Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s EasyMoney
Fasten your seatbelts folks, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the billionaire founder of budget airline EasyJet, is getting into the fintech business with the launch a new financial savings and lending platform.
Called EasyMoney, its first product is an Innovative Finance ISA (IF ISA) that is targeting a 4.05% annual interest rate for investors along with tax-free incentives and returns.
Chief executive of EasyMoney, Andrew de Candole, says: “Financial services in the UK are in desperate need of a shake-up. Like European air travel 23 years ago, the ISA market is crying out for someone to give everyday investors more for their money.”
Like many others, EasyMoney reckons it is offering something “new” and plans to take “on the big boys”. Its IF ISA offers online peer-to-peer (P2P) loans that are secured against customer’s property.
This new type of ISA was introduced by the UK government in 2016 granting retail investors access to P2P lending and the option to invest in “innovative” fintech products.
On its website, EasyMoney is also offering a tax-free pension investment account. This allows users to set up a company SASS (small self-administered pension scheme) to “benefit from higher tax-free returns”.
EasyMoney’s products will compete with many other firms. Funding Circle advertises rates of up to 7%; while as reported earlier this month Lending Works chose Credit Kudos to power its new open banking initiative to verify income in support of loan applications. In addition, there are Landbay and LandlordInvest to contend with.
EasyMoney says once it’s established, it plans to extend the range of finance products offered via its fintech platform.
According to its website, EasyMoney is the trading name of E-money Capital. The latter is authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). However, on EasyMoney’s website it reminds people that “capital is at risk and is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme”.
