The heads of the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association’s (P2PFA) member platforms have confirmed that it remains to be decided whether investors in P2P lender platforms will be able to shift their current P2P investments into the new Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA).

Alternative finance research and news outlet AltFi reports that, at a breakfast meeting on 23rd February, the assembled P2PFA members declared that Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) appears to have no objection in principle to the prospect of customers selling their current P2P assets and re-investing them through the new ISA wrapper.

Existing rules restrict investors to allocating their IFISA allowance to one P2P lender only per tax year. In other words, the breakfast panel said that multi-platform ISAs will have to be gradually built up over the coming few years.

The recent intervention of Lord Adair Turner, former head of the now-defunct Financial Services Authority (which was succeeded by the Financial Conduct Authority, the FCA), was also raised at the breakfast meeting. He ruffled feathers earlier this month with claims that the credit processes of P2P lender platforms were woefully inadequate.

Panellist James Meekings pointed out that Lord Turner’s comments ignored the fact that P2P lending is a highly diverse industry, with credit procedures varying enormously from one platform to another.

His co-panellist Christian Faes disputed Lord Turner’s assumption that underwriting was entirely automated, saying that some platforms rely on a great deal of human involvement.

He added: “We’re never going to get to the point where a computer spits out a mortgage.”

P2P lender Unbolted, for example, waives credit rating entirely, abolishing risk to investors and borrowers alike by offering secured asset loans only.