Landbay becomes latest P2P platform with ISA manager status by HMRC

The buy-to-let mortgage platform was granted ISA status and plans to launch an IFSA in the next month.

Landbay will join the growing number of platforms authorised to offer an Innovative Finance Individual Savings Account (IFISA) by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

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.

P2P platforms must be fully authorised in order to become ISA managers, and the very largest platforms in the sector – such as Zopa, Funding Circle and RateSetter – continue to operate under interim permission.

Industry insiders have told AltFi on several occasions that this is due to a reticence from the FCA that would give unfair advantage to one over the others, particularly as the next three months or so – known as ISA Season by investors – is when there is a last rush of money into the tax-wrapper before the 5 April deadline.

The same insiders all add that the top 3 platforms in terms of size are likely to all receive full authorisation at the same time or very close together.

Landbay plans to offer its IFSA by the end of the tax year, the firm said in a statement. To date Landbay has lent over £43m since its inception in 2014.

“With all the relevant regulatory pieces in place, we are one step closer to offering our investors the opportunity to lend on prime residential property in a tax-efficient manner,” said John Goodall, CEO of Landbay.

The other platforms that have been granted IFSA status are LendingCrowd, LandlordInvest, Crowdstacker and Crowd2Fund.