Octopus gets FCA authorisation

OCTOPUS Choice is the latest peer-to-peer lending platform to be granted full authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), just nine months after launch.

The property lender has attracted almost £45m from lenders and funded 75 deals since it launched last April.

Richard Wazacz, head of Octopus Choice, said authorisation now opens the door for the firm to launch its Innovative Finance ISA later this year.

“The incredible demand we’ve witnessed in the nine months since launch underlines the level of interest for this sort of investment – and the authorisation that the FCA has now granted us will no doubt give renewed confidence to our fast-growing base of investors,” he said. “With interest rates stuck at all-time lows and inflation predicted to rise significantly in the short term, the returns available through products like Octopus Choice are proving increasingly attractive.

“While we’re currently working on an ISA version of the product that will be made available later this year, our primary focus is on giving the best possible service to the thousands of investors we’ve already attracted.”

Octopus Choice lends on residential property and currently has an average target rate of 4.8 per cent.

Loans are secured on the property but to provide investors with additional protection, Octopus also invests five per cent in each and every loan at first loss, meaning it would always lose its own money first in the event that anything went wrong.

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Source: Octopus gets FCA authorisation | Peer2Peer Finance News