There is strong retail demand for alternative investment regardless of the entity’s structure, according to Mike Carter, policy lead for lending platforms at Innovate Finance.

Speaking to Peer2Peer Finance News, Carter said the trade body is “very positive about retail P2P lending”, heralding it as a “great example of fintech innovation”.

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However, he conceded that it is “a more restricted universe of investors” and highlighted the fact that other alternative investment platforms that are not technically P2P are also seeing interest from retail investors.

“There are many other constructs for accessing retail investors – see for example AxiaFunder,” Carter said. “This shows that there is retail demand for alternative investment as investors don’t care too much about the investment structure, they are more interested in the asset class and the quality of the asset.”

Read more: P2P well placed for a recession

AxiaFunder is a litigation crowdfunding platform that puts investors’ funds into a special purpose vehicle that is used to finance the litigation, rather than operating under a P2P model.

A number of larger P2P platforms have exited the retail space in recent years, but Carter heralded the achievements of the current cohort of retail-friendly P2P firms.

Read more: Investors can expect “higher quality” P2P loans

“They are delivering returns they said they would deliver,” he said. “This is important as investors want to get what they expect.