| Informed Funding |
Welcome to this month's Alternative Funding Network newsletter. Wednesday's Budget brought long-awaited good news for alternative finance providers - the new Innovative Finance ISA will come into being next April and is expected to bring significantly more retail money into the P2P market.
Not suprisingly, the reaction has been universally positive. Christine Farnish, chair of the P2P Finance Association, was "absolutely delighted", Giles Andrews of Zopa called it "a game-changer for millions of Britons" and said Zopa expects huge demand to invest via the new ISA.
Confirmation of its launch brings a vital stamp of approval and greatly enhanced credibility for the P2P movement and should encourage many more people to see P2P lending as part of mainstream personal finance.
And following this major victory for the P2P movement there is the possibility of more to come: George Osborne also announced a consultation on whether to make crowdfunded debt securities and equity investments ISA-eligible too. Exciting times.
For more in-depth information on the 2015 Summer Budget and how it will affect you, see Buzzacott's report below.
To find out more about membership click HERE or contact the team directly [email protected]. I look forward to meeting you at one of our events soon.
Regards
Andy
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Our next AFN research seminar will be held on the 15th of September, so save the date!
The market for SME (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise) funding is changing radically, and provides both opportunity and risk for those seeking to be active in the market. The Alternative Funding Network (AFN) provides its members with intelligence and industry insight on the developing issues that really matter. This is achieved through a mix of exclusive industry seminars, regular commentary, research and secure peer-to-peer networking
Andy Davis is the Programme Director for the AFN. He has a longstanding interest in business finance, previously as Editor of FT Weekend and more recently as a researcher, commentator and advisor on the game-changing developments unfolding in the SME funding market. He is supported by the Knowledge Peers team, experts at both online and offline knowledge sharing.
The Alternative Funding Network runs a series of seminars throughout the year, chaired by Andy and these always feature leading figures.
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Buzzacott, a key sponsor of Informed Funding, have put together a comprehensive guide to the 2015 Summer Budget that answers how the 2015 Summer Budget will affect you.
To read the full report, click 'Read More' below.
"Given the pace of change within the UK tax legislation that we are all growing painfully accustomed to and its ever increasing complexity, the Summer Budget 2015 presented by the Chancellor on 8 July 2015 appeared to maintain the desire to add even more complexity to the system.
From the potentially very complex changes that will be required for UK property held through offshore companies and the introduction of a new ‘deemed UK domicile’ for “non-doms” through to the introduction of a new unusual tax rate for dividends at 38.1%, it would appear that advising on UK tax is going to be an ever more complex task and certainly not accessible to the average taxpayer. Even the ‘jewel in the crown’ Inheritance Tax allowance for an individual’s house has unnecessary complexity to it.
Pensions are being changed (yet again), “non-doms” will be potentially very heavily hit and those with UK residential property need to consider the potential impact of a restriction of interest relief."
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"I took part last week in a discussion organised by the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation, a well-connected City think tank, on equity crowdfunding, at which there was much discussion of the risks of equity crowdfunding for retail investors. Inevitably, the focus tends to be on the likelihood that many early-stage ventures will fail and the investors who backed them will lose their money. This danger is well known. Only about 50% of companies are still trading three years after they set up, which prompted regulators to demand that retail investors who register with equity crowdfunding platforms undertake not to put more than 10% of their investable assets into these high-risk ventures."
- Andy Davis, AFN Blog
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Following the success of our Funding Fair Launch at the end of February, we will be hosting another Funding Fair on the 24th September at the Metal Box on Southbank. We once again plan to have a full afternoon and evening of informative sessions. This time we will hone in on “What works in new finance for SMEs”
The sessions will be clearly focused on how SMEs can start to think differently about the way they might finance themselves. We will have a deep dive into P2P lending and also Crowd Equity where we will hear from some leading experts and funding providers, as well as hearing from business owners that have raised funds through these channels.
Thursday, 24th Sep 2015 at 12:00 to Thursday, 24th Sep 2015 at 21:00
Metal Box, 30 Great Guildford Street, , SE1 0HS
If you are interested in sponsoring the iF Funding Fair, please contact [email protected].
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Informed Funding is giving the homepage a design makeover next week. But it is not just for aesthetic purposes!
Our homepage now makes it easier than ever for businesses to get connected with finance. They must simply follow the 5 steps and our platform and a business will be connected to your microsite if their needs match your criteria.
If you are a funding provider and are interested in showcasing your products and services to a targeted and qualified audience via one of our microsites please contact us at [email protected].
AFN Membership is FREE to Informed Funding microsite owners
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To enhance the user search experience and output we are redefining the search question criteria:
Equity, example questions include:
- how much finance do you require?
- how long have you been trading for?
- what type of relationship with a funder do you prefer
- how soon will you need funding?
Debt, example questions include:
- how much finance do you require?
- how long do you need the loan for?
- how long have you been trading for?
- what security are you willing to give?
PLEASE ENSURE ALL YOUR MICROSITE ATTRIBUTES ARE FULLY POPULATED AND UP TO DATE.
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The funding landscape for growing businesses is changing radically, and provides both opportunity and risk for those seeking to be active in the market. The Alternative Funding Network (AFN) provides its members with intelligence and industry insight on the developing issues that really matter. This is achieved through a mix of exclusive industry seminars, regular commentary, research and secure peer-to-peer networking.
We are pleased to announce that AFN Corporate membership is now complementary for Funders with an Informed Funding microsite.
AFN Membership provides you with the following benefits:
- Free attendance at 6 seminars during the year, chaired by Andy Davis and always featuring leading figures in the industry
- Receipt of Andy’s weekly Blog, exclusive to subscribers to the AFN
- Free receipt of our industry insight reports, built from the intelligence sharing at our seminar series
- A personal listing on our AFN membership network, where members are able to contact each other (if agreed to) on a secure, one-to-one basis
- Free attendance at the bi-annual Informed Funding “Finance Fairs”
- Access to the AFN catalogue of specialist market research and video interviews with industry leaders
If you do not own a microsite, Membership Costs are as follows:
- Corporate Membership is an annual £595+VAT for up to 5 members of your team
- Individual Membership is an annual £295+VAT
