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Post by Amberside ALP on May 3, 2018 15:09:17 GMT
Hello all, We’d like to introduce Amberside ALP (“asset lending platform”) to the forum. ALP offers fixed rate bonds which can be held in an Innovative Finance ISA wrapper, and makes loans to fund infrastructure projects. Amberside ALP is a joint venture between Amberside Capital, a fund management company, and CH1 Investment Partners, a wealth manager, supported with technology developed by Goji. With our history of working with pension funds and other institutional investors, we aim to bring the rigour of the institutional market to retail investors. We’re looking forward to sharing thoughts with the forum, and we welcome any comments or feedback you might have. Many thanks, Dan |
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carolus
Member of DD Central
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Post by carolus on May 3, 2018 16:28:23 GMT
Hi Amberside ALP, I've just been looking at your website and I can't see any mention of what your status is regarding FCA authorisation and registration. Especially with the recent events with Collateral, I suspect some people will be concerned if they can't find any information about it. |
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Post by Amberside ALP on May 3, 2018 16:59:25 GMT
Hi carolus, Thanks for raising this, we'll consider how we could cover it in our FAQs. Amberside ALP Plc itself is not a regulated entity. However, all financial promotions for Amberside ALP Plc are made by the FCA regulated firm Amberside Capital Ltd which is also a major shareholder of the business. The ISA manager for investors is Sapia Partners LLP who are FCA regulated to hold client money and are authorised ISA Managers. Also involved are Goji Financial Services Limited who are also regulated by the FCA. |
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ilmoro
Member of DD Central
'Wondering which of the bu***rs to blame, and watching for pigs on the wing.' - Pink Floyd
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Post by ilmoro on May 3, 2018 17:14:05 GMT
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Post by Amberside ALP on May 11, 2018 9:19:47 GMT
Hi carolus, just wanted to let you know that we have now added an item to our FAQs to explain the FCA regulation status of the parties involved in ALP. Many thanks for the feedback! |
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cb25
Posts: 3,528
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Post by cb25 on May 11, 2018 9:24:43 GMT
Hi carolus , just wanted to let you know that we have now added an item to our FAQs to explain the FCA regulation status of the parties involved in ALP. Many thanks for the feedback! Key bit seems to be "Amberside ALP Plc itself is not a regulated entity" (from www.ambersidealp.com/faq/)
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Post by Amberside ALP on May 14, 2018 9:15:57 GMT
Thanks for pointing this out.
As with almost all P2P lending opportunities, the borrower itself is not regulated by the FCA. However, again like most others, the operators of the platform, Amberside Capital (fund manager), CH1 Investment Partners (wealth manager), Goji Financial Services Limited (platform technology provider), and Sapia Partners LLP (ISA manager) are all regulated by the FCA.
In the case of ALP, rather than lending directly to individual opportunities, a company called Amberside ALP Plc is the borrower of bond investments and it then on-lends that money as secured loans to infrastructure projects. We want to be as transparent as possible by saying in our FAQs that Amberside ALP Plc itself is not a regulated entity.
From an FCA regulation perspective, this would be the same if the platform allowed investors to buy bonds directly from the infrastructure projects, like most P2P platforms, and we believe that by allowing investors to buy bonds from Amberside ALP Plc rather than directly from an individual end borrower we can offer additional benefits from diversification.
It's obvious that we haven’t made this clear in our FAQ though, so we’ll update the wording, sorry for the confusion!
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