P2P platforms kick off ISA season eyeing Q1 product launch

Edinburgh-based LendingCrowd and London-based LandlordInvest are the latest platforms approved to offer the IFISA.

LendingCrowd and LandlordInvest are set to launch their own Innovative Finance Individual Savings Account (IFISA) offerings in the coming weeks.

The two platforms have joined the ranks of peer-to-peer lenders Crowdstacker and Crowd2Fund, a few of the platforms fully authorised to offer ISAs.

The IFISA was launched by former Chancellor George Osborne back in April 2016. It allows individuals to include income from P2P platforms as part of the current £15,240 allowance.

“While we are not the biggest P2P platform in the UK, the investment made in our people and technology combined with the FCA approval has positioned LendingCrowd right at the front of the market when it comes to alternative financing of UK SMEs,” said Stuart Lunn, CEO and co-founder of LendingCrowd.

The P2P lender was fully authorized by the FCA in November after scoring £2.75m in loan capital from Scottish Enterprise. FCA authorisation paves the way for ISA authorization by the Board of HM Revenue and Customs.

LandlordInvest’s IFISA has the possibility of offering investors up to 12 per cent per annum, said Filip Karadaghi, the platform’s chief executive.

“The ISA market is significant, around £500bn, and we believe that the new IFISA that only became available this tax year, is a valuable addition to any well-diversified portfolio,” he said.

LendingCrowd is set to launch its ISA in the first quarter of 2017 while LandlordInvest is planning to launch in the next couple of weeks.