Assetz Capital has announced the launch of an ISA wrapper on its Manual Lending Account (MLA).

This is the final investment account to be included in the Assetz Capital ISA and means that all accounts are now available for investment.

Users can invest up to £20,000 tax-free on the platform each year, and also transfer in any prior years’ investment, in part or in full from other ISA providers.

Stuart Law, CEO at Assetz Capital said: “Since the very start of our ISA planning we have been determined to include the manual lending option. Technically it has been a challenge, but we’ve delivered a brilliant product that will cater for our long-term, sophisticated investors. This is the account that we launched our platform with many years ago.

“While some other platforms have phased out manual lending, we have always said that it must remain an option for our investors. It’s one of the reasons we retain so many early peer-to-peer adopters on our platform. This is peer-to-peer lending at its purest and it remains a key part of our business strategy and we expect to bring further improvements to how the MLA works in due course.

“Many investors tell us that manually picking loans is part of the enjoyment that they get from peer-to-peer lending and is akin to stock picking in the stock market. It’s very appealing to those who enjoy reading a credit report and forming a personal view on whether they wish to support the business and by how much.”

Assetz Capital has also announced it has had more than 2,500 investors commence setting up their ISA since the launch in late December, surpassing total ISA account openings for the whole peer-to-peer market in the 2016/2017 tax year. Investors have already put in more than £14 million, with one third of this coming from transfers from other ISA providers and substantial further sums expected once further transfers are actioned and processed by the current ISA provider.