RateSetter to open IFISA to new investors on Thursday
RATESETTER is opening up its Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) to new investors on Thursday, meaning that two out of the ‘big three’ lenders will be offering the tax wrapper outside of their existing customer base.
Industry onlookers argue that the IFISA will only begin to move into the mainstream once the largest P2P platforms offer the product to new investors.
RateSetter launched its IFISA on 8 February purely to existing customers, in line with other major P2P lenders who opted for a staggered roll-out of the product.
“We are very pleased with uptake from existing investors so far, and look forward to opening up our ISA to investment from new customers tomorrow,” a spokesperson told Peer2Peer Finance News via email on Wednesday.
The spokesperson also confirmed that RateSetter is still planning to open to inward transfers from other ISAs in April.
Fellow ‘big three’ lender Zopa re-opened to new investors last month, 10 months after launching a waiting list to cope with demand.
People who had signed up to the waiting list since then are now be able to invest in Zopa’s IFISA, while newcomers can start investing within two weeks, according to Zopa’s website.
The other ‘big three’ lender Funding Circle launched its tax wrapper in November but is yet to open it to new investors. As Peer2Peer Finance News previously reported, the product saw strong take-up from the start, with investors signing up in the first 15 minutes after launch.
Funding Circle told Peer2Peer Finance News on Wednesday that it is aiming to launch its ISA product to new investors in the new tax year.
“Until [the big three] open up their IFISAs to new customers, we are not going to be able to measure the popularity of the IFISA to the broader retail investor market,” Jordan Stodart, co-founder of Orca, was cited as saying in the IFISA feature in the February issue of the magazine.
“This is because it remains siloed to existing P2P customers.
“Zopa, RateSetter and Funding Circle account for 69 per cent of the market in terms of loan volumes. That is quite a hefty chunk.”