms the gap has exceeded eight points.
Maclear lends directly rather than reselling loans from third-party originators, so there is no hidden originator concentration. Against that, published portfolio-level recovery statistics are thinner than what the strongest platforms in our table disclose.
Auto-invest is available. Exiting early depends on loan terms rather than a deep secondary market, so plan on holding to maturity.
What Maclear does well, and where it is thin
In its favour
- Realised returns match the advertised range, which is rare in this sector
- The single default was covered in full by the CEO personally
- Direct lending, so no third-party originator sitting between you and the borrower
- EUR 50 entry and working auto-invest
- Collateralised SME, property and factoring deals rather than unsecured consumer paper
Against it
- Swiss SRO registration covers AML supervision only, not financial services conduct
- No compensation scheme of any kind stands behind your capital
- Live only since 2022, so no record through a real credit downturn
- Portfolio-level recovery reporting is lighter than the best disclosers in our table
- No deep secondary market, so early exit is not reliable
How investing here actually works
- Register and pass identity checks. Swiss AML rules apply, so expect document verification.
- Fund the account in EUR. The minimum commitment per loan is EUR 50.
- Pick deals by hand or set auto-invest rules for term, rate and deal type.
- Interest arrives on the schedule set by each loan. Reinvest it or withdraw it.
- Hold to maturity. There is no reliable early-exit route, so size positions accordingly.
Who it suits, and who should pass
It suits an investor who already holds licensed platforms, understands that no scheme covers these loans, and wants a higher-yield slice funded with money they can afford to lose entirely. The honesty of the reported returns is a real argument in its favour.
Pass on it if this would be your first P2P platform, if it would hold a large share of your portfolio, or if you need the money back on a fixed date. Start with a licensed platform, learn the mechanics, and add higher-yield names later if you still want them.
Maclear against the platforms that score higher
| Platform | Match | Yield | Licence | Compensation | Minimum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maclear | 65% | 14.5-14.9% | Swiss SRO, AML only | None | EUR 50 |
| Mintos | 80% | 9-11% | MiFID II, Latvijas Banka | EUR 20,000 scheme | EUR 50 |
| Capitalia | 80% | ~10.5% | ECSP, Latvijas Banka | InvestEU EIF guarantee | EUR 200 |
| InRento | 80% | ~11.8% | ECSP, Bank of Lithuania | None, 0 losses in 5 years | EUR 500 |
The pattern is straightforward. Maclear pays three to five points more and reports it accurately. The platforms above it are supervised under frameworks that carry real investor protections. You are being paid for the gap, and it is worth deciding on purpose whether that trade suits you. The full ranking of all 19 platforms is here.
Questions readers ask
It is registered with a Swiss self-regulatory organisation, which supervises anti-money-laundering compliance. That is not a banking licence, not ECSP authorisation under Regulation EU 2020/1503, and not MiFID II. No compensation scheme follows from it. Marketing pages across this sector answer "yes, regulated" to this question, so the useful version is: which authority, under which framework, obliging them to do what.
One, the Vibroedil loan, covered in full by the CEO personally. It is the best answer a platform can give to a first default. It is also a single event in a four-year history, and one covered default does not tell you what happens when several arrive in the same quarter.
Advertised 14.5 to 14.9 percent, and realised returns have matched. That earns the highest return-honesty score in our table. For comparison, realised returns across the sector usually land one to three points below the advertised figure, and on badly run platforms the gap has exceeded eight points.
EUR 50 per loan, with a EUR 30 bonus for new investors. At that size the income is a few euros, so treat the first months as a way to watch whether repayments arrive on time rather than as an investment.
On our scoring Mintos leads, 80 percent against 65 percent, and the gap is almost entirely licensing. Mintos holds MiFID II authorisation with a EUR 20,000 investor scheme that, importantly, never covers borrower defaults. Maclear pays several points more and has been more accurate about what it pays. Different trades, and plenty of investors hold both.
Yes, including everything you put in. Borrowers can default and platforms can fail. Nothing insures either outcome here. Size any single platform on the assumption that it could go to zero.
Verdict
Maclear is the most honest reporter of returns in our table and the weakest on investor protection. Those two things are not in tension, they are the same fact seen from two sides: a platform outside the licensing regimes has to compete on rate and candour, and this one does.
65 percent means capable but exposed. It belongs in a diversified portfolio as a high-yield position sized for total loss, held alongside licensed platforms rather than instead of them. If you were planning to make it your only platform, our answer is no.
If that trade suits you
New investors get a EUR 30 bonus. This site earns a commission when you sign up through the link, which is why the disclosure sits at the top of every page.
Open a Maclear accountCapital at risk. No compensation scheme covers borrower defaults.
Facts on this page come from Maclear's published disclosures and were recorded in September 2026. Rates, minimums and supervisory status change. Check the platform before you commit money.