Ablrate’s IFISA has attracted over 200 investors
ABLRATE’S Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) has attracted over 200 investors and £1.5m of funds in the six weeks since its launch.
The peer-to-peer business lender opened up the tax-free wrapper on 2 August to both new and existing customers. The product attracted nearly 100 investors within the first 48 hours.
“With the IFISA, we didn’t really know what to expect,” chief executive David Bradley-Ward told Peer2Peer Finance News on Friday.
“We were quite surprised at how many new customers have come on board. I think some customers have come to us as they like to choose their own projects to invest in.”
Ablrate has recently re-vamped its website, ahead of design changes to the actual platform itself.
“The whole platform was a bespoke build and it wasn’t very mobile friendly,” he said. “Also we’ve been doing a lot of changes to the background coding of the platform.”
The firm is also planning to launch a broker portal in the next couple of months to help match its growing influx of investment with new projects.
Read more: Ablrate considers expansion into debt securities
Ablrate is currently consulting brokers on what they would want from the portal, but Bradley-Ward said it would include things like credit tools.
The chief executive said he felt confident that Ablrate could continue to match new funds, but said the broker portal will come “at the right time” if the growth trajectory continues.
He added that the new portal would boost the platform’s transparency. “We can see down the line that the Financial Conduct Authority’s consultation will be all about transparency,” he said. “We’ll basically be creating a mini prospectus for every deal.”
Read more: Plane sailing for Ablrate as platform gains FCA approval
Ablrate launched in July 2014, specialising in funding leasing for aircraft transactions.
The platform, which has since expanded into capital equipment and property offers investors annual returns ranging between 10 and 14 per cent.