LendingCrowd lenders show appetite for growth IFISAs
PEER-TO-PEER lenders are primarily interested in growth Innovative Finance ISAs (IFISAs) rather than income ISAs, a LendingCrowd survey has found.
Eight in 10 (83 per cent) of the platform’s existing investors said that they would consider opening an IFISA and almost half (49 per cent) said that they would use the IFISA solely to grow their investment.
Meanwhile, just nine per cent said that they would invest in an IFISA to supplement their income and the remaining 42 per cent would prefer a combination of the two.
Read more: LendingCrowd days away from IFISA launch
In response to the survey, LendingCrowd plans to make its first IFISA offering a growth account, which automatically invests investors’ capital into a selection of P2P loans, reinvesting these gains as time goes on.
The Edinburgh-based platform gained full Financial Conduct Authority authorisation last November and launched its IFISA on Tuesday.
“It is good to see demand among our investors,” said LendingCrowd chief executive Stuart Lunn.
“This represents our direct investors and we are pleased to see the level of potential demand. We have been doing a lot of work to build out investor products on the platform and from discussions we believe our new growth account will be an attractive solution for the intermediary”
Lunn told Peer-to-Peer Finance News that an income-only IFISA may follow, allowing investors to either withdraw their interest on a monthly basis, or re-invest it within the tax-free wrapper.
Read more: 23 firms now approved to offer IFISAs