FCA And BoE Launch Blockchain-Based Reporting Initiative
The word “blockchain” was once used as a marketing gimmick for companies pivoting into an ill-understood, gimmicky world. But blockchain technology is a good way of organising information without reference to a central agent. And that’s now official – the regulatory authorities are using it in an innovative way.
The Financial Conduct Authority is working with the Bank of England on a blockchain-based digital regulatory reporting initiative to tackle the growing costs of compliance checks.
Speaking at the annual Mansion Houe gathering in the City of London, FCA chief Nikhil Rathi said that regulatory reports are estimated to cost between £1.5bn to £4bn a year, with 20,000 rules across 58,000 firms.
“That’s why we’re working with the Bank of England on the Digital Regulatory Reporting Initiative,” he told the audience. “By connecting to firms through blockchain and API technology and implementing machine readable and executable regulation, compliance checks can be completed in near real time.”
In July, the FCA announced plans to extend its influence across the whole of the UK, opening an office in Leeds with at least 100 staff recruited in the first phase and doubling its headcount in Edinburgh to over 200 in the next two years.
The second tranche of the Fleetwood Legal £250,000 loan offering is now 21 per cent filled. The loan offering is rated A with a yield of 8 per cent and a 12-month term. Please note that ‘Fleetwood Legal’ is a code name for commercial reasons.
Money&Co. lenders have been funding legal claims since May 2019. Over that period, and despite the issues that affected the courts at the start of the pandemic, all of the money lent has been returned to our lenders with an average rate of interest of 7.85% before fees.Fleetwood Legal (FL) has an A rating from our credit committee and offers a yield of eight per cent over its one-year term. Below we offer an extract from our credit analysis. Readers wishing to see the full note and to subscribe to this offer must log in (or register if you are a first-time lender).
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 £24 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 2020/21 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.