Proplend CEO and founder Brian Bartaby is interviewed in the November edition of the Peer to Peer Finance News magazine, discussing the outlook for the P2P Industry and Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA).
IFISA has been the source of accelerated growth for UK peer to peer lending platforms like Proplend who’ve received full authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority and launched their own tax-efficient products in 2017. Peer to peer ‘Lenders’ can now earn loan interest tax-free investing in the same loans through an ISA.
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In the feature titled ‘Using Your Assets’ – Brian talks about Proplend’s origins in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, filling the sub-£5m commercial property lending void left by the banks, through to the platform’s 2017 expansion into the ISA market.
“The IFISA is a really interesting market for us and for any platform” Bartaby is quoted as saying. “There’s around £260bn of cash sitting in cash ISAs … money that people have already allocated within that ISA wrapper. The ability to earn decent, tax-free returns on that money is very compelling.”
Brian goes into more detail about Proplend’s decision to make its ISA flexible and the benefits this offers investors; “People can withdraw money and put it in again within the same tax year … our Lenders are already making full use of [this functionality].” he states.
Flexible ISAs are still in a vast minority and place an onus on the ISA Manager to monitor investor withdrawals and returns on a year to year basis, whilst the responsibility of sticking to the annual ISA subscription limits and not subscribing to two ISAs of one type, remains with individuals.
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When asked about the future of Peer to Peer Lending, and Proplend in particular, Brian believes; “the future is bright. There’s a lot of money out there for healthy competition … Platforms like Proplend offering more stable and reliable returns from asset-backed lending are well placed” he states.
Earlier in 2017, Proplend’s launched of an online portal for advisers and wealth managers to help advised Lenders, including many SIPP pension owners, invest through the platform. And early in 2018 you’ll see more platform development with the introduction of an auto-invest product for Proplend’s lower risk Tranche A loans.
“We hope to build on our reputation as one of the lowest risk property-backed P2P investment platforms by accomodating more investment diversification and more ways to invest in the coming months and years”, concluded Bartaby.
