The United Kingdom’s three largest Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) providers in the P2P lending sector that are reportedly open to new investors include Abundance, EasyMoney, Folk2Folk.
This, according to a report from Peer2Peer Finance News.
As noted in the update, P2P property lender EasyMoney comes in at the top of this list with over £60 million in IFISA capital. The lender is now anticipating a substantial amount of IFISA funds to be received from providers that have closed down offerings like UK’s Assetz Capital, a representative revealed.
They added that they’ve continued to attract a significant volume of IFISA transfers, additional deposits as well as top ups. The rep also mentioned that Investor rates were increased at the beginning of the year and “remain at those levels.”
The rep also noted that they are “always reviewing the industry and assessing where we are in relation to traditional accounts and competitors.” The representative pointed out that they are making improvements to their website and aim to introduce updates soon.
As mentioned in the report, the second of the thee largest is the P2P lender in terms of total lending volumes, Folk2Folk.
The business-f0cused lending platform has reported total lending volume of £650 million, out of which around £53.5 million was invested through IFISA accounts.
The third biggest IFISA portfolio is maintained by Abundance, which is described as the green crowd bonds platform established by Bruce Davis, who was involved with the launch Zopa and serves as director of the UK Crowdfunding Association.
Abundance has about £50 million in its IFISA, Davis confirmed. But he was unable to provide a more precise number as the platform hasn’t yet completed its year-end calculations.
He added:
“We have seen £500,000 of inflows this week alone [w/c 13 March] into our Green Municipal investment launch from Westminster council that pays a low-risk return of 4.2 per cent per annum. There is still strong demand for the IFISA especially from those investors seeking diversification from the ups and downs of listed markets.”
He also mentioned that the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) ban on financial incentives, which was introduced as part of its new rules regarding the promotions of high-risk investments, had some effect on IFISA inflows so far in 2023.
The next biggest IFISA portfolios are maintained by lenders CrowdProperty and Kuflink, at £38.82 million and £38.027 million (respectively).
These are followed by Loanpad and Proplend who have reported IFISA volumes of roughly £30 million (each).
Notably, a number of IFISA providers did not share their latest data. But Peer2Peer Finance News’ stats reportedly represent most of the P2P lending platforms with IFISAs.
Several P2P platforms recorded substantial growth in their IFISAs during the last year, which appears to be a positive development.
Shojin Property Partners reported a 187% rise in overall IFISA inflows this current tax year, even though it did not share the actual figures.
It also reported a small decline in the overall size of the typical IFISA investment on its platform due to its growing clien-base.
A rep stated:
“ISA eligibility remains a key benefit of the projects we approve for funding, shown by 83% of our projects currently available for investment being ISA eligible. We believe the option for investors to diversify beyond cash ISAs and stocks and shares ISAs with an IFISA is hugely valuable.”