There have been several moves to crack down on alternative finance in the United States (the regulators have threatened lawsuits against various cryptocurrencies, etc). And entry to the mainstream market in banking is very jealously guarded. Our friends at Altfi bring the latest news.
Banking licences are famously difficult to get, particularly when you are applying for one overseas—a story Monzo only knows too well.
After conversations with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) Monzo has made the decision to withdraw its application for its US operations.
The decision was made after regulators told the digital bank that its application was unlikely to be approved.
The news comes a year and a half after the bank first submitted its application, which can often take up to two years to approve and is very costly.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Monzo said: “While this isn’t the outcome we initially set out to achieve, this allows us to build and scale our early-stage product offer in the US through existing partners and invest further in the UK.
The second tranche of the Fleetwood Legal £250,000 loan offering is now 23 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
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.
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:
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.