Zopa developing IFISA transfer features

ZOPA is working on ways to let investors transfer their existing holdings into its Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA).

HMRC rules stipulate that tax wrappers have to be funded with new cash for each year’s subscription, which in practice means selling old peer-to-peer loans and investing in new ones through an IFISA.

Andrew Lawson (pictured), chief product officer for Zopa, said some investors have already been selling old loans and buying new ones to fund the tax-free product.

However, the lender is now working on a one-off option for customers with more than £1,000 in its Classic or Access account to move that money into an IFISA, keeping the Safeguard coverage intact and without paying sale fees.

Lawson said the lender is also working to ensure the platform doesn’t crash due to the level of demand once the IFISA launches to new investors.

Read more: Zopa unveils IFISA

Investors will also be offered a way to direct repayments from regular accounts to their IFISA automatically.

“We expect you to be able to register your interest to move your Access and Classic money into an ISA very soon,” Lawson said.

“We’re putting the final touches to the process and will be in touch with customers next fortnight.

“The feature allowing you to automatically redirect repayments into an ISA is a little further down the line, but we should have that ready by the end of the year. We also hope to get to transfers-in later this year.”

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