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Innovative Finance ISA will include transferable debt based securities from the Autumn this year

“ We are delighted that the Chancellor has confirmed today that the Innovative Finance ISA will include transferable debt based securities (commonly referred to as Bonds) from the Autumn this year.

Crowdfunding has already channels led £1.5bn this year into small businesses in the UK that need finance to grow and diversify.

Companies raising larger sums of money and going to the trouble of issuing a bond supported by a full offer document, offer a high level of disclosure, which we think is a key factor in investor protection.

Critically we support the need for the bond to be offered via a crowdfunding platform that is authorised by the FCA to engage with retail clients: investor protection is at the very core of the UK Crowdfunding Association’s purpose.

Having worked with HMT and HMRC for over 12 months, we understand the decision not to include equity at this stage – much of equity based crowdfunding is still for early stage businesses that are SEIS or EIS eligible, so they already have a strong tax incentive. However Treasury have confirmed that the door is still open for equity crowdfunding being included in the future as the profile of the businesses raising money continues to mature.”