Author
Wesley Thomson
Editor of the Private Lending Association of South Africa. This page exists so that a reader can see who wrote the material, what he knows, and what interest he holds in the market he writes about.
Role
Editor, Private Lending Association of South Africa. He writes and maintains the Association’s educational material, the standards and the verification methodology, and is responsible for corrections under the editorial policy. He is a founding member of the Association in his individual capacity.
Interest and conflict disclosure
Disclosed on every article
The author is Managing Partner of ProLend, the commercial private-lending platform that supported the establishment of the Association and is its Founding Gold Partner. That interest is disclosed on every article he writes.
Editorial decisions are currently made by Wesley Thomson in his capacity as Association editor. ProLend holds no separate editorial approval or veto, but the Association does not claim full editorial independence during its founding phase. The governance page records what remains outstanding before it does.
Background
Wesley Thomson edits the Association's material and writes most of it. He came to private lending through risk management rather than through sales, and writes about structure, security and failure modes first — on the view that a reader who understands the mechanics and decides the asset class is not for them has been served properly.
He came to the subject through risk management rather than through sales: five years as a British Royal Marine Commando, work as a medic and in security risk management across India, Djibouti and Dubai, and then business management consultancy. He founded an international conservation charity in 2016 and ran it for four years before returning to company management, and now manages several companies in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Qualifications
| Qualification | Institution |
|---|---|
| MSc, Security Management | University of Portsmouth |
| Diploma, Risk Management | Recorded on his professional profile |
These are management and risk qualifications, not financial, legal or tax credentials. Nothing on this site is financial, legal or tax advice, and the author is not authorised to provide regulated financial advice or intermediary services.
Written and edited
What South Africans get wrong about private lending
Six wrong pictures, each corrected against what is already published. The one that costs the most is confusing the date money is due with the date it arrives.
Reviewed 26 September 2026ComparisonsAlternative investments in South Africa
The category private lending belongs to, listed honestly alongside the options that beat it. Four things change when you leave the listed market, and the return is not one of them.
Reviewed 25 September 2026ComparisonsTraditional against alternative investments
Not a ladder with alternatives at the top. A trade of four properties — price, exit, supervision and recourse — which is sometimes worth making and often not.
Reviewed 25 September 2026FoundationsPrivate lending, private credit and private debt
One loan, three seats. The lender calls it private lending, the market calls it private credit, the borrower calls it a loan — and the Association uses the lender's word because it looks after the lender.
Reviewed 25 September 2026MechanicsThe shape of a private loan
Four shapes, and two separate decisions behind each. The damage comes from one habit: hearing an average and storing it as a date.
Reviewed 22 September 2026FoundationsThe in duplum rule, explained
Charges during default are capped at the principal outstanding when the default began. It caps fees and collection costs too, not just interest.
Reviewed 19 September 2026FoundationsWhat you may charge, and what you may not
Current caps run from the repo rate plus a margin, in force since May 2016. Interest is only half of it — section 101 closes the list of what you may charge.
Reviewed 19 September 2026FoundationsHow long before a debt prescribes?
An ordinary loan dies after three years; one secured by a registered bond lasts thirty. The difference is paperwork done at origination, not anything about the borrower.
Reviewed 19 September 2026FoundationsUnderstanding the National Credit Act
The Act protects the borrower, not the lender. Being covered by it means duties land on you — registration, affordability checks, capped fees, and a waiting period before you can enforce.
Reviewed 19 September 2026FoundationsDo you need to register as a credit provider?
Are you the credit provider, or are you funding one? That question comes first, and most people funding private lending are not the provider. Only then does it turn on who is borrowing.
Reviewed 19 September 2026FoundationsWhen taking money from people becomes deposit-taking
Lending your own money is ordinary lending. Taking other people's money in order to lend it is banking — a criminal offence without registration.
Reviewed 19 September 2026FoundationsWhen arranging a loan becomes licensed advice
Lending your own money is not a financial service. Telling other people where to put theirs, as a regular feature of what you do, can be.
Reviewed 19 September 2026FoundationsNCR registration, and what it actually requires
An application, not a formality. Some people are disqualified outright, and the real cost is the continuing compliance that starts once it is granted.
Reviewed 19 September 2026FoundationsIs private lending legal in South Africa?
Lawful, with conditions. Three laws apply and they ask different questions — registration, whose money you are lending, and whether you advise others.
Reviewed 19 September 2026FoundationsWho can be a private lender
No qualification required and few disqualifications. The real limit is whose money you are lending, and whether you can afford one loan going to zero.
Reviewed 19 September 2026ComparisonsA private lender and a bank are not the same thing
A bank lends deposits under supervision with insurance behind it. A private lender lends its own money with nothing behind it, faster and dearer.
Reviewed 19 September 2026FoundationsHow a private lender earns a return
Four sources of return, one of which pays reliably. The gap between quoted rate and realised return is idle capital, costs, tax and losses.
Reviewed 19 September 2026FoundationsWhat an accountable institution actually is
A status from a list, not an award. Item 11(b) catches lending excluded from the National Credit Act — being outside one puts you inside the other.
Reviewed 19 September 2026FoundationsThe complete guide to private lending in South Africa
The whole subject in sequence, with each part linking to the page that treats it in depth.
Reviewed 17 September 2026FoundationsWhat is private lending?
A working definition, the four things the term is used to mean, and the lending-versus-investing distinction.
Reviewed 17 September 2026MechanicsHow private lending works
The five role maps, the paperwork, the pricing and the path capital takes on the way out and on the way back.
Reviewed 17 September 2026Becoming a lenderBecoming a private lender in South Africa
Eligibility, entity choice, capital, tax treatment, documentation and a pre-commitment checklist.
Reviewed 17 September 2026RiskRisk, security and repayment
Forms of security, the risk register in full, recovery in practice, and the warning signs of an arrangement to avoid.
Reviewed 17 September 2026ComparisonsPrivate lending compared with a fixed deposit
Nine points of comparison, including deposit insurance, liquidity and what the extra yield is compensating you for.
Reviewed 17 September 2026ComparisonsLocal and offshore private lending compared
Pricing, term, currency, exchange control and tax — set side by side, with the risks unique to each.
Reviewed 17 September 2026StandardsVerification methodology
What is checked, what the evidence is, what each status means, and an explicit list of what verification does not.
Reviewed 17 September 2026RiskRisk and red flags
The warning signs, the pressure tactics, the ten-minute checks anyone can run, and where to report an arrangement that is wrong.
Reviewed 17 September 2026Contact and corrections
Corrections to anything he has written go to editor@privatelendingassociation.co.za and are handled under the editorial policy. ProLend, where his commercial interest lies, is published at pro-lend.co.za and has a partner profile here.
Profile last reviewed 17 September 2026.