First-of-its-kind ISA launched by Edinburgh financial firm to help investors access multiple P2P platform

Iain Niblock, CEO, Orca Money

The Orca ISA aims to open up the P2P market to retail investors and tackle previous barriers to investing across multiple platforms within one tax wrapper.

ISA rules only allow investors to subscribe new money into one IFISA per tax year.

This meant that before the Orca ISA investors were only able to invest in one P2P platform in an IFISA each tax year. To build a diversified P2P investment portfolio in an ISA wrapper investors had to endure a complicated process of opening separate accounts every year with different P2P providers.

It would have taken an investor 5 years to achieve the same level of diversification as the Orca ISA can offer in minutes.

The Orca ISA offers investors the only way to spread their money and risk across the market, giving them access to 5 leading P2P platforms at once. Orca Money conducts due diligence on their behalf.

Investments start from £100 and earn an inflation-beating return of up to 5.3 per cent.

According to Iain Niblock, CEO of Orca Money, P2P investments should form part of every retail investor’s portfolio. They offer stable, predictable returns that are uncorrelated to the stock market.

Instant-access ISAs paid out an average interest rate of 0.94 per cent in January this year. With inflation currently at 1.8 per cent, the value of Cash ISA investments is being eroded. In 2018, Stocks and Shares ISAs also performed badly – most delivered negative returns. The Orca ISA offers a higher risk-return profile than a Cash ISA and less volatility than a Stocks and Shares ISA. 

Mr Niblock said: “The Orca ISA is an innovation that can make investing in P2P far more accessible to the wider investing public. It gives them a diversified, highly attractive alternative to Cash and Stocks and Shares ISAs.

“Investor funds are automatically spread across many of the UK’s leading P2P platforms. This reduces exposure to any one platform and distributes investment across a much broader range of asset classes and risks.

“The Orca ISA is several investments in one tax-free wrapper. We believe it can be the gateway to the P2P market for everyday investors.”

Key features of the Orca ISA:

• Investors hold multiple P2P providers in a single, tax-free ISA wrapper

• Access to 5 of the top P2P platforms: Lending Works, Assetz Capital, Landbay, Octopus Choice and Lending Crowd – a mix of consumer, business and property

• Initial investment from £100

• Orca performs due diligence on the P2P market

• Two portfolio choices, Orca Pure (4.3% return) and Orca Plus (5.3% return) options

• Standardised investment reporting from the Orca online platform

• Orca ISA is free until April 2020 and 0.65% per annum thereafter