Financial advisors are cautious but optimistic about alternative finance ahead of the arrival of Innovative Finance ISAs (IFISAs) next month, according to a study by global insurance company MetLife.

The data shows that there are already 16 per cent of investors aged 55 or older considering using a tax-free wrapper around savings and investments, while 12.5 per cent of advisors would be willing to invest their own money. IFISAs will be available for the first time from 6th April and will follow cash and stocks & shares as the third ISA.

An estimated £1.7 billion was lent via peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms in 2015, and MetLife UK Wealth Management Director Simon Massey noted that the “P2P sector is growing strongly and offering attractive returns particularly when interest rates are at an all-time low and likely to remain there, which could put pressure on cash ISA savers to find alternative investments.”

MetLife’s report found that many investors were willing to embrace P2P platforms due to the potentially high returns on offer, with interest rates typically being in excess of five per cent. It dovetails with a recent study by Yorkshire Building Society, which found that more than 725,000 over-65-year-olds would be open to investing in P2P lending due its position as a low-volatility asset class.

A separate study by Intelligent Partnership, which focused on the alternative finance space, revealed that just over a quarter of P2P lending and crowdfunding platforms had not yet made any plans for marketing to IFAs as of December last year.