The UK Peer to Peer Finance Association (P2PFA) reports that Innovative Finance Individual Savings Accounts (IF ISAs) now stands at over £588 million. The P2PFA states that more than 40,000 accounts have invested in P2PFA members IF ISAs by the end of Q2 2019.
The P2PFA says it will now be releasing quarterly statistics on IF ISAs from their member platforms. Currently, the P2PFA releases quarterly data on aggregate loan volume of member platforms.
Chair of the P2PFA, Paul Smee, stated:
“The Innovative Finance ISA has been a major landmark in the development of the UK alternative finance landscape; all member platforms have launched their own offering for retail investors giving consumers the opportunity to access tax-free interest on peer-to-peer lending investments. Given our firm commitment to promoting transparency in the UK peer-to-peer lending sector, we will now publish data on the value of IF ISA assets under management, as well as the number of accounts held.”
Robert Pettigrew, Director of the P2PFA, added that during the first fifteen months of the IF ISA, six P2PFA platforms launched their offerings and more than £300 million was invested.
“Twelve months on, all P2PFA platforms now offer an IF ISA to investors: levels of investment have nearly doubled with steady growth in the number of IF ISAs,” said Pettigrew.
The P2PFA was established in 2011 as a representative and self-regulatory body for debt-based peer-to-peer lending. The P2PFA seeks to inform and educate; promote high standards of business conduct; and work with policy-makers and regulators to ensure an effective regulatory regime. P2PFA members are required to meet robust standards for the transparent, fair and orderly operation of peer-to-peer lending. The member platforms are: Crowdstacker; Folk2Folk; Funding Circle; Landbay; Lending Works; MarketInvoice; ThinCats; and Zopa.