OFF3R launches new SIPPS portal
OFF3R has launched a new channel dedicated to Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs), the tax-free vehicle for pension savings.
The investment aggregator’s SIPPs portal launched on Tuesday 22 August with an initial list of three pension providers: Hargreaves Lansdown, IG, and True Potential Investor. It details the various fees and investment thresholds of each platform, as well as information on the different management styles.
Hargreaves Lansdown enables investors to include two alternative finance-focused funds – the Honeycomb Investment Trust and the Funding Circle SME Income Fund – in their SIPPs.
“It’s our foray into the more traditional investment finance side of things as we’re expanding the products on offer,” Lex Deak, chief executive of OFF3R told Peer2Peer Finance News. “The new platform will be a useful tool for helping to guide individuals to investments that are relevant or potentially suitable.
“We’re not giving people advice but we are providing them with the tools to help them navigate this complex universe.”
The peer-to-peer lending sector has already been embracing SIPPs, with Crowdstacker and Folk2Folk both revealing plans for SIPP-friendly products of their own.
The SIPP launch comes just a couple of months after Deak told Peer2Peer Finance News that the firm was “aiming to become the Moneysupermarket of the investment sector” by offering a range of investment products for all users.
OFF3R, which started life as an alternative finance aggregator, is also preparing to roll out a series of “education modules” as a way of teaching new investors about the world of P2P.
“The launch of the SIPPs channel is one of a number of additions that you’ll start to see over the coming weeks and months,” said Deak. “There will be a new interface and new features coming soon.
“I want OFF3R to be the first port of call for people who want to invest and don’t necessarily know where to start. I want it to be the access point to empowering your financial future and really understanding what your options are beyond the vanilla savings products.”
SIPPs are popular among long-term investors as they are open to a range of different investment options, including P2P. However, under the ‘connected parties’ rule, there can be no connection between the lender and the borrower in a SIPP investment. This means that P2P investment trusts offer the easiest way to gain P2P exposure in a SIPP portfolio.
Read more: TISA lobbies for P2P inclusion in SIPPs amid advisor outreach