Latest FinTech Initiative Is Rolled Out – Plus Loan Offer Latest

The latest in a long stream of centralised initiatives – whose current and future success remains to be judged – is reported today by our friends at AltFi. We’re keeping a weather eye on the situation. More, assuredly, is to follow.

Fintech industry body Tech Nation has today revealed the newest group of fintechs selected to join the Fintech Cohort 3.0. 

Fintechs on the list include digital wealth and technology provider WealthKernel, revenue-based financier Uncapped, open banking provider Yapily and alternative lender CreditEnable. 

The 31-strong list includes businesses from all over the country, with 60 per cent of the companies joining hailing from outside London, and from all sectors of fintech including a particularly strong insurtech presence, with 20 per cent of the fintechs featured being an insurtech. 

Liam Gray, Fintech Lead, Tech Nation said: “The UK fintech ecosystem is truly world-leading and its strength is clearly demonstrated by the calibre of companies on this year’s Tech Nation Fintech programme.” 

“Our third cohort will officially introduce insurtechs to the programme, a sub-segment of fintech that has matured significantly in recent years. This cohort will also be the most geographically diverse group of fintechs we’ve ever had, with 60 per cent located outside of London, highlighting the growing prevalence of regional fintech hubs.” 

The judging panel for the latest cohort consisted of Catherine Wines, co-founder and director of WorldRemit, Tim Levene, CEO of Augmentum VC, Richard Theo, founder and CEO of Wealthify and Amir Nooriala, COO of CallSign. 

Following the success of previous programmes, with alumni such as the likes of Funding Circle, Credit Kudos, PrimaryBid and ANNA Money, there was a 20 per cent jump in the number of applications from the previous year. 

The announcement comes just days after the industry body launched a new programme to help bolster UK fintechs, the Fintech Pledge

Fintech Pledge, which has been backed by HM Treasury and the Fintech Delivery Panel, will help accelerate the growth of the fintech sector by opening up communications between banks and leading fintech firms.

Loan Latest

  • Our latest loan offering, the property-backed offering from WeBuyAnyHome.com, has attracted 34 per cent of the £150,000 it is seeking. The loan is rated A+ by our credit committee, and yields 8 per cent over a three-year term. For more detail, login.

Historical Performance And IFISA Process Guide

  • Money&Co. lenders have achieved an average return of more than 8 per cent gross (before we deduct our one per cent fee). 

That figure is the result of over £20 million of loans facilitated on the site, as we bring individuals looking for a good return on capital together with carefully vetted small companies seeking funds for growth. Bear in mind that lenders’ capital is at risk. Read warnings on site before committing capital.

  • Money&Co. has been lending for over 5 years and has only had two bad debts so far, representing a bad debt rate of 0.03 per cent per annum.

All loans on site are eligible to be held in a Money&Co. Innovative Finance Individual Savings Account (IFISA), up to the annual ISA limit of £20,000. Such loans offer lenders tax-free income. Our offering is an Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) that can hold the peer-to-peer (P2P) business loans that Money&Co. facilitates. For the purposes of this article, the terms ISA and IFISA are interchangeable.

So here’s our guide to the process:

  • Step 1: Register as a lender. Go to the login page, and go through the process that the law requires us to effect. This means we have to do basic checks on you to comply with money-laundering and other security requirements.
  • Step 2: Put money into your account. This is best done by electronic transfer. We can also process paper cheques drawn in favour of Denmark Square Limited, the parent company of Money&Co.
  • Step 3: Buy loans in the loan market. Once you’ve put cash in your account it will sit there – and it won’t earn interest until you’ve bought a piece of a loan. It’s this final step that requires lenders and IFISA investors to be pro-active. Just choose some loans – all loans on the Money&Co. site can be held in an IFISA – and your money will start earning tax-free interest.

The ISA allowance for 2019/20 is unchanged from last tax year at £20,000, allowing a married couple to put £40,000 into a tax-free environment. Over three years, an investment of this scale in two Money&Co. Innovative Finance ISAs would generate £8,400 of income completely free of tax. We’re assuming a 7 per cent return, net of charges and free of tax here.

Once you have made your initial commitment, you might then consider diversifying – buying a spread of loans. To do this, you can go into the “loans for sale” market. All loans bought in this market also qualify for IFISA tax benefits.

Risk: Security, Access, Yield

Do consider not just the return, but the security and the ease of access to your investment. We write regularly about these three key factors. Here’s one of several earlier articles on security, access and yield.



FOLLOW MONEY&CO. ON TWITTER

Search news

You may put double quotes around your search to search for literals. Max. 4 words inside quotes (dashed words count as one word).

Allowed symbols: " ' & -

More from news

Disclaimer: Money&Co.™ is the trading name of Denmark Square Limited, Company Number 08561817, registered in England & Wales, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The company is identified on the Financial Services Register under Reference Number 727325. The registered office is 58 Glentham Road, Barnes, London, SW13 9JJ where the register of Directors may be inspected. Denmark Square Limited (ISA manager reference number Z1932) manages the Money&Co. Innovative Finance ISA.